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Stacy Rodenberger
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.
Stacy Rodenberger, Assistant Vice President of Learning and Development (L&D), has long had a passion for training and education. In her unique role, she serves both the Maine Credit Union League and Synergent. She joined the enterprise three years ago, but prior to that, she was a Leadership Development Consultant with Priority Learning.
“I always enjoyed those programs at the League and Synergent and thought, ‘I would love to work there and get to know those folks better!’” said Rodenberger. “Somehow the stars aligned, and I started as the Enterprise Training Manager in December 2018.”
In July of 2021, Todd Mason, President and CEO of the Maine Credit Union League and Synergent, announced the creation of a new Learning and Development department. Rodenberger was excited when she heard this news because she understood the vision of integrating and aligning learning programs into one area between the League and Synergent.
“As the AVP of L&D, the best change has been bringing the Implementation and Training team together with new L&D Specialists to focus us all on common goals for serving both internal staff training and credit union programs,” Rodenberger said.
The new department is crucial in continuing to serve the enterprise’s credit unions in the best way possible. Evolving the department is an exceptional chance to focus on learning, training, and development while allowing the relationship between internal staff and credit unions to flourish.
“Learning is the heart of the relationships between the League and Synergent, and our credit unions,” said Rodenberger. “From the first training during an Episys conversion through convention and conferences, L&D supports credit union staff at all points in their credit union careers.”
The Learning and Development Department In Action
In the next year or so, Rodenberger and her team will take on more oversight of the League’s educational programs. She is looking forward to the opportunity to work closely with credit unions to best understand their training and development needs, continue with the great programs already in place, and update or expand offerings. For now, the team is focusing on new hire onboarding, orientation, and training.
“I’m excited to have the chance to look holistically across the League and Synergent, and to discover ways to bring technical, compliance, service, and leadership programs together in new and innovative ways,” Rodenberger said.
According to Rodenberger, working with people is the best part of her job. She enjoys seeing the “a-ha” moments people experience while she is facilitating a learning program. She also has a great appreciation for working with her team on program development, stating that, “their enthusiasm, ideas, and innovation [is] energizing!”
“L&D is an amazing team of learning professionals,” said Rodenberger “Building programs as a team brings diversity of ideas and approaches to create quality experiences for learners. Also, there are so many new opportunities for learning through technology. I’m excited for the team to explore new ways to bring learning programs to the staff and to our credit unions.“
Aside from her hard work with the L&D department, Rodenberger thoroughly enjoys the time she spends collaborating with the Voice of the Employee Group (VOEG) at the League and Synergent. The interdepartmental group serves as the voice of employees to identify and help develop ways to continuously improve the Enterprise, our culture, and our member/customer experience. She loves seeing how different staff across many departments come together to make a difference within the enterprise.
“VOEG members put in additional work outside of their roles to share their ideas, feedback, and talents with the goal of making this organization a great place to work,” said Rodenberger. “Being a member of VOEG takes dedication and it is an honor to see so many staff step up to serve in this capacity.”
The Credit Union Difference
Since joining the company in 2018, Rodenberger has gained a solid understanding of the People Helping People philosophy that is so proudly shared by credit unions.
“When I moved back to Maine in 2000, I asked my family where they did their banking and they all said ‘at a credit union,’ so I joined a credit union without really thinking about why it was different from a bank,” said Rodenberger. “Being a part of the League and Synergent has taught me so much about the credit union movement. I now have a real understanding of why my credit union membership matters.“
When Rodenberger is not at her desk, you can find her spending time with friends and family, golfing, reading, and giving attention to the center of her world—her pandemic puppy.
