CUNA Tech Council Sets Sights on Automation, Development Processes

In the credit union industry, competitive edge increasingly revolves around technological prowess, which is turning tech-focused organizations such as CUNA’s Technology Council into powerful influencers.

The council provides technology-related networking opportunities as well as forums, roundtables, conferences, white papers and other resources to around 850 members in the credit union industry. This fall, it announced the members of its 2019-2020 executive committee, which includes operations and technology leaders from 13 credit unions.

“Technology plays a key role in the credit union industry’s ability to achieve ongoing success in fulfilling our mission,” CUNA Technology Council Executive Committee Chair Chris Saneda told CU Times. “Toward this goal, the Technology Council has enriched my personal thinking and approach to both technology and business.”

Saneda is EVP and COO of the North Chesterfield, Va.-based Virginia Credit Union, which has $3.7 billion in assets and about 290,000 members.

“A goal for 2020 will be to grow our membership so that more technology professionals experience the ‘Council difference,’” he said. “For many of us, this difference comes in the opportunity to professionally develop and improve execution by listening and discussing the experiences of others. Through this peer sharing, we move our individual organizations forward quicker and further.”

Saneda also said two ideas were high on the discussion list during the council’s recent joint conference with CUNA’s Operations and Member Experience Council.

“The Technology Exchange is a pre-conference event where technology leaders had the opportunity to discuss a range of topics. Two topics, RPA [robotic process automation] and Agile, captured a lot of attention and questions. These are topics that the council will further delve into to assist our industry to mature,” he said.

RPA helps automate employee tasks so that workers are able to spend time on more important tasks. Agile is a project development strategy often used in software development. It generally focuses on simple design and working in bursts or sprints.

“Engaged technologists make the council stronger, which in turn makes our industry stronger,” Saneda said.

The 2019-2020 CUNA Technology Council Executive Committee includes:

• Chris Saneda, chair, senior EVP/COO, Virginia CU
• Caroline Martorano, vice chair, director of operation & support, BCU
• Samantha Amburgey, second vice chair, chief information officer, Michigan State University Federal Credit Union
• Alex Barker, SVP/chief information officer, Mountain America Credit Union
• Willis Chang, vice president innovation & application delivery, Kinecta Federal Credit Union
• Fernando Ortega, SVP/chief information officer, GECU
• Jim Phillips, SVP/chief information officer, SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union
• Idrees Rafiq, associate vice president IT consulting, Credit Union Resources, Inc.
• Mark Reed, SVP of technology, American Airlines Credit Union
• Richard Roark, vice president/chief technology officer, Bay Federal Credit Union
• Randy Stolp, chief information officer, My Community Credit Union
• Murali Krishnan, chief information officer, LGE Community Credit Union
• Joey Rudisill, chief information officer, Central Willamette Credit Union