Like many executives, Chad Graves begins his day by readingThe Wall Street Journal, USA Today and his localnewspaper. Only Graves is not a CEO or CFO, he's the chieftechnologist at Ent Federal Credit Union.

The senior vice president of information technology at the $3.7billion Colorado Springs, Colo., credit union said his co-workerssometimes tease him for what might look like an old-school activitythat has little to do with the daily activities of an IT shop.

But his reasoning is simple. “Our focus is on how to return themost to our members, and that includes not only the ways we can usetechnology to improve member service through faster response timesand so on, but also the bigger picture, the market forces that wehave to keep up on and try to understand.”

“We don't want to constantly be in a reactionary mode to thetrends that are out there. The reality is that as leaders we haveto always try to understand those trends, to stay with them andeven get out in front of them when we can.”

This holistic approach to his job–and a focus on working toensure strategy becomes reality–has made Graves an establishedfigure in credit union technology and leadership circles ingeneral, and also has landed him selection as the IT Executive ofthe Year in the 2013 Trailblazer awards from Credit UnionTimes.

An Idaho native, Graves, now 40, joined Ent in 1999 with abackground in software development and a career that began as theInternet itself was in its infancy. Professionally, he grew up withonlinebanking, leading the creation and integration of electronicservices into the operations and mindset of management alike at hisColorado credit union.

While he has a technologist's training, he's the first to admithe's not purely a techie anymore. “My staff won't let me touchanything,” he said with a laugh. “I'm not the guy you wantconfiguring your router. But we're fortunate at Ent that we're bigenough to hire people who can specialize in that kind of work, andthat we've got a management team that understands the value of whywe need a router and why it needs to be tinkered with as we work tomeet our members' needs.”

He now leads a staff of 41 responsible for a technologyinfrastructure that can develop and deploy traditional and newproducts and services and maintain a bricks and mortar and onlinepresence that's always on, 24/7, wherever and whenever its 222,000members need them. 

“Chad is a different breed of technologist in that heunderstands very clearly how important the member experience is toeverything we do,” said Ent President/Chief Operating Officer RandyBernstein. “That includes not just online banking and mobilebanking but all the touch points where our employees are dealingwith members and the importance of system stability to getinformation quickly and efficiently.”

And while Ent is large by credit union standards, it's not bybank standards, and Graves has helped his credit union become aleader in industry cooperation, working with credit unioncolleagues and vendors from across the country to develop newtechnologies and improve existing tools.

His industry work has included leadership roles with the CUNATechnology Council (and helping with the current work to create anew payments committee), the Symitar Alliance Board, theCornerstone IT Roundtable and the ORCC User Group. 

Graves' work extends beyond the traditional domain of an ITmanager. He also spent two years in the Filene Research Institute'si3 Program, where he led efforts to create Debt in Focus, aconfidential tool for credit union members to identify specificsteps they can take to reduce their household debts. A number ofcredit unions now offer the program, including Ent, where more than650 members used it in 2012.

Another initiative he led was the creation of a Visa debit cardthat included access to campus dorms, buses and other key servicesat the local branch of the University of Colorado. Mobile bankingis now a major focus, with more than 40,000 members using thatchannel, and in the back office, accomplishments last year includedthe completion of a backup center that supports the credit union's27 service centers.

While Graves has never worked for a bank, his credit union hashired a number of bankers over the years and that they soon learnthat the two business models, while very similar, also contain somesharp differences. That includes the consumer-facing side–membersvs. customers–but also in relationships with those all-importantproviders of technology to today's modern financialinstitution.

“As a credit union we have a much different perspective. We'rehere for our members, and we remind vendors that every dollar savedgoes back to the members in the form of dividends on deposits orbetter loan rates,” he said. “Along those lines, we try tocollaborate with other credit unions to find vendors who understandcredit unions a little more, who can provide us solutions with alittle more value than we otherwise might get.”

A headline of that collaboration currently is the work towardcreating the Credit Union Financial Exchange, common softwarestandards that will allow credit unions and vendors to more easilycreate and connect integrated solutions, saving time and money.

“CUFXis important because the industry lacks common specifications,which results in higher costs for credit unions and vendors,”Graves said. “A CUFX-enabled world reduces costs for credit unions,results in faster time to market for new products and allows corevendors like Symitar to focus on innovation instead of supportingmore than 2,000 vendor interfaces.”

Graves said he and his colleagues have completed work on a CUFXstandard for personal financial management, are close to completionon one for new account opening and have online banking and mobilepayments on the agenda for 2013.

“Independently, the majority of credit unions are not largeenough to influence the outcome of topics like industry standardsand payment solutions, but when hundreds or even thousands ofcredit unions get together with one voice, we can make adifference,” he said, also pointing to the CO-OP network of30,000-plus ATMs as another example.

Graves' work on joint initiatives has earned him notice from hiscolleagues.

“I've had the privilege of working with Chad on many industrycommittees,” said current CUNA Technology Council Chair Heather Moshier, executive vice president of informationtechnology at the $5.8 billion San Diego County Credit Union. “Heconsistently has valuable input and has been in a leadership roleon these committees. He is always looking for new ways tocollaborate for the benefit of the credit union movement.”