"Having that experience from going through the trenches of the front line, I understood more what my employees needed. I had a better understanding of what we were able to offer our members because of all the technology I had access to then," Slavens said.

Soon after, the credit union offered her a position in IT as an application support specialist.

In 2014, she joined Honor Credit Union as an e-solutions manager, where she was tasked with building the credit union's business intelligence team. When she started, she was managing a team of one. After a year and a half in that role, she was promoted to director of IT and now manages a team of 15, including a business intelligence manager and an infrastructure manager.

Behind her rapid ascent is a fierce drive and passion for an industry she quickly fell in love with. "I just fell in love with being able to provide offerings to members and not just selling products. [I was] putting people into products that will help them and their future," Slavens emphasized.

Because Slavens has had experience in nearly every facet of the credit union, she understands the importance of having a 360-degree perspective when developing products and services for members. To gain this vast understanding and knowledge, her IT team goes through various trainings, including teller and account specialist training.

The trainings give employees in the IT department a better understanding of the impact the IT team makes when there is a change in technology – more specifically, who the change must be communicated to and how it impacts members.

"I really want them to be active in the credit union as a whole. I think a lot of IT departments get the 'guys in the basement' type brand. I pull them out of that and it develops them so much as leaders because I let them run with their own initiatives," she said.

One of her main initiatives as IT director has been the development of her business intelligence team. She also focuses on mining and leveraging data to provide better insights into how to better understand the financial needs of members.

Slavens also launched "data rallies," which focus on data awareness and engagement for all department managers or operational leaders. These data rallies give insight into the data that's available for mining and analyzing, and show leaders how to access and use the data presentation tools readily available to them.

"The most important thing was educating leaders on how to act on the insights they uncover. Data engagement has changed the culture of our credit union – we're moving away from risky, 'gut-feel' management styles to data-driven and analytics-enabled models," Slavens said.

In addition, Slavens helped create a monthly training program with the business intelligence and infrastructure teams called Innovation at Honor. Each training session educates and empowers leaders to challenge the status quo of technology, both member-facing and internal, and educates them on the security risks that credit unions face.

"These trainings are as much about IT informing our leaders as they are about hearing the open feedback, collaboration and suggestions for improvements we receive from the participants," Slavens said.

The honoree has also worked hard to develop a strong relationship with Honor's core solutions provider, ultimately with the goal of maximizing the value of the vendor's products and tailoring them to meet the credit union's needs. This relationship is especially important because defined expectations and clear communication can ultimately determine the success of a product, she said.

Slavens said an important ingredient in getting the most out of products from the vendors you choose is knowing your buyers' goals and perspective.

"Meaning, do you plan to bend it to your ideas or do you plan to drive it based on the vendor's approach? Knowing that out of the gate tells you how much work is ahead of you," Slavens said.

Her approach is to first go to school on the vendor's design and maximize everything she can from the investment by working hard to be an expert at using the tool as delivered. Then as an expert, she goes to work with the vendor in adding to the design and pushing for the changes that help the credit union execute the product and see returns on being a vested user of the solution.

"The bottom line is you have to think bigger than just working on one tactic at a time. You have to think about being a change agent in your relationship with vendors to make lasting, improved development a goal for both customer and owner," Slavens emphasized.

Through all her success, Slavens said one of the most important pieces of advice she has for herself and others is that failures and mistakes are what make you become a great leader.

"So bounce back and speak up," the IT executive said. "Backing your gut feelings and opinions with data is important. Any time you want to speak up, you have to arm yourself with knowledge."