Becoming a CEO With a Vision for Technology and Teamwork

A decade before CUES member Dana DeFilippis, CCE, became CEO of Merck, Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, she decided she wanted the job.

Coming to credit unions from public accounting, DeFilippis prepared for the CEO role by adding leadership of the IT department to her duties as VP/finance of the $825 million institution, excelling at opportunities her CEO gave her to present to the board, attending CUES’ CEO Institute and earning her certified chief executive designation, and getting to know every part of the organization.

Now CEO for two years, DeFilippis has leveraged the knowledge she gathered to help her use technology and teamwork to promote staff innovation and better serve members.

“So, our ultimate goal is that we free up our employees’ time (from) doing mundane things, so that they can be more innovative; they can think about how things are being done and how do we, you know, continue to improve our processes, improve our products and services that we’re offering to our men members,” DeFilippis explains, noting that automating month-end close by implementing SkyStem’s ART month-end close system was one way that’s been done. “So yes, the ultimate goal is because we’re … pretty lean … to be able to really free up people's time so that they can be more innovative and think about ways to be more productive."

CUES thanks SkyStem for sponsoring this show and for being a CUES Supplier member at the supporting level.

The episode also gets into DeFilippis’ advice for aspiring CEOs, including strategies for learning; the benefits she got from attending CUES' CEO Institute; her deep-seated belief in teams with representation from across the organization; Merck, Sharp and Dohme FCU’s recent mobile banking implementation; and inspiration for taking on new challenges.

Links for this show:

•  Merck, Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union
• SkyStem and ART, its month-end close system
• CUES’ CEO Institute
• Five Signs It’s Time for Your Credit Union to Automate Month-End Close
• Why Every Credit Union Should Value and Optimize Flux Analysis
• Podcast: Easing the Pain of Month-End Close
• Transcript