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.
Schelene Shevchenko, Synergent’s Team Lead – Project Management and 2021 Employee of the Year, has been crucial to the success of the enterprise in the seven years that she has been here. Starting as a Project Coordinator in 2015, she worked her way up to the role of Project Manager in 2018 and now to her current role of Team Lead as of earlier this year. Across the organization, Schelene is well-known for pouring countless hours of hard work and dedication into everything she has a hand in.
“My role is all about making things go as smoothly as possible for the credit union during a project,” explained Shevchenko. “While not everything can go smoothly all of the time, communication is key, so I work really hard to make sure our communication with the credit union is top notch.”
Day to day, Shevchenko attends project meetings covering a range of priorities, responds to emails, answers calls, and follows up on projects to ensure that tasks are completed and issues are addressed. Regardless of the assignment, she goes above and beyond in her work. This was recognized at the end of 2021 when Todd Mason, President/CEO of Synergent, announced that Shevchenko was the recipient of the 2021 Champion Award. This award recognizes Synergent’s employee of the year. Shevchenko notes that receiving this award is the highlight of her career at Synergent.
“We were all on a [staff] Zoom call when Todd announced it and I’m pretty sure my face turned as red as my hair!” exclaimed Shevchenko. “I was so honored to be chosen among so many great people.”
The award was well-deserved, as Shevchenko successfully managed the critical Fiserv CM2 project on top of countless other projects like credit card conversions, replication services, a multi-host failover, and so much more.
“[I am proud of] the Fiserv CM2 debit card platform upgrade in 2021,” reflected Shevchenko. “Synergent had to migrate 70+ credit unions to the new platform within nine months. It was a complex project with a lot of moving parts and an amazing project team from almost every Synergent department.”
Even with so many tasks on her plate, she continues to keep her team, the company, and our credit unions on the track to success.
“My favorite part about my job is, hands-down, the collaboration on projects with my coworkers here at Synergent and the people I’ve had an opportunity to work with at credit unions,” Shevchenko said.
When she is not carefully managing a multitude of projects and tasks, Shevchenko loves getting out into nature to camp in a tent with her husband, kids, and friends. Traveling throughout Maine, the United States, and abroad also has a special place in her heart, and recent events have weighed heavy on her and her family.
“I’m a Mainer, but I lived and worked in Ukraine for three years in Kyiv and Lviv where I met my husband,” shared Shevchenko. “What’s been happening there since late February has been horrifying, but I stand in admiration of the Ukrainian people and all of us around the world that rally to support them.”