Jayla Lane

I started my career in the credit union industry 10 years ago at a credit union in Indiana, where I essentially worked my way up through the organization. I then got the opportunity to move to Central New York in January, where I am now, to continue doing what I love. My career has always been surrounded with service, helping members, and really just being that person that helps motivate others - I'm a very people-oriented leader. In my current role, I run our virtual services team, which means I'm over our outbound sales department, our call center, our virtual financial center, and our interactive teller machine operations. These are all very different roles and jobs, but they're all about helping our members virtually, not face-to-face. My days are filled with a lot of meetings focused on strategy and thinking towards the future - how can we be proactive so that we don't need to be reactive going forward. A huge part of my role is figuring out how we can use technology and automate processes to make things easier for our employees so they can spend more time interacting with our members in different ways, helping them plan for their future or figuring out what products and services might be best for them. People hear automation and think we're trying to replace people, but not at all - we're just trying to make things easier so we can continue to connect. In the credit union field, the connection with our members is the most important thing, and that's what people leave big banks for. You're going to talk to a real person, we're going to look at your account, and we're going to figure out how we can help you. That's what we want to be able to continue to do as we grow, and making sure the member experience stays where it needs to be is a huge part of my role. I love what I do and wouldn't want it any other way.