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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.
Krista Bruns
Krista Bruns, Administrative Assistant, has enjoyed her career at Synergent for over three decades. While her role lives in the Business Development department, she interacts with and assists many departments across the organization.
“I can’t say I have a typical day,” explained Bruns. “My role is so varied throughout the year. For example, I oversee all the golf events within the organization, and also work on monthly check processing billing, reservations and meeting planning, check processing daily reports, ACH daily reports, CO-OP reports, audit verifications, Project Zip Code, preparing and sending all memos for Payment Services, statistical reports, projects for the project management team, front desk phone coverage, and I serve on the company’s Social Committee.”
During her 32 years at Synergent, Bruns has held roles in multiple departments, allowing her to gain exposure and experience in a variety of areas.
“My role has changed quite a bit in 32 years,” reflected Bruns. “I started with the company as a temp working as the receptionist at the front desk and was hired full-time by Cris Wescott on March 24, 1992. I moved a couple of years later to Technology Services as an Administrative Assistant and a few years ago I moved to the Business Development team.”
When she started in the temp role, she was not sure what would lie ahead for her career. Over time, Bruns grew to love Synergent’s people—customers included—and people-centric culture.
“I can’t say I had planned on staying with Synergent for 32 years, but when I started as a temp I just fell in love with the people and the commitment they make to our credit unions,” shared Bruns. “I work with people that are so passionate about what they do every day and provide the best customer service to our credit unions. It feels good and rewarding to surround yourself with people like this. I am still here because of this.”
While all of Bruns’ work is behind the scenes, it makes a big impact for both Synergent staff and the credit unions the company serves. By assisting with all the daily reporting, completing monthly billing, sending memos, organizing golf internally, and more, she allows other coworkers—and subsequently, our credit unions—to thrive. Her work supports the internal organization, which in turn supports credit union success. Many teams across Synergent benefit from the administrative assistance Bruns provides, seeing increased productivity, relationship building, and overall progress.
“I like my job because it can be different every day,” said Bruns. “I am always willing to help my team or other departments in any way I can.”
Bruns is proud and happy to help others, as it makes her feel good about herself and takes the stress and workload off her coworkers when it’s needed. She also enjoys learning new things as much as possible, which she has had many opportunities for in her time at Synergent.
“I have learned that customer service, commitment, dedication, relationships, and being a team player are so important to me and Synergent,” reflected Bruns. “I always strive to be the best I can be! It’s hard when you experience poor customer service. I always think to myself, ‘This is not the way my company would have handled it.’ The world is changing so much, and customer service is not always the way it should be everywhere you go.”
Instead of picking just one highlight from her career, Bruns feels that she simply, “just love[s] working for this company.”
“The values, people, and commitment to the credit unions makes me proud to have worked here most of my life,” described Bruns. “I have also met so many lifelong friends working here.”
Synergent’s support for the community also speaks to Bruns.
“I love the fact that Synergent encourages its employees to volunteer every year,” shared Bruns. “I love to volunteer because I find it to be so rewarding in my life and I am a better person because of it. I volunteer every year with the Travis Mills Foundation, Special Olympics, and Good Shepherd Food Bank.”
Bruns, a Maine native, shared that she was born in Yarmouth and now resides in Scarborough. She has been married to her husband, Andy, for 25 years and shares two beautiful daughters, Cassie and Logan, with him.
“Cassie is an Assistant Manager at Evergreen CU and Logan is a Chemical Engineer working at Amgen Pharmaceuticals in Rhode Island,” said Bruns. “We are also a huge hockey family. We even named our dog after our favorite hockey team. Bruin is a miniature Australian labradoodle, and we just adore him. Outside of work, my favorite things to do include boating, traveling, eating good food at all the great restaurants this amazing state has to offer, and spending time with family and friends.”
