The Rundown

• Trailblazer Award winner is active nationally in creditunion IT leadership.
• Heather Moshier led numerous initiatives and championedmultiple member-facing and back office projects at San Diego CountyCU.
• She credits collegial relationships in the industry and ather credit union for progress they've made.

Heather Moshier works for the benefit of her credit union'smembers out front and behind the scenes, and, as if she had time tospare, has become a respected member of the nationwide network ofCU technology managers.

For that and more, Moshier, executive vice president ofinformation technology at the $5 billion San Diego County CreditUnion, has been named the 2011 winner of the Trailblazer Award asIT Executive of the Year by Credit Union Times.

In her nomination, plaudits for Moshier came from vendors,consultants and peers alike, including this from Rudy Pereira, CUNATechnology Council chair and senior vice president of operationsand technology at the $7.6 billion Alliant CU in Chicago.

“I believe that Heather is one of the top IT leaders in ourindustry. She is a can-do person and pushes for the best out ofvendors and partners. She is relentless in seeking answers andconstantly trying to improve things around her. And while she isdoing all that, she is respected and liked by everyone who has hadthe privilege of working with her.”

Pereira, like many others in the industry, knows Moshier fromher work with the CUNA Technology Council, where with herleadership on the council's membership committee, enrollmentreached an all-time high in 2010. She's also a founder of theSouthern California Symitar Users Group and a member of that coreprocessor's advisory board and the Fiserv Consumer BankingTechnology Advisory Board.

“I've always been interested in focus groups, user groups,advisory boards, anything where I can learn from others, find outsome best practices and share some of my experiences with others,”Moshier said. “I've learned a lot from my peers.”

She added, “Being in the technology profession requires everydaylearning. I plan to continue to participate on advisory boards andthe CUNA Technology Council. They really broaden my knowledge andkeep me challenged. My participation also helps my credit unionbecause of the feedback we receive on technologies we're evaluatingand help answering questions on some of the challenges we'vefaced.”

Such interaction has become more important as the tech toolscredit unions use to deliver services rapidly evolve, and Moshiersaid knowing who you're dealing with has become ever moreimportant.

“Technology is moving more rapidly now than even over the pastfew years,” she said. “The cost has decreased and there are a lotmore choices available. However, there are new players entering themarket every day. It's important to do your due diligence whenselecting new technology partners.”

One of the vendor executives she's long kept an eye on, recentlyretired Symitar President Kathy Hooker Burress, said of Moshier:“When I formed the first Symitar Advisory Board in 2005, Heatherwas one of the members I picked to help me. In every instance, I'vefound her to be a true leader, someone with vision who makes sounddecisions after careful analysis of all the variables.”

That level of leadership and judgment shows in the shop,according to veteran consultant Steve Williams of CornerstoneAdvisors in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“In working with more than half of the country's top 100 creditunions, I've had the opportunity to review many of their ITfunctions. I can say without reservation that the IT shop thatHeather has developed at San Diego County Credit Union is one ofthe industry's best-managed operations,” Williams said.

Moshier first cut her teeth in the credit union IT space aquarter- century go, earning the nickname “Automation Queen” at herformer employer, Kearny Mesa FCU, where she began work as anaccountant in 1982.

She became interested in technology there and took computersystems training classes from the former USERS Inc. before leadinga conversion to that credit union's first in-house core system.

Then, in 1995, she joined SDCCU as its vice president of IT andbecame executive vice president two years later. There she has ledthe deployment of a long series of new solutions and services thatinclude security, e-commerce, disaster recovery, imaging, itemprocessing, IT infrastructure, core processing and training.

Her member-facing accomplishments include, most recently,leading SDCCU into the mobile age, helping to ensure the tech toolswere in place to empower a campaign that saw 500 members enroll inits first week. Online banking, bill pay, e-notices and e-statementuse all have grown sharply under her guidance, as well asinnovations such as image-enabled ATMs and behind-the-sceneenhancements such as expanded data encryption methods to protectmember data. She also has overseen IT efforts to help businessservices members comply with Reg E and Card Act changes.

In fact, SDCCU's IT department completed more than 2,200individual projects in 2010, while serving 21 FTEs per IT employeecompared with a peer average of 14 FTEs per employee.

Efficiency is something Moshier said she prizes and she's in theright area of her credit union to do something about it.

“Technology is a great tool for implementing efficiencies,”Moshier said. “Members have busy lifestyles and they want toperform their transactions in an expedited manner. If we have goodtechnology available for our front-line staff, members can performtheir transactions, whether that's applying for a loan or cashing acheck, in a minimum amount of time.”

And, since it all comes back to serving members, Moshier said,she's quick to point out that a recent independent study of hercredit union's branch operations found “they operate veryefficiently, which enables our front-line staff to have more timeto discuss products and services with our members.”

Expanding member interactions has been a recurring theme in techdeliveries at SDCCU, in fact, with live chat making its debutrecently on the credit union website. Other new products includeperson-to-person payments, overnight bill pay, QuickBooks forbusiness members and a branded iPhone app for the mobilechannel.

Behind the scenes, “we implemented a secondary data center withnear-time data replication and failover capabilities,” Moshiersaid, adding testing disaster recovery efforts to her list ofduties, along with overseeing the member information securityprogram and meeting IT compliance and risk obligations.

An employee intranet using Web 2.0 tools also is among recentprojects Moshier has managed or championed at SDCCU. She alsoparticipated in the credit union's “Go Green” committee to helpreduce resource use and raise awareness of conservation practicesacross the enterprise. Measures under her responsibility includedinstalling signature pads at teller windows to handle electronicreceipts.

Coming up this year are continuing ATM upgrades to handle Check21-grade deposits and cash acceptors, as well as e-documents forreal estate loans, online certificate renewals, SMS text banking,mobile deposits and account alerts.

“We'll also keep abreast of tablets to see what services wemight be able to add using this channel,” Moshier said. “We lookforward to continuing to serve our members with cutting-edgetechnologies.”

All this happens according to budget, the nomination from hercredit union said, noting that “Heather has initiated manyautomation efficiencies. She runs an efficient operation andmaintains strict cost controls. She immerses herself in rigorouscontract negotiations, constantly watching out for the bottom lineand protecting SDDCU members' best interests.”

And it all happens according to plan, as well–a five-yearstrategic technology plan that Moshier and other senior managersuse to work together with stakeholders throughout the organizationas they plot the credit union's future growth.

It's happening in phases, with the first phase a review of allsoftware applications, adequacy of infrastructure and systems,technology spending and staffing, including organizationalstructure and assessment of IT skill sets.

Next was assessment of all key systems, user knowledge and thecosts and stability of vendors. Last came an infrastructureassessment of data/voice networks, distributed systems, network andsecurity and network/systems management.

Keeping existing systems going also has been a priority–”She hasbeen tasked with maximizing system life expectancies during theseuncertain economic times and has risen to the challenge,” her SDCCUcolleagues said in her nomination–which included upgrading andreplacing the extensive desktop PC and networking operating systemsin the past year.

Also in the past year, Moshier contributed to a new CUNATechnology Council white paper on strategic technology planning,drawing on the experience she gained helping to lead thedevelopment of her own five-year plan at SDCCU.

“Our executive management team is very supportive oftechnology,” she said. “They understand the important role that itplays in delivering state-of-the-art service to our members. Wework well together during project implementations, which help thembe successful.”

When she's not at work, Moshier is an active participant incommunity affairs, including fundraisers and other events for theMultiple Sclerosis Society, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and theUnited Way.

It all fits her personal philosophy about the business whereshe's made her career and her mark. “I've always had a passion forthe credit union industry,” Moshier said. “I really believe in thepeople helping people philosophy.”

And she learned quickly how technology and people can cometogether. “I started out at a credit union with $26 million inassets and saw first-hand the challenges we faced trying to keeppace with the larger credit unions, and in keeping our skill setscurrent.”