Throughout the month of March, Finopotamus will celebrate Women’s History Month by featuring intriguing profiles and unique stories impacting the credit union and fintech industry. In the latest installment in our “Women in Technology” series, we visited with Fintilect’s CEO Lindsay Soergel.
By W.B. King
While working at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the early 1990s, Lindsay Soergel headed an innovation task force that was determining new ways to train sailors and submariners who were just beginning to implement web technologies. This work eventually led to a system integration position at a dotcom where she was responsible for driving both the business and technical aspects of the program.
“I was not an engineer or a computer scientist,” she told Finopotamus, noting that she had majored in business administration and writing while attending the University of Pittsburgh. She also carried minors in economics, philosophy, political science and psychology. She went on to study public policy in graduate school, while also taking programming courses.
“I decided to grab the opportunity and taught myself how to program web frontends. HTML 1.0 hadn’t even been published yet, so we were using its predecessor, SGML (standard generalized markup language) and we were occasionally even writing code in Notepad (Notepad++),” she reflected.
“Looking back, it was most definitely an unexpected career twist. However, in hindsight, it made perfect sense. With the advent of the web, programming was suddenly highly visual and interactive,” she continued. “The web was now driving communication and learning and consumer experience. It became the perfect vehicle to converge language and design skills with the sciences.”
Setting High Expectations
In March 2025, Soergel became CEO of the Atlanta-based Fintilect. The company bills itself as offering financial institutions (FIs) digital engagement through artificial intelligence (AI) by delivering seamless experiences in mortgage renewals, auto finance, wealth management and digital banking. The company has 29 FI clients and supports 72 employees, 44 of whom are tech-facing.
Prior to her current post, she worked for Equifax, NCR Corporation (now NCR Voyix and NCR Atleos) and SunTrust Bank, among other organizations. When she began her career, she described the workplace as “homogenous and hierarchical.” From a tech team perspective, she said there have been positive changes over the years due to greater variety of experience, education, cultures and leadership styles.
“This has been a welcome evolution, because when you’re creating consumer-facing technology solutions, it’s critical to infuse the design process with lots of different perspectives, reflecting all the various markets in which we operate,” she shared.
Soergel also acknowledged that there are more women working in the technology space but believes there is room for far more growth.
“This is especially true when it comes to women in senior leadership roles. In fintech, only about 10% of leaders are women. Fortunately, the financial services industry has outpaced fintech with respect to women technology leaders, but across the board, we still have a long way to go,” she told Finopotamus. “There are so many brilliant young women pursuing STEM careers these days. Those of us in leadership roles need to focus on mentoring and supporting them and helping them to build strong networks that will lead to sustained career development opportunities.”
While working at Westinghouse, she met one of her first mentors, Mary Hutchings, who was the only female department manager in the entire division. “She was responsible for managing government prime contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and she was brilliant,” Soergel said, adding that Hutchings also created a fun, teamwork environment—a philosophy she employs as CEO. “Decisive, calm, and with a great mind for business, Mary set extremely high expectations for quality but always provided super-helpful coaching that gave each of us the confidence and the tools we needed to continuously improve.”
The Human Connection
With years of experience managing digital banking channels and data-driven business lines at FIs, Soergel understands the importance of personalizing marketing messages and digital experiences, while also promoting mental, physical and social wellness.
“This community-building trend represents an exciting opportunity for credit unions to engage their members in promoting financial wellness. I’m very eager to explore designing digital communities with those clients who recognize these benefits,” she said, noting that credit unions hold a special place in her heart.
“Most bankers understand that they are in a personal relationship business, but credit unions are really differentiated by their mastery of human connections and their genuinely local community focus. They realize that every interaction with a member reflects their brand, and they tend to take that commitment extremely seriously,” she continued. “That relationship-driven philosophy lines up precisely with Fintilect’s commitment to our clients, and I sincerely hope that the credit union market will see that belief reflected in every one of their interactions with our brand.
Due to the “high velocity of innovation” in the banking space, she said it is easy for executives to get caught up in the latest, greatest trends promoted by fintechs that don’t understand the credit union movement.
“Today’s technologies can be a great equalizer for credit unions. Credit union leaders who are willing to invest surgically in AI and digital technologies can not only hold their own with larger financial institutions, but they can also manage to take market share,” she told Finopotamus, adding that she has “witnessed this David-and-Goliath scenario” play out at previous organizations. “I’m extremely excited to partner with our clients and prospects to realize that same positive outcome for them.”