"We created an environment here to be able to aggressively and assertively collect the loans, manage employee performance and reward them with success," Sookazian said.

He said he believes it's also critical for employees to be inspired, because without inspiration, they won't feel motivated to go beyond their standard procedures, or really pay attention and alert him if they feel something is off.

Sookazian spearheaded the use of automated reports at the credit union, which has helped the organization in numerous ways, including by significantly improving processes.

Instead of dealing with manual tasks, collectors and managers are able to focus more time on helping members. In addition, managers are able to spend more time analyzing data than collecting it.

Automated reports also lead to better risk assessments, he said. Risk reports are generated on a daily basis, which helps to monitor problems daily instead of at the end of a month or six months in the future. Sookazian said if you manage your portfolio risk on a daily basis, you can see the swings. Through automation, he's able to see today's delinquency level, and while it may not mean anything in itself, by comparing it to delinquencies during other time periods, he can pinpoint potential trends and shifts.

"Having that trending analysis is critical so that you can put the brakes on something or dive deeper. You want to know when there's a problem today, not six months from now," he emphasized.

Automation has helped reduce delinquencies at the credit union. Sookazian said when he joined the credit union in 2014, loan delinquencies were at 1.57% (as of September 2014). Within 24 months, they dropped to 0.37%.

"We reduced our allowance for loan and lease losses over the course of two years from September 2014 through September 2016 by $1.8 million, thereby improving the bottom line by $1.8 million. This was a direct result of the improved collection program," Sookazian said.

To help managers save time, Sookazian programmed automated reports for them, which allows them to now spend more time analyzing data instead of piecing reports together.

"As a manager, you could literally spend your whole day every day trying to interpret reports. So forget the interpreting portion, that's just the building of it. I spent time programming it so it was automated, and it's generated monthly and daily automatically," he emphasized.

Sookazian also helped to automate the credit union's biannual skip-a-pay program, which, for a small fee, allows eligible members to skip a loan payment twice a year. Previously, the skip-a-payment request process was manual and very labor-intensive, and could take up to an hour per request. Members would have to apply and wait for the paperwork, and the collector would then have to assess the member's history with the loan to see if they qualified.

But Sookazian changed all of this when he automated the program. Now an email goes out to the member, they can access the request through their smartphone and within a minute, the skip is approved. That same evening, it's processed, batched and completed, Sookazian said. It benefits the member because they're able to get financial relief and benefits the credit union through the collection of program fees.

"It's been an excellent service and it's been approved very well within our membership," Sookazian said.

Sookazian has used his knowledge to create the National Credit Union Collections Alliance, a national non-profit organization that focuses on credit union education, hosts conferences, and provides educational and networking services nationwide for credit unions. The all-volunteer board has members from 13 different credit unions across the country.

Sookazian said he was motivated to create the organization because he saw an opportunity for credit unions to better network and integrate with third-party vendors. Credit unions have fewer resources compared to banks, Sookazian said.

"[If we] could come together as an aggregate we could be a powerful work horse," he said.

The NCUCA holds periodic conferences for mostly collection management professionals and attendance is gradually increasing.

"This was a way for me to help inspire others. They, through my networking and my inspiration to them, are motivated and inspired to volunteer their time at this board. They didn't know where it was going, but they saw the vision," Sookazian said.