Synergent’s mission is to ‘help credit unions succeed and improve the financial lives of their members.’ In our monthly Employee Spotlight series, we feature one of our dedicated staff members to help you get to know the people who are working as an extension of your credit union team.
Carrie Shamos
Carrie Shamos, Learning & Development Specialist at Synergent, has a passion for helping others succeed. Providing both professional and personal development programs and opportunities to departments across the organization is essential to maximizing credit union efficiency and meeting member needs.
“My typical days consist of meeting with different individuals in the organization for discovery and feedback, designing and facilitating learning programs that will give us the greatest lift, then rinse and repeat,” Shamos shared.
While this role has not drastically changed for Shamos, she shared that she has a “renewed perspective” on how she can lead our teams to success.
“I recognize that I still have a lot to learn, but I think that is key: to keep learning and evolving,” Shamos reflected.
In fact, she shapes her approach to supporting others’ development around this idea.
“My passion is to design and facilitate transformative experiences through reflection, learning, and self-discovery,” said Shamos. “Galileo really resonated with me when he said, ‘You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.’”
At the beginning of her professional career, a local Maine credit union offered Shamos her first job as a teller before she decided to go back to school full-time.
“I recall how much I enjoyed the people—my coworkers and the members,” expressed Shamos. “When you see the same people so much that you can pull up their account number before they arrive at the desk, you know it is special. I have wanted to return to that small community feel ever since I left it.”
Her journey to the learning and development field began when she relocated from Colorado back to Maine. Her role shifted from being a personal injury paralegal to training others in her field. With the support of her previous employer, Shamos enrolled in the University of Southern Maine’s Learning & Development certificate program. From there, she transferred her experience to an international bank where she took on a collections & recovery role.
“I was fortunate to hold a variety of roles including learning and development, performance management, employee engagement, and communications,” explained Shamos. “I feel like the journey has come full circle now that I have entered my current role here at Synergent and the Maine Credit Union League.”
Now, in her role at Synergent, Shamos supports the development of her coworkers and enables teams across the organization to better serve our credit unions.
“My favorite part of my job is inspiring others to see the potential in themselves, whether that is through group facilitation processes or individual coaching,” shared Shamos.
Within her two-and-a-half years at the company, she has gathered valuable insight into the complexity of the financial industry.
“As a member, I honestly believed, for example, that remote deposit capture and online transfers were simple processes, and they are—from a member’s perspective,” said Shamos. “What I did not realize is the complexity of the options, decisions, connections, and technology that support what feels like a seamless experience. I have a renewed appreciation for the people in the credit unions, our vendors, and for my Synergent colleagues who make these back-end processes look and feel effortless.”
Helping our credit unions deliver a supportive member experience is always a top priority for Synergent—which all starts with ensuring our internal teams are consistently improving and meeting credit union needs.
“I always get most excited about current projects and one that is near and dear to my heart is Synergent Factors of Success,” remarked Shamos. “We are looking to assess the skills to be successful at all levels of the organization so that we can strengthen our onboarding program and support learning journeys and career mapping.”
When asked, Shamos expressed that her greatest achievement professionally has been supporting others. She has a strong interest in leadership development and is even working toward certification in August.
“I have had the opportunity to foster others’ personal and professional development, to provide an alternative perspective when they were stuck, and to share some of the experience and wisdom I have learned over the years,” commented Shamos. “In return, I have also learned a great deal from them about my own personal and professional growth and I like to think the best is yet to come!”
When she is not helping others grow, she enjoys reading both fiction and nonfiction (she noted how she is the type of person who reads cookbooks cover-to-cover!), gardening, and is an amateur herbalist.