CORVALLIS, Ore. – About 40 senior executives from credit unions across the country gathered recently for Summit Information System's Advanced Technology Interchange Conference in Indian Wells, Calif. Participants attended discussions and presentations on developments from the core data processing provider, and heard from speakers that included Mark Sievewright, former president and CEO of TowerGroup, CRM expert Lisa Loftis from the Cutter Consortium and Cornerstone Advisors consultant Steve Williams. "Summit provided us with an interactive and knowledge-sharing forum that will directly impact our current and future technology and application developments," said Gary Furtado, president of $900 million Credit Union Central Falls in Rhode Island. "This focus for us means fostering two-way exchanges – such as this conference – that allow us to better develop an understanding of our client needs and align them with best practices and insights we obtain through our industry experience," said Kevin Sparks, CEO of Summit, a Fiserv unit that serves more than 300 credit unions.