Every once in a while, a cool job title catches your eye. Butbeyond capturing attention, trendy or leading-edge job titles canbe an effective recruitment and retention tool and openconversations that can lead to business opportunities.

According to John Sullivan ofPacifica, Calif., an internationally known HR thought leader,compelling job titles may have the highest ROI of any singleretention or recruitment tool.

He acknowledged in a blog post that this may be an “outrageousstatement,” but he noted companies such as Apple (Genius),Starbucks (Barista) and Best Buy (Geek Squad) have had success withinteresting job titles that helped recruit and retainemployees.

In the credit union industry, we found a few CU professionalswho have cool job titles. They tell us how their job titles werecreated and what they mean. More importantly, they also explain howtheir attention-grabbing job titles invariably lead toconversations and open opportunities to explain and advance thecredit union difference.

Here they are (and we invite you to let us know about others inthe Comments section below):

Vice President of Alternative Financial Services
Laura Castro de Cortes, Centris FCU

About a year ago, the $506 million Centris Federal Credit Union in Omaha, Neb., launched analternative way for underserved consumers who don't have checkingaccounts to manage their financial needs.

Centris rolled out self-servekiosks at their branches and retail locations that enableunderserved consumers to do a variety of financial transactions,including RightTrack checking, which gives consumers a secondchance to manage a checking account. Centris said it became thefirst financial institution in Nebraska to offer self-servicekiosks to the underserved market.

“At the core of our solution was the word 'alternative,'” saidLaura Castro de Cortes, vice president for alternative financialservices at Centris. “This was not lost both on the consumers orus, so the word alternative became part of the title.”

In addition to using her job title on business cards, emailsignature and letters, Castro de Cortes also uses it wheninterviewed by the media, which helps promote the credit union'sprogram.

“A common question (I get) is, 'what are alternative financialservices?” she said. “Which is a great segue to explain what I doand how Centris is different from all other financial services inour market, or for that matter, in the United States.”

Castro de Cortes believes her job title sends a positive messagethat Centris is a progressive credit union with an eye to thefuture.

Next: Power to the People Officer

Chief People Officer
Monique Little, First Tech FCU

Monique Little's job title came during organizational changesfollowing a completion of a merger deal at the $5.6 billionFirst Tech Federal Credit Union in Mountain View, Calif.

“My role isn't exclusively HR, soa traditional HR title didn't make sense,” said Little. “As thechief people officer, my role encompasses the functions that focuson people – developing people, how we communicate, and how weinteract with our community. My title is representative of thevariety of functions that my role oversees. It's also unique andforward-thinking, and we work with many forward-thinkingcompanies.”

First Tech operates about 30 branches mostly in the high-techcenters of California, Washington, Colorado and Oregon, serving362,350 members who work at some of the world's largest techcompanies, including HP, Microsoft, Agilent Technologies, Amazonand Cisco. (Those also are the kinds of companies where variationson the title “chief tech evangelist” appeared a few years ago andperhaps launched this trend.)

Although titles like chief people officer are not very common incredit union HR offices, Little believes there is a gradual shiftin the HR industry to move away from traditional roles andtitles.

Little said she has found her job title invitesconversation.

“I get a lot of positive feedback from people in the HR fieldand in the credit union industry,” she said. “I think employeesfind it approachable. It's also more reflective of my personality –I'm very social and people-oriented, so I think it plays to mystrengths.”

In addition to sending a fun and forward-thinking message toemployees and partners, Little said, her job title reinforces theimportance of her function and represents the importance of peoplein the credit union.

Next: Unofficially Fun

Minister of Fun
Jeff Papas, Northern Communities CU

Officially, Jeff Papas is a marketing specialist for the $76million Northern Communities Credit Union in Duluth, Minn.

Unofficially, Jeff Papas is alsothe Minister of Fun.

He came up with the idea for his new title to coincide with thecredit union's rebranding initiative in 2010.

“We wanted to establish ourselves as an interesting and funplace to do business with, and a place that is always focused onour members,” explained Papas. To promote the focus on members, thecredit union placed the letters 'nccyou' on its logo. The lettersalso are used as the credit union's Web address, nccyou.com.

“Minister of Fun is not my formal title, but it is a title I usefairly frequently. I wanted to reinvent myself at the same time wewere reinventing the credit union,” Papas said. “The title is anattention grabber. After all, grabbing attention is one of the mainpoints of marketing.”

Papas also had a lot of fun creating an ad campaign to introducethe credit union's rebranding. The ads won two nationalexcellence awards at CUNA's marketing and business developmentconvention in Las Vegas in 2011.

“You can't do marketing with the fake nose and clown shoes, butat the same time, you do need to make a point gently to people thatwe are different,” said Papas. “That is the way I choose to do iton my own personal level.”

Next: CEO Plus

CEO + Innovator
Linda Bodie, Element Credit Union

Linda Bodie's job title sends the message that she is noordinary credit union leader who doesn't like to do anything in anordinary way.

As the chief + innovator of the$27 million Element Credit Union in Charleston, W.Va., she is passionateand proud to be called a technology geek.

“It's always been an innate part of me,” she said.

Because Bodie has been able to develop and implement ITprojects, the small and growing credit union has been able tocontrol costs, making it affordable to deliver the latesttechnology solutions to meet member's expectations and attract newmembers.

“We wear so many hats that traditional titles just don't fit. So, whenever applicable, we create titles that reflect whatwe do,” said Bodie. “My title of CEO + Innovator fits me because ittells the whole story of what I do at Element. CEO is what itis … traditional 'run the show' sorta thing. But I do a lotmore than run the show. I create new processes and ways ofserving our members and employees. I create a lot ofnon-traditional credit union stuff. So, adding innovator tomy title lets you know who and what I really am.”

Bodie said she has received positive comments about her title,pointing out that people like to see unique things.

“It's a conversation starter, too. So I can really engagewith folks who want to learn more about what I do,” Bodie said.“Employees are used to me being a little off the wall, so they'renot really surprised. They have fun creating their owntitles, too.”

Next: Are You Experienced?

Chief Experience Officer
Ashley Kohlrus, Allegacy FCU

In the financial services markets, credit unions and bankspretty much offer the same products and services. But many creditunions work hard to pull ahead of the crowd by delivering exemplaryservice.

Ashley Kohlrus' job as chiefexperience officer (CXO) for the $1 billion Allegacy Federal Credit Union in Winston Salem, N.C., is tofocus on improving and enhancing the member experience that canhelp the credit union stand out among its competitors.

“The way we make our members feel will be our key differentiatorand allow us to deepen members relationships,” said Kohlrus. “Thereis an ever-increasing range of ways members can interact with theircredit union. Adding a dedicated CXO to the mission will onlyfurther the opportunity to distinguish ourselves.”

In addition to working on creating better member experiences inall of the credit union's channels, she also is responsible forimproving the employee experience.

“We want happy, engaged employees to help take care of ourmembers, which will allow for life-long relationships that supportAllegacy's mission to help members make smart financial choices,”explained Kohlrus, who was named the 2012 CUES Next Top CreditUnion Executive.

Her first project as CXO was mapping the member experience thattook employee groups through all delivery channels and identifiedwhat impressions employees create for members and where memberimpressions may be enhanced.

Kohlrus said her job title sends a strong message that membersand employees are always the credit union's top priorities.