In what is a recurring feature, Finopotamus spotlights innovative women who are positively impacting technology applications in the credit union industry, and beyond. For this issue, we visited with Jack Henry’s President of Credit Union Solutions Brynn Ammon.
By W.B. King
What began as a career trajectory in marketing took an “accidental” turn toward tech for Brynn Ammon when she was tasked with managing and maintaining a marketing customer information file (MCIF) system at AltaOne Federal Credit Union—that was in 2001.
“This required me to analyze extensive data and trace its flow through the system to see how core impacts were mirrored in MCIF,” she told Finopotamus. “I learned a lot that way about the interconnectedness of the systems, data flows, and just data in general.”
In the following years, and in roles that ranged from project management to marketing, Ammon worked at Pen Air Federal Credit Union, First Florida Credit Union and Edwards Federal Credit Union, which, she noted, provided a comprehensive understanding of the industry.
“Mid-career I transitioned from marketing to project management, which exposed me to all the credit union’s applications. I made it a point to make sure I fully understood the applications I was managing projects for. I was not only a project manager, but a business analyst, and process improvement consultant at my credit unions,” she shared.
“Whenever I was managing a software project, I immersed myself in the software. I wanted to learn everything there was about it, so that I could help the team implement it effectively,” Ammon continued. “That desire to learn and interest in helping others is what led me to the software industry.”
In her view, the biggest tech shift over her career is cloud computing. Two of the four credit unions she worked for hosted their core processing systems on premises. Today, all four operate in a private cloud environment—that’s not the only change she has seen. Migration to agile methodologies and practices is not only common but expected, she noted.
“There has been a positive shift in credit union technology departments towards structured change management, project management, and very recently, data management policies that are improving the industry,” she said. “Technology teams at incredibly successful credit unions are an integral partner to the business, involved strategically rather than in the past where adversarial relationships often lead to them acting as order takers.”
Quintessential Champions
Currently, Ammon serves as president of Credit Union Solutions at Jack Henry, where she oversees operations, implementations, customer relations and software delivery for the Symitar core platform. Prior to this role, she held several leadership positions at Symitar, including client operations director, consulting and custom solutions director, senior manager of SymAdvisor, SymAdvisor and business consultant. The Monett, Mo.-based fintech serves more than 720 financial institutions (FIs), including credit unions.
While Ammon said the credit union industry tends to have a higher-than-average percentage of women in leadership roles, she believes there is still “a lot of catching up to do” when it comes to women in chief information, chief technology and chief information security officer roles.
"I believe we still have a lot of work to do to encourage, support and back women-owned fintech founders,” she said. “Part of the challenge, unfortunately, is that women still only account for less than 20% of the computer science bachelor’s degrees in the U.S. each year. Those of us in established technology-related roles can do more outreach and mentorship to inspire young girls and women to become interested in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] fields.”
Always seeking to pay her experiences forward, Ammon reflected on past mentors, including Renee (Dickson) Sheflin who gave her an opportunity in the credit union space without having any experience. “She taught me a lot about being a leader, giving and receiving grace, and about credit unions,” Ammon noted.
As her career progressed, David Tuyo, current president at University Credit Union, was another mentor, champion and friend. “He was my leader at two former credit unions, where he helped me identify and improve my blind spots. He taught me a lot about leading from within and working within the team,” she shared. “He also taught me a lot about setting expectations for excellence and helping the team to find the path there.”
Another notable standout is Ed Miller, senior director, software engineering and services at Jack Henry. “Over the last 10 years, Ed has shown me how to have empathy, be a strong listener, and slow down before reacting,” she continued. “Ed taught me that it’s okay to be human and sometimes you need to listen to your inner voice. Ed pushed me every day to be better.”
Current chief operating officer at Fingercheck, Tiffany Haynes, part of Jack Henry’s Corporate Leadership Team, was also an advocate. “She spoke my name in meetings and rooms that I never would have had access to,” Ammon said. “She was the quintessential champion, pushing me outside of my comfort zone so that others would know exactly where I wanted to be.”
As result of these influences , Ammon takes every opportunity to bolster the next generation of eager upstarts.
“I speak the names of the super talented diamonds on the team. I make sure they have opportunities to be seen and heard on bigger stages. As a mentor, I truly enjoy sharing time with women who are looking to grow, not necessarily in their career, but their current position,” she continued. “I hear the voices of all four of these wonderful people, as well as many, many others, every time I am sitting down to start a mentorship session. The lessons I’ve learned over the years from them is more important to me than any book or course.”
Tech Tipping Point
When Finopotamus asked what tech excites her, Ammon responded: “Everything related to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).”
“We are living through the next big technological evolution. I don’t believe we can even fathom how fast things will speed up because of it. For true evolution to happen, solid data is necessary, and this is where open banking will come into play,” she said.
“Credit unions will use open banking to facilitate the exchange of data in a seamless manner, which really leads us, as an industry, right back to where I started all those years ago…. data,” she continued. “No data, no AI. No open banking, no data. It will be very interesting to see the rise of chief data officer roles at FIs around the globe. Successful credit unions will start putting a heavy emphasis on all things data.”
In her view, the credit union industry is at the precipice of a “tipping point” because each day they are competing with the increasing number of fintech applications members have on their mobile devices.
“Credit unions must look for ways to think more digital-first to compete in tomorrow’s world,” she said. “And digital-first is more than just having a mobile app or online banking. Digital-first is about intentional integration and providing members with a safe place to self-serve with all the numerous fintechs they want to work with.”
Ammon believes that the credit union grassroot philosophy—creating a community-driven, people-first culture—differentiates it from all other FIs. She added that from a technological stance, to remain competitive, credit unions have had to become more innovative over the years.
“They have demanded services, such as shared branch, to compete with large national FIs, and want near real-time processing to offer the best offerings to their members,” she continued. “Another differentiating factor that we see every year is the sense of community and collaboration that exists with our clients. The community runs three user group meetings, dedicated to clients running the Symitar system. They share with each other, build each other up, and pour back into Jack Henry as well.”
As an example, Ammon underscored Jack Henry’s annual CU Build, a “Build-a-Thon” for the credit union community.
“This amazing weekend event has proven over the last three years to allow credit union employees from all over the country the opportunity to be innovative and push each other to be better,” Ammon said. “We always walk away from those user group meetings with new ideas about how to help solve problems our clients are facing.”