Connecticut’s Connex CU Promotes 18

EAST

The $957 million, North Haven, Conn.-based Connex Credit Union announced 18 promotions.

Barbara Bafumi was promoted from assistant vice president, controller to vice president, controller. Bafumi has worked at Connex for over 15 years and is responsible for managing the accounting, treasury and operations areas of the credit union. She also now sits on the board of directors of the ConnexCares Charitable Foundation.

Dave Baker was promoted from manager, operations and security to assistant vice president, operations and security. Baker has worked for Connex for the past eight years and is responsible for facilities management, security, cash technology and document retention.

Jim Balazsi was promoted to assistant vice president, loan servicing and will add indirect lending to his consumer lending operations role. Balazsi has worked for Connex for almost two years as director, loan servicing.

Dave Birkins was promoted to EVP after less than a year as vice president. In his new role, Birkins will have broad responsibility for finance and operations at Connex.

Christen Bowen was promoted from eServices and mobile/analytics manager to assistant vice president of deposit operations. Bowen has been with Connex for the past 26 years, and in her new role, she will continue to be responsible for electronic bank and card management services.

LeAndre Dupree was promoted from community development specialist to assistant vice president, community development. He joined Connex less than a year ago.

Melannie Hart was promoted to assistant vice president, core processing. Hart has been with Connex for more than 30 years as core administrator. In her new role, she will be a key leader in the credit union’s ongoing core conversion.

Dennis Klemenz was promoted from vice president of information technology to SVP, information technology. In his new role, Klemenz will continue to lead digital transformation, technology and cybersecurity efforts at Connex. He also serves as vice president of ConnexCares.

Jim Luurtsema was promoted to assistant vice president, information technology. Luurtsema has been working at Connex since 2021 as director of IT infrastructure and holds a master’s degree in cybersecurity, networking and infrastructure.

Nadine Martone was promoted to assistant vice president, member service. Martone has been with Connex for over four years as director of member service. In her new role, she will continue to oversee the call center, ITM function and eServices groups.

Suzanne Mink was promoted to vice president, consumer lending. Mink has been with Connex for over seven years as assistant vice president, consumer lending. In her new role she will continue to oversee the consumer retail and mortgage lending segments of business.

Amy Moquet was promoted to vice president, human resources. Moquet has been the director of HR since 2014. In her new role, she continues to work with employee staffing, benefits administration and employee satisfaction.

Louise Nestor was promoted to assistant vice president, marketing. Nestor has been director of marketing for almost 10 years. She is currently leading the Connex rebranding effort and is a board member of ConnexCares.

Michael Nowicky was promoted to vice president, operations. Nowicky has been with Connex for seven years as compliance officer, during which time he has played a key role in upgrading the BSA compliance function and improving the internal control structure with key department functions.

Kathleen O’Connor was promoted to assistant vice president, consumer lending. O’Connor has been with Connex since 1984 and has overseen the consumer lending segment as director, consumer lending. In her new role, she is responsible for loan originations and underwriting.

Jason Rochefort was promoted to vice president. Rochefort has been with Connex since 2007 and recently served as assistant vice president, advocacy. In his new role, he is continuing his oversight of the credit union’s eight branches, retail mortgage lending and member advocacy efforts.

John Roy was promoted to assistant vice president, member payment solutions. Roy has worked at Connex for the past six years as collections manager. In his new role, he will continue working on keeping delinquencies and charge-offs at better than peer levels.

Michael Taylor was promoted to vice president, indirect lending. Taylor has been with Connex since 2015 as assistant vice president, indirect lending.

MIDWEST

The $2.8 billion, Muskego, Wis.-based Corporate Central Credit Union hired Greg Yoko as a business development executive. In his new role, Yoko will proactively evaluate the financial climate of credit unions, identify their needs and position Corporate Central products and solutions to meet those needs. He will advise and schedule training and educational opportunities for member and future member credit unions. He will also assist leadership in the development of sales objectives, marketing strategies and business plans. Yoko brings over 25 years in marketing and business development experience across multiple industries, including technology, publishing, manufacturing, and college and professional sports. He also co-owned a publishing and event management company that served the land development industry. He earned a master’s of arts in communication – message design from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

SOUTH

The $4.5 billion Coastal Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C., hired Sean Flynn as vice president of analytics and insights. In his new role, Flynn will lead Coastal’s efforts to build and leverage an advanced internal data analytics system to provide the insights needed to meet growth objectives and key performance indicators. In addition to managing the analytics and insights team, Flynn will work with leaders across the organization to identify opportunities to effectively use data and analytics to improve decision making and strategic objectives. Flynn brings 20 years of expertise in analytics, data science, performance evaluation, leadership and business strategy. In his most recent role as senior director of venture analytics at Quantworks, he worked closely with Coastal’s leadership team in developing a Structured Data Analytics Library platform, as well as identifying and defining KPIs. He holds a master’s of arts and PhD in economics from New York University.

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