Aimee West
Aimee W. is an accomplished operations and strategy executive based in Austin, Texas, with over 18 years of experience in product and project management. She currently serves as Vice President of Operations and Strategy at BankingON, where she has spent the past seven years helping to scale the organization and refine its client-focused approach. With expertise spanning strategic operations, organizational development, contract negotiations, vendor management, and customer success, Aimee is known for aligning people, processes, and performance to drive sustainable growth. Her leadership philosophy centers on identifying and developing potential, both within individuals and across organizational systems.
In her current role, Aimee oversees a broad and complex portfolio that touches nearly every aspect of the business. She manages vendor relationships and leads legal and contractual negotiations up to the point of external counsel involvement, while also running the company’s HR function and its full range of responsibilities. Reporting into her organization are the project management, implementations, account management, customer success, and quality assurance teams—essentially all functions dedicated to delivering and refining the customer experience. Operating within a lean, highly dynamic environment, Aimee embraces the reality that no two days are the same, balancing multiple priorities while maintaining the high standards and operational efficiency that define the company’s success.
Aimee’s career journey reflects a deep commitment to people development and organizational impact. While pursuing her master’s degree in management and leadership, which she completed in 2020, she began intentionally shifting her focus toward organizational development, discovering a passion for helping others grow into their full potential. That passion continues to shape her leadership today, as she actively coaches and mentors team members, often empowering individuals to step into roles beyond their traditional experience. By embedding coaching and growth into the culture of the organization, Aimee plays a key role in fostering a high-performing, adaptable team that thrives on both accountability and opportunity.
• Western Governors University - MS, Management and Leadership
• Western Governors University - BS, Marketing/Marketing Management, General
• Green River College - AA, Communication and Media Studies
• Top 50 Women Leaders in Financial Technology of 2024 by Financial Technology Report
• PMI
• Northside Youth Sports Association
• Foster Village
What do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, I have a couple of really incredible humans who took a chance on me at various parts of my career where my resume didn't necessarily match my skill set. They gave me opportunities that, on paper, I wasn't necessarily qualified for, but they saw something that didn't read on the resume and gave me chances. I got a shot back into the working world after having kids, and then when I moved across country and had to switch industries, I had another leader say, 'I see that you're working as an executive assistant, and I see that you are working way below your capabilities, and let's throw you into a different role.' So two different times, I was given an opportunity that was not what my resume said I was capable of, but the people there saw what I could do. I've just been very, very fortunate to have some pretty incredible mentors.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Speak half as much as you listen. I think that would probably be the biggest one. Also, there's not a person that you can't learn from. Recognize that no matter where someone sits on a social or corporate ladder, they have something to teach you.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Trust your instincts. Don't be afraid to speak up. And the number of women in the room isn't indicative of the room there is for other women in the room.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think that on a regular basis, it's just trying to maintain the high quality that we've created as an organization, as far as our service goes. Making sure that the product is always living up to the highest standards, and our service to our customers and their end users is always up to the highest standards, while maintaining our bottom line. We try to run really lean, really slim organizationally - we don't like to overstaff. But doing that often is a challenge.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say integrity is first. Only act in ways that you would want everyone seeing. I think that's been biggest in my career and in my personal life. I believe that we should act in ways that should be universal law - if you don't believe that everybody should behave in a certain way, you shouldn't be behaving in that way. People first, I think. Humans, before everything else, need to be our priority. Organizationally, I think that we've really built an organization that puts our people before everything else, which I think is really, really important. And there's always an opportunity to continue to educate yourself and grow. That doesn't necessarily mean a formal education, but just exposure to things that you are unfamiliar with - opportunities to grow in culture and intellectualism and experience. The pursuit of additional knowledge, I think, is huge in my world.