Professionals Start New Roles at 5 Credit Unions, 2 Vendors

WEST

The Sacramento-based, $14.9 billion Golden 1 Credit Union added two new executives to its leadership team.

Shane Knighton joined Golden 1 as SVP – business and financial services. Knighton comes to Golden 1 from Member Business Lending, LLC (MBL), a commercial loan service provider for credit unions throughout the U.S., where he was most recently the president/CEO. He spent much of his 20-year business lending career in multiple executive roles at MBL, leaving temporarily to start the business services division at a national credit union, and then to lead the business services unit at a large Southern California credit union before returning to MBL.

Reva Rao is the new SVP – consumer lending. Rao brings more than 20 years of financial services and consumer lending experience, most recently leading the national marketing expansion of Home Equity at Prosper. Prior to Prosper, she led product strategy at Terafina, a fintech company that provides sales solutions for credit unions and community banks. Rao also spent 13 years at Wells Fargo in multiple executive roles.

The $24.75 billion, Tukwila, Wash.-based BECU welcomed Sarah Nuanes as the branch manager of its first Neighborhood Financial Center (NFC) in Bellingham, Wash., opening Aug. 25 at the Lakeway Shopping Center on Lakeway Drive.

In her role, Nuanes is responsible for overseeing the NFC’s day-to-day operations while also recruiting members and coaching, training and developing a newly-formed team of BECU member consultants. She has over 18 years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining BECU, Nuanes served as a retail branch manager at KeyBank, and before that, she held manager roles at Union Bank for over two years.

EAST

The $381 million, Albany, N.Y.-based First New York Federal Credit Union hired three new employees.

Cassandra Latour was hired as a human resource generalist. She previously worked at Protective Industrial Services as a human resources business partner. She also worked at Albany Molecular Research as a payroll administrator, as well as at the Saratoga Regional YMCA as the human resources director.

Meaghan Stark was hired as a conventional mortgage processor. She will be responsible for processing commercial and residential loan requests. Stark will also facilitate communication with attorneys, realtors, appraisers and vendors throughout the loan process. Prior to joining First New York, she worked at Trustco Bank as a processing supervisor and underwriter.

Lexy Farrell was hired as a marketing coordinator.

Prior to joining First New York, she worked as a human resources coordinator at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, as well as a social media content coordinator for Highly Caffeinated Marketing. Farrell is a graduate from The College at Brockport with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing.

GFA Federal Credit Union ($590 million, Gardner, Mass.) hired Christopher Brunell as vice president/commercial lender.

Brunell brings 28 years of experience in the financial services industry, including commercial lending, relationship management, underwriting and business development. He joins GFA having previously served as vice president, commercial banking officer at a community bank.

MIDWEST

The $1 billion Cobalt Credit Union in Papillion, Neb., added Shelby Ortiz as manager of the credit union’s Lincoln, Neb., branches. She oversees day-to-day operations of two branches in the capital city and ensures members’ banking needs are met. Ortiz has worked in banking for nine years, serving previously as a teller, personal banking representative, loan officer and branch manager with several other financial institutions. She attended Southeast Community College in Lincoln, where she earned an associate degree in business administration.

VENDORS

PolicyWorks in Des Moines, Iowa expanded its board of advisors to seven with the appointment of two new members.

John “Ogie” Sheehy, founder of GRC technology firm ViClarity, joins PolicyWorks’ board of advisors with more than 16 years’ experience working through the ranks of top-tier technology companies, such as Hewlett Packard, IBM and Dell. PolicyWorks acquired ViClarity in 2020 as part of its intention to leverage technology and automation to resolve highly complex and manual GRC processes.

Nicole Gunderson, managing director of the Des Moines-based Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA), joins PolicyWorks’ board of advisors with a career spanning finance, technology and startups. She made her transition to the startup world in 2012, and within five years, advanced from MBA intern to vice president of sales and strategy for fintech startup Dwolla. Prior to joining GIA, she served as COO at Speeko, an automated verbal analysis and speech coaching company.

LenderClose, also in Des Moines, added five professionals to its team.

Chris Meade was hired as sales vice president. Meade brings more than a decade of experience to LenderClose, including IT recruiting and account management. Most recently, he was the manager of branch sales for IT recruiting firm AVID Technical Resources, and also served as a technical account manager for IP Pathways. In his new role, Meade will oversee the daily sales activity and create more effective sales strategies to promote LenderClose solutions.

Sarah Bond was hired as a relationship manager. She joins LenderClose with more than a decade of sales leadership and account management experience, primarily with technology companies such as Dwolla, Genesis10 and most recently, IP Pathways. For LenderClose, Bond will help grow the company’s market share, establishing and building relationships with key clients. The various business unit leaders will also rely on her expertise in maintaining existing contracts and retention goals through integration and cross sale of LenderClose products and services.

Sarah Porter was hired as a sales executive. Most recently, she held a marketing and sales manager position at State Farm. Prior to that, she was a strategy consultant at Packback before being promoted to program manager and event coordinator for the AI-supported student online discussion platform. In her new role, Porter will lead sales initiatives that generate interest in LenderClose solutions, uncover new partnership opportunities with financial institutions and facilitate a seamless onboarding process.

Kristin Walters was hired as marketing communications specialist. Joining LenderClose as a recent graduate of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Walters earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and public relations with a concentration in marketing and minor in art. She completed several marketing internships during her time at Coe, including a position with Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust.

Max Zaug was hired as a relationship manager.

Zaug joins LenderClose from Marco Technologies, where he was a technology advisor. For LenderClose, Zaug will use his IT industry experience to onboard new clients and partners, and successfully utilize the LenderClose platform and technology to achieve key results.

Please send your People news items to Natasha Chilingerian at nchilingerian@cutimes.com.