As CO-OP continues to redefine our role as your payments and technology partner, we are constantly looking to bring in new leaders with a broad range of experience and perspectives. It is important that the depth and diversity of talent we’re adding reflect the continuous transformation of our organization; and in that respect, we are very excited to introduce five new change agents hired to key positions at CO-OP.
From seasoned industry professionals to a new media pioneer and even a veteran of the Iowa State legislature – these new additions to our expanding leadership team will inject fresh ideas and perspectives into our work. Our new leaders can’t wait to get to know you better.
Meet the five newest leaders at CO-OP:
David Knowles – Senior Vice President of Client Delivery & Operations
David Knowles brings more than 20 years of financial services experience and expertise in building and executing enterprise-wide transformation strategies. Over the last two years, he has worked closely with CO-OP, most recently at Ernst & Young supporting various client projects and building our new integrated service model.
David will head up the Design unit of CO-OP’s Enterprise Technology & Services, overseeing targeted client solution projects and the evolution of an integrated service model.
David is also a proud long-time credit union member with Chittenden County Teachers Credit Union (now One Credit Union), where his 12- and 10-year old daughters are also members.
Sara Critchfield – Director of Content Marketing & Demand Generation
Sara Critchfield is the Founding Editor of Upworthy, a website that curates highly-shareable content driven by social issues. Fast Company magazine named Upworthy “the fastest-growing media company of all time” during Sara’s tenure, and it was largely thanks to her innovative approach to marketing, big data and algorithms that the site became a viral phenomenon.
Critchfield was introduced to CO-OP back when she was a keynote presenter at THINK 15 and a co-host of THINK 16. She has also served as a digital media consultant on CO-OP’s content marketing over the past few years. In her new role, Critchfield will help promote the credit union industry more broadly, telling the credit union story through engaging content.
Sara is a proud member of Wescom Credit Union in Pasadena, CA.
Amber Danford – Vice President of Client Services
Over the past 16 years, Amber Danford has worked at multiple credit unions in marketing, business development and operations, most recently serving as Chief Operating Officer at Stanford Federal Credit Union. She has also served as a member of CO-OP’s Co-Creation Council on Payments for the past two years.
Amber’s focus will be on optimizing partnerships between CO-OP and credit union clients – ensuring that services are performed at the highest level, service questions are speedily resolved and onboarding proceeds without a hitch – with the ultimate goal of delivering a superior experience for both credit unions and their members. Key areas for her will be the Collabria partnership and optimizing the service consulting strategy.
Amber has been a member of Texas Trust Credit Union for 14 years, Resource One for 13 years and Stanford FCU for 4 years. She is passionate about giving consumers a choice and providing a better alternative to banking.
Jacki Best – Director of Product Management
Jacki Best has spent the last eight years managing production staff and processes for the Iowa Legislature, with the Legislative Services Agency in Des Moines. Although Jacki is a newcomer to financial services, her expertise at finding and eliminating inefficiencies in collaborative, fast-changing environments will be invaluable during her new role as Director of Product Management.
Jacki will be focused on product enablement, so that the benefits and best uses of CO-OP’s expanding solutions lines are thoroughly understood within the market. A secondary focus will be optimizing the product development process, from incorporating feedback to ensuring quality and helping to get products to market on time.
Jacki is a member of Marine Credit Union and is passionate about supporting and helping to advance the credit union movement.
Jennifer (Jeni) Campagna – Director, Industry Services
Jeni Campagna comes to CO-OP with 27 years of experience at First Data Corporation (now Fiserv). During her tenure, she held various VP positions within Operations, Product Development, and Account/Program Management.
Her industry experience in Settlement, Fraud, Disputes and Project/Product management align with her work with CO-OP over the last year consulting on CO-OP’s strategic Enterprise Chargebacks Initiative. Her focus will continue on the Enterprise Chargebacks Initiative and she will lend her considerable expertise to CO-OP’s industry and back-office operations.
Jeni is a member of SAC Federal Credit Union and is excited about bringing her extensive industry experience to help digitally transform the credit union movement.
By bringing in visionary change agents from inside and outside the credit union industry, CO-OP is going beyond building systems and solutions: we’re also transforming the ways in which we connect and engage with our credit unions. The CO-OP experience encompasses all of the technological strides we’ve made, but also our evolving capacity to help credit unions change, grow and thrive. And people are at the center of every initiative.
We’re excited to see where these new leaders help take us as an organization!
Meet members of the CO-OP leadership team at two remaining 2019 Roadshows. Discover how to accelerate growth and transformation while collaborating with other forward-thinking credit unions.
2019 Roadshow Schedule:
October 10, 2019 | Houston, Texas
- Featuring a presentation on the technological and economic conditions that will shape the future of the credit union movement by Filene Research Institute as well as a Master Class on Data Strategy
October 24, 2019 | Washington, DC
- Featuring a presentation on the key forces driving change in consumer financial services by Ernst & Young and a Master Class on Data Strategy
The original article Meet the New Change Agents Bringing Fresh Perspectives to CO-OP can be found on Insight Vault.
