Kyle Gallacher–Turner started in the financial services industry almost 10 years ago. While he got his start at a bank, he quickly realized that wasn’t the place for him and came over to the credit union side in 2013. He has spent the past 7 years working his way through the ranks at Rivermark Community Credit Union in Oregon; starting as a teller and holding positions in new accounts, lending, and now serves as the Card & Digital Services Manager. Kyle was chosen to CRASH THREE different conferences in the past two years and has loved every second of it. We had a chance to chat with Kyle about how each conference brought new things to the table in his quest of lifelong learning!
You had your fist crash at CU Direct last year, tell us about that experience and how it shaped your desire to continue to CRASH?
I had no idea what to expect going into it, all I knew was that I would be staying in a hotel with a roommate and we had an action-packed schedule. When I got there and got up to the room, we became instant friends and then spent the rest of the evening talking all things consumer lending and interacting with other attendees. During the conference days, we were able to interact with executives from CU Direct and other Credit Union’s, picking their brains, building relationships, and networking. We attended various breakout sessions, general sessions, events, did some prototyping, and even had an amazing Crasher dinner at the very end! What made me want to continue Crashing was the relationships I had built with the other Crashers, as well as the knowledge I walked away with that I was able to bring back and apply at my Credit Union. I have a thirst for learning and knowledge, and my brain was sufficiently full at the end of it.
You fit in a second CRASH last year by CRASHING Filene’s Big Bright Minds. How was that any different from CU Direct and what was your favorite part?
I know! CRASHING is starting to become a habit I guess. It was very, very different from Crashing CU Direct – both are amazing in their own ways, but this was a different experience. Being that this wasn’t business-centric i.e. Lending for CU Direct, the diversity in expertise and backgrounds led to some amazing conversation and ideation. BBM was unique and listening to the Filene fellows speak was incredible. One of the breakout sessions was going to the border in San Diego to talk about immigration and cross-border financial services. I learned so many new things – another favorite was watching the i3’ers present their projects. There was such a sense of pride in the room not just from them but also from other Credit Union attendees. It was magical and I hope I can be a part of i3 not just for that but also for the network and experience that they shared with me during BBM.
The CRASHING continued this year with the VISA Payments Forum. What was different going to more of a “non credit union” conference? What were some take away you had from there?
VPF was another incredible experience, and other than the comradery of the Crashers, the great times that were had, and the learning, all three conferences were very different. VPF was humbling because of the variety of attendees, from Credit Unions, to medium sized banks, to your Scotiabank and Citi’s, to processors like Fiserv, to merchants like Starbucks and Nordstrom. They also combined their Latin America/Caribbean region with North America this year, so there was a strong international presence, which just added to the variety of knowledge and experience. My takeaways from VPF included how technology is evolving for digital banking and payments – where Omni is the future (one app to rule them all), real time payments will be standard, and tap to pay is everywhere. I am actually presenting to our senior management in a couple weeks on tap to pay, wish me luck!
Good Luck!
Now, we know you love the credit union industry, but what is your favorite part?
My favorite part… it is people helping people. It’s that core credit union value that goes into everything that we do. Yes there is a big focus on technology and the digital landscape but it’s talking to other peers in the industry and knowing that we still haven’t lost that. You just cannot get the type of products, services and people that you do with credit unions at banks, and we all have the same focus and that is to help our members selflessly. I also love how it’s such an amazing community to be part of, and how no matter what state or country you are from, we all have the same common focus.
We had an amazing time hearing all about Kyle’s crashing and we are sure you would enjoy getting to know him too! Find him on LinkedIn and follow his journeys!
CUltivate is people helping people with our mission to spread the word, connect the people, and give an outlet to share your stories. Know someone in the industry we should interview? Drop us a line at CultivateYP@gmail.com #CUltivateTheMovement
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