AVON, Conn. – Richard Leone, president and CEO of COCC, was the keynote speaker for the Financial Managers Society East Coast Regional Conference that ran Sept. 19-21 in Boston. Leone, whose company, the former Connecticut Online, is a core technology provider to credit unions and community banks, addressed the importance of understanding factors beyond the technology itself when a credit union or bank makes its technology purchase decisions. In a talk titled "Technology Truths: It's All About Timing", Leone examined current assumptions about today's banking challenges and technology's responses. "Financial institutions use technology extensively throughout their businesses," he says. "They deliver services, analyze performance, and comply with an ever-increasing number of regulations with technology. While technology can certainly help institutions increase efficiency, every banker has invested too early in large technology changes. Worse, they have also felt the consequences of delaying those investments." The 1,500-member Financial Managers Society focuses on the needs of finance and accounting professionals from financial institutions and includes CFOs, controllers, CEOs, COOs, treasurers, investment officers and internal auditors from banks, thrifts and credit unions in its membership rolls.