Trellance, the newly re-emerged CUSO with a commitment to providing innovative yet simple solutions to help credit unions reach higher, recently announced the recipients of its Exceptional Member Initiative (EMI) Awards, which will be presented in May at its annual conference, immersion18.
The EMI Awards, which were revamped this year to include more tangible benefits for credit unions, added a brand-new Acceleration Technology Scholarship with a $10,000 award. The scholarship was designed to be used towards the design and implementation of a technology initiative. “We wanted to invest in the future success of a credit union that has an innovative, technology solution or product/service that will make a big difference in their operations now and in the future,” says Jennifer Bryant, VP of marketing at Trellance.
The recipient of this inaugural award is Western New York Federal Credit Union (WNYFCU), based in West Seneca, NY. With an asset size of just under $50 million, WNYFCU has big plans to incorporate more technology to grow their membership base, particularly among the younger demographic, as well as increase the number of products/services per member and improve overall member experience. “Our Interactive Membership Initiative incorporates two member-requested technologies – Tokenization and Remote Deposit Capture and two services that we identified that will provide a more innovative and interactive member experience – Text Concierge and Voice Banking,” noted Marie Betti, CEO of WNYFCU.
The Trailblazer Innovation and Total Immersion Member Experience Awards were also added this year. The Trailblazer Innovation Award will be awarded to the credit union that implemented the most effective or innovative technology project in 2017. This award will be presented to GE Credit Union in Connecticut. While the Total Immersion Member Experience Award will recognize the credit union that made the most significant enhancement to their member experience in 2017. This inaugural award will be presented to Directions Credit Union, also based in Ohio.
Trellance will also award its Illumination Community Leadership Award, that is presented to a credit union that made the most impactful difference in their community in 2017. The Award will be presented to Alpena Alcona Area Credit Union in Michigan. Additionally, based on the continued success of its Optimize Program, Trellance will also present its Optimize Performance Awards in two categories Card Portfolio Growth Solutions (CPGS) and Credit Line Increase Program (CLIP). Credit unions will be awarded from three different asset sizes for both categories. For CPGS, the awards will go to NET FCU, First Financial CU and TTCU FCU. While American Spirit FCU, Our CU and Red Rocks CU will receive the awards for CLIP.
“We are very pleased with the submissions we got this year and we look forward to investing in and recognizing these impactful initiatives,” added Bryant. The awards will be presented at a special luncheon during the conference on Thursday, May 10.