Norma Mckittrick

How long have you been in the credit union industry, and why Fibre?

“I’ve been in the credit union industry for 20 years; 12 years here. Fibre is an amazing organization – our members and employees, and we spend a lot of time volunteering about building our community.”

What are some of your achievements there?

“As a leader, one of the things I’m really proud of is that I don’t have any attrition; they’ve all been here five years or more. Once they get established here they don’t want to leave.

“My role is not to be a boss, but to provide the support, remove the roadblocks and let them do their job so they can be the successful employees that they can be.”

What challenges are you facing?

“A lot of what I do is in the collections world. Inflation is starting to hit. It’s hitting people’s wallets and their budgets are starting to shrink. We’re trying to get in there early, understand what’s going on, and try to give them the resources to be successful through this time.

“That is, getting there early and having those conversations and breaking down those barriers. That’s our biggest challenge.”

What are you recommending to people as budgets are falling apart?

“You have to prioritize your spending. I always tell my members: I need you to have a safe place to live, and have food on the table, and be able to successfully live your life, and we need to prioritize how to do that.

“Then once we take care of your basic needs, we can start working to pay back these contractual debts, but we always start with: You have to be able to live and work and thrive before you can move forward.

“It’s about breaking down each person’s situation, helping them understand that we see them as a human being, and we know that there are challenges.

“We’re not sticking our hand out to give them money. We’re trying to figure out a way to help them be successful in this crazy environment.”

How is Eltropy helping?

“What Eltropy has brought to my team is that early intervention when people are still ready to talk – in a way that they’re easily able to say that things that maybe they don’t feel comfortable saying face to face, or over the phone, but they feel comfortable just being able to type that out send a message and get it off their shoulders. 

“We were able to implement early intervention and we have a lot of success with Eltropy in engaging with members sooner and finding earlier solutions and giving them tools so they can prevent that delinquency and those hardships for members.

“Eltropy really helped us break through that barrier in a way that met their needs – and it’s been kind of life-changing not only for our members but also for our staff.”

How have you liked the Leadership Summit?

“It’s been fantastic. Lots of new ideas about how everyone is using some of the technologie you guys are offering. I’ve met a lot of fantastic people. I’ve met a lot of great people and thought leaders. And I got to enjoy beautiful Utah in the fall. The colors have been amazing!”