Is The SECU Board Unaware?: Their Silence Destroys - Destroys Reputations, Hope, Trust, Real People And Their Own Personal Credibility...

 

I don’t know how best to comment on the Oct 30 post [link] regarding the TBJ article but I would like to.  Sorry.  Would you post the following comment from me on your blog please?


The TBJ did not “fact check” Mr. Hayes quote with me before publishing this article even though they offered my picture in the article.  Chris Ayer and I provided a long list of successful improvements in technology implemented by our IT staff which the TBJ chose to ignore even though our information directly refuted the lie that was told over and over again to the public.

As Chris said our IT staff was the best in the business.  They made huge advances and improvements in all areas of technology year after year which benefited our members and our employees.  Areas that included systems architecture, digital offerings, websites, applications, hardware, software, cyber, loan origination, loan collections, image systems, ATM software, our teller platform, statement rendering, new general ledger, personnel, payroll, benefits, applicant tracking, accounts payable and other software and two brand new state-of-the art data centers just to name a few that haven’t been mentioned much already.

Another example of their excellent work includes the fact that under stress and in a matter of only a few months our IT staff increased the number of workstation hardware/software platforms during the COVID pandemic from 250 to 2,500 SECU employees to allow them to work remotely from home.

I cannot adequately recognize and thank them for the great work that they did to help members and employees through their dedication, skill and hard work.  As Chris said, You are the Best!  You deserve accolades and praise!  THANK YOU!

Chris Ayer and our IT staff did not deserve to have their efforts ignored and their reputations disparaged and disrespected.  It was outrageous and unconscionable and speaks to a lack of character of those who chose to take that route.  The TBJ could have found out the truth with one phone call to me before they published and they never took the opportunity to make that call.  When provided the truth they chose to look the other way instead of reporting the truth.  The significant legacy of our dedicated and talented IT staff and the reputation of SECU deserved better.   

—-Mike Lord

Why would the SECU Board do this to the staff?  

                          What are they doing to all of us?

Review And Reflection - Part 11: SECU Board - Missing In Inaction #2

   

SECU employees go under the bus, the SECU Board remains silent.

😎 How does one go from "gruntled" to "disgruntled"? 

With me, the Fireside Chat responses [see "LGFCU proposal" example] raised concerns over the judgment and lack of transparency of the SECU Board. The response clearly wasn't the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Why would the SECU Board approve such a response? Why did they do that?

✅ A second example? A Triangle Business Journal article (3/6/2023) quoted the SECU CEO as stating that SECU hadn't updated its technology since 1983! Here again is the quote from TBJ: 

"But the Raleigh-based credit union has not been known as a forward-looking IT organization, Hayes said. Changing that perception requires investment, and to do it safely, it also requires three to four years. SECU hasn’t updated its systems since 1983, and change won’t happen overnight.”

Former SECU CEO Mike Lord and former SECU CIO Chris Ayer took great offense - as one might suspect - and called for a meeting with TBJ Editor-in-Chief Sougata Mukherjee to demand a retraction.

Evidently it was a fairly contentious meeting lasting 2 hours! Lord and Ayer presented a lengthy and extensive list of major technology changes which have occurred at SECU over recent years.  Mr. Mukherjee listened closely and agreed it would be pretty hard to end up with internet service, mobile apps, ATMS, call centers, voice recognition, remote deposit capture, etc. - technologies which didn't even exist in 1983! - without having made "at least a few" technology changes.

✅ The SECU Board refused to retract or clarify that inaccurate quote; instead choosing to permit hundreds of SECU IT staff to be publicly ridiculed and slandered ... and casually pitched "under the bus".

How do you know the statement supported by the SECU Board was not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? - (not even close!): 

Exhibit 1: [Click here] to see a list of proudly proclaimed SECU tech achievements from the SECU website. "SECU hasn’t updated its systems since 1983..." - really?

Exhibit 2:  [Click here] to listen (@4:45) to 2021 SECU Chairman Bob Brinson praise the soaring success of the SECU mobile app, including the recent addition of remote deposit and other features. Mr. Brinson is a current SECU Board member and  IT professional.  "SECU hasn’t updated its systems since 1983..." - really?

Exhibit 3: [ Click here] to watch the SECU mobile app video announcement and [click here} for the SECU announcement of remote deposite, alerts, etc features. "SECU hasn’t updated its systems since 1983..." - really?

Exhibit 4: Here again is the SECU CEO at the Fireside Chats (replete with several giggling SECU Board members in tow) [link at 16:00] truthfully stating that part of the SECU core technology has been in place since 1983, but that "it is a tank, it's solid. it's reliable, I get it...". Need to be replaced, yes; still used by many large banks, yes - because "... it's solid. it's reliable..."- and other tech projects have been given priority.

✅ Reheck exhibit 1 again  [Click here]... reread the TBJ quote. Is that quote the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

😎 Disgruntled? You betcha!  Hundreds of SECU employees - real, honest, dedicated people - and the reputation of SECU were unnecessarily trashed by the endorsement through  their silence (all giggling aside) by the SECU Board.

If you are an SECU member or employee, why doesn't this matter to you? If the truth doesn't really matter any more, then I apologize to you for being an old fogey.  I was taught it was important.

Why would the SECU Board approve such a response? Why did they do that?