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.
Sarah Farwell
Over the past ten years, Sarah Farwell has played a foundational role in how Synergent communicates with the world. As Director of Marketing, her fingerprints are on nearly every message that reaches credit unions, partners, and colleagues. From newsletters to web content, Farwell has helped shape the tone and clarity of Synergent’s voice. For someone whose work is so widely read, she is far more comfortable behind the scenes than in the spotlight.
“To be clear: I did NOT write this piece about myself,” Farwell remarked, with a laugh. “But at the very insistent urging of my team, I agreed to be interviewed by my very talented colleague, Michelle Broderick, for this month’s Employee Spotlight.”
One of the reasons Farwell remains so energized in her role is the variety it offers. Each day brings a new mix of projects shaped by what’s happening across departments, trends in the industry, and priorities on the content calendar. Farwell leads Synergent’s written content efforts across all channels, from website copy to social media posts, balancing routine structure with creative flexibility. Farwell also lends her editorial expertise to other departments, offering support and building strong relationships across the organization.
“That’s actually one of my favorite parts of my role,” Farwell shared. “There is no typical day! What is ‘typical’ is that I am always working on content. Creating new content, updating existing content, or planning future content. If you’ve looked at our website, followed us on social media, read our Synergent Insights newsletter, received our emails, or reviewed any of our product sheets, you’ve seen pieces that I either wrote or edited. I’m also often asked for writing or editing assistance from other departments, which I’m always happy to help with. That’s actually a unique part of my job. I’ve worked with every single department across the organization. I love those interactions and having those relationships.”
From Writer to Strategist: A Journey of Growth
Farwell’s journey at Synergent began with a passion for writing and a drive to keep learning. She joined the organization as a Product Marketing Writer.
“The initial focus was mostly on creating product sheets, marketing emails, blog articles, and case studies,” Farwell explained. “This involved working closely with internal subject matter experts and learning all that I could about the products and services that Synergent offers.”
As her understanding deepened, Farwell’s ability to translate complex solutions into clear messaging opened doors to a larger role in content strategy.
“We are unique in the breadth of our offerings,” Farwell shared. “Core processing, marketing, payments, and technology, all integrated under one roof. Within those broad areas are hundreds of individual solutions and features, with more added all the time. There’s always something to learn, which is another aspect I love about my job. Not once in 10 years have I been bored!”
From Content to Leadership: A Marketing Career’s Evolution
Farwell’s career grew alongside her expertise. She advanced to Content Marketing Manager, then to Director of Marketing, a role that broadened her scope and deepened her strategic impact.
“I have a larger responsibility to share the broader Synergent story,” Farwell said. “Not just the products and services we offer, but who we are and the value of partnership.”
While Farwell has firmly established herself in the marketing world, her path to it wasn’t a straight line. It was shaped by a lifelong love of writing, a sharp eye for detail, and a talent for planning. These qualities have remained consistent throughout her career. She grew up in rural northern New Hampshire, where marketing wasn’t a field she had ever encountered, but her early roles gave her the foundation to succeed.
“Becoming a marketer was not a linear path for me,” Farwell reflected. “But it is one that makes sense in the end, as my whole career has had the common themes of research, writing, editing, and planning. Prior roles that I held included being the circulation supervisor of a local library, a paralegal, and an event planner and marketer for university alumni events. It was while I was working at the university that my path became clearer.”
While at the university, Farwell took the extra initiative to contribute stories to the alumni magazine. That step proved pivotal.
“Even though it was outside of my role, I wrote a few articles about alumni that were featured in the university’s magazine,” Farwell said. “Creating detailed, step-by-step plans, marketing through multiple channels, and writing those articles, I knew I wanted to do more of that.”
That moment of clarity led her to Synergent, where a job posting for a Product Marketing Writer immediately caught her attention. When considering new opportunities, Farwell wanted more than just a job. She was looking to make a meaningful impact through her work. That’s part of what drew her to Synergent.
“It was important to me to work in a feel-good industry, doing work that contributes to something greater and makes a positive impact,” Farwell shared. “Synergent is part of the credit union movement that is united in People Helping People. That stood out to me when I saw the Product Marketing Writer position advertised.”
The hiring process was hands-on from the beginning. Farwell was given a take-home editing challenge, where she marked up printed materials with her signature editorial style, red pen and all.
“I was handed printed materials that had been published and asked to proofread them and make suggestions on how they could be stronger,” she explained. “I used to be well-known for wielding a red pen to mark up hard-copy documents. I redlined all over the pieces that I’d been given. And then I panicked: had I gone too far? Apparently, I didn’t need to worry. The day I returned them, I was notified that I was hired!”
Farwell’s instincts were spot on, and she has been helping shape Synergent’s voice ever since. What’s kept her here for ten years and counting is simple: the people. But for Farwell, the support goes beyond professional development. The sense of support and collaboration runs deep.
“I’ve been encouraged to grow here,” Farwell emphasized. “I’ve had opportunities to attend educational events and national conferences, participate in webinars, and obtain certifications. I even started my master’s degree in marketing while here. When times are good, my co-workers are cheering me on. When times have been tough, they’ve had my back, without hesitation. This is true both professionally and personally, and that kind of camaraderie is rare.”
Credit Union-Centric Content and Meaningful Connections
At the heart of all Farwell’s work is one driving purpose: to support and empower credit unions. Whether she is writing to introduce Synergent to a prospective partner or explain new technology to a long-standing credit union partner, Farwell’s focus stays on providing clear, helpful, and meaningful content. The materials she helps develop are crafted to deliver value across audiences.
“Every piece of content we put out is credit union-focused,” Farwell explained. “For credit unions who are not current partners, it may be informing them about who Synergent is and how we collaborate with credit unions coast to coast. For current credit union partners, it may be sharing educational events that are available, or taking complex product information and converting it into a summary showing the benefits that a given offering can provide. We routinely share thought leadership that is intended to be helpful to all.”
Over the past decade, Farwell has worked on countless initiatives, but a few stand out as especially meaningful. One favorite memory was a trip to a credit union in West Virginia, where she traveled with a video crew and a colleague from the Client Success team. For Farwell, who typically works behind the scenes, connecting face to face with credit union staff deepened her understanding of the stories she helps tell. The experience offered a meaningful reminder of the people behind the partnerships.
“The trip is definitely a favorite memory,” she said. “My role was to ensure we fully captured the special nuances of their credit union story and their Synergent partnership, to elaborate on points that are important to those in our industry. Because my role is not usually credit union-facing, this experience really resonated with me because I was able to interact and hear their stories in person, both on-camera and in the casual conversations we had in between.”
Shaping Synergent’s Voice: A Decade of Content Strategy
Farwell also takes great pride in the work she completed on two major website redesigns at Synergent. Each required far more than writing. She managed content strategy, learned new systems, and collaborated with teams across the organization. The first redesign introduced her to Tim Brooks, now Vice President of Corporate Marketing, who was then with the firm supporting the project. Years later, she approached a second refresh with added confidence.
“I’ve been here long enough to remember two prior versions of our website,” Farwell said. “In the first redesign, we changed platforms, which required learning a completely new way of building and managing content. It also was my first time working on a website redesign and I learned a lot about just how much that entails. It was intensive, interesting work start to finish and I was proud of the refreshed website. In a fun twist, Tim Brooks, now Vice President of Corporate Marketing, was our account manager at the firm that helped develop the new website. He and I worked very closely on this project, ultimately leading to its launch. Then, just last year, it was time for another website refresh. I was more confident in approaching it due to our having already tackled a redesign once. Again, I’m proud of the final website and how our team accomplished all the tasks associated with creating it.”
Farwell sees her career not in terms of one defining moment, but through the total body of work she has created. Each case study, product sheet, and article has played a part in shaping Synergent’s message. For her, it is the accumulation of those efforts that makes the biggest impact.
“I think the highlight of my career at Synergent is not one thing, but something we writers refer to as our ‘body of work,’” Farwell reflected. “Over the past decade, I’ve written a full library of product sheets, case studies, white papers, articles, newsletters, social media posts, email communications, website content, advertisements, and more. I write the copy, then work with Mike Rosmus (Creative Marketing Manager) to bring the pieces to life graphically through his exceptional design work.”
When she’s not writing, editing, or planning content, Farwell is usually in motion, embracing life with the same enthusiasm she brings to her work. Whether spending time with loved ones or exploring the outdoors, she finds joy in staying active and connected to what matters most.
“Spending time with family and friends, especially my husband, son, and our rescue dog, Buster,” Farwell said. “Cheering on my son and his swim team, gardening, reading, seeing live music, being active outside, spending time at one of the many lakes or beaches nearby, golfing, traveling — I definitely don’t sit still very often!”
