August 24, 2023

My Journey to Credit Union Leadership: Nicole Huntress of HRCU Featured in The Credit Union Times

"Be a leader who is always willing to roll up their sleeves and help their team out, no matter what the task at hand is."

Name: Nicole Huntress

Title: Vice President, Operations & Compliance

Number of years at current credit union: 18

Educational background: Associates degree in Elementary Education; BSACS (Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Specialist) & CUERME (Credit Union Enterprise Risk Management Expert) Certifications from CUNA

CU Times: What are your key responsibilities in your current role?

Huntress: I oversee the operations and compliance of HRCU. To name a few, this includes BSA, Payments, Plastics, and oversight on the policy and procedure adherence of all credit union employees. In 2018 I created and developed our Loss Prevention Program and I still oversee this program today. I developed detailed tracking for all fraud and scams reported to us by our staff and members, which allows us to know at any given time what trends we are seeing with fraud and how they have evolved over the last several years. Through this tracking I am also able to report the dollar amount of losses HRCU has saved our members through the training and preventative measures we have put into place to help mitigate fraud losses.

CU Times: What drew you to the credit union industry?

Huntress: I started working at HRCU as a part-time teller while I was attending college to become a teacher. I always had a passion for numbers, and I really fell in love with the credit union way. My parents opened my membership at HRCU when I turned one, so being a part of what I considered to be ‘my credit union’ seemed special to me. A week before I was set to graduate college, I was offered, and accepted, a full-time position at HRCU and I consider that to be the day I decided this was my career and what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

CU Times: What unique skills, experience and attributes do you bring to your role?

Huntress: I consider myself as having grown up in the credit union world. I started 18 years ago as a part-time teller and have progressed through my willingness to learn, and I desire to be the person who is relied upon for answers, which brought me to the role I am in today. Having been with the same credit union my whole career and having first-hand experience in nearly all credit union functions, I believe the knowledge and experiences I have gained over the years is one of the biggest things I bring to my role.

CU Times: Which person (or people) do you credit the most for helping and supporting you along your career journey?

Huntress: Throughout my career with HRCU there has always been one constant, and she saw the promise and passion in me before I ever saw it in myself. She encouraged me to take on new challenges, and gave me opportunities to take on roles and projects that she knew would help highlight what she had always seen in me. She has been the most influential person in my career and the greatest credit union mentor I will ever know.

CU Times: What’s a challenge you faced when you first joined your executive team, and how did you overcome it?

Huntress: A challenge I faced when first joining the executive team was ensuring that the rest of the executives saw me as someone at their level. I was concerned that because I have been with HRCU for so many years and worked with many of our executives during that time on a non-executive level, it may take time for them to see me as an executive. Overcoming this challenge really involved me continuing to be myself and doing what I have done for so many years. [It required] not letting my new role change the effective collaborations I was already having and continuing to be confident in my knowledge and abilities.

CU Times: How would you describe your current leadership style?

Huntress: I feel it is important to be a leader who is always willing to roll up their sleeves and help their team out, no matter what the task at hand is. Ensuring your team knows you are there for them no matter what is on your plate helps foster the confidence they have in you as a leader. Coaching to success is also important. Recognizing your team members’ strengths and weaknesses and then working closely together on further developing them into the best they can be helps foster an engaged and motivated team.

CU Times: Do you approach your job any differently now compared to how you did pre-pandemic? If yes, how so?

Huntress: I think on some level we have all had to approach at least one part of our job differently in the post-pandemic world. For me, the one that sticks out the most is becoming less dependent on physical paper. Pre-pandemic we were very heavy on physical paper, and we were not embracing the digital capabilities we had the way we should. Being, for lack of a better word, forced into becoming more digitized with our documents and paperwork was one of the best things that came out of the pandemic for us operationally.

CU Times: What’s next for you on your executive career journey? Do you have any specific career goals you’re working toward?

Huntress: Becoming a VP feels like such a testament to my credit union career, and I look forward to continuing to use my knowledge and experience to help facilitate the ongoing growth of HRCU. My long-term career goal would be someday becoming a COO.

CU Times: What big-picture impact do you hope to make within your credit union, as well as for your members and community?

Huntress: As the credit union world and needs of our members continue to evolve, so does the importance of remaining flexible and embracing innovation. As a member of the executive team, I hope to play a key role in the strategic growth of HRCU and the delivery of the technological advances that continue to become available in our industry to our members and community.

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