were nominated and selected by their co-workers to be this edition's SMART employees for the Third Quarter 2020, and Fourth Quarter 2020. For our Q3 vote, we received so many submissions that it felt appropriate to honor our entire Contact Center Team.
SMART is the Credit Union’s quality service motto. It stands for “Sharp, Motivated, Aware, Responsible, Team-Player.”
The Contact Center has always been an important part of the Credit Union, but never more so than during the past ten months, as member business shifted massively to remote offerings. When branches closed early in the pandemic, the Contact Center was the only point of interaction for our members, and they have continued to be on the front lines of member service ever since. The Contact Center receives approximately 12,800 calls a month, which averages to around 400-450 calls per day! WOW!
Here is what other departments had to say about the Contact Center:
“Total calls have set an all-time record since the beginning of the pandemic. However, you all continually show up with a smile over the phone. I cannot thank you all enough for all that you are doing under very trying times, delivering the essential banking services on which our members rely. You all are rock stars in my eyes and I am so very grateful to have such incredible people on my team.” “The increased call volume lately... especially with the system upgrade adding to all the new questions that need to be answered for our members... the entire Contact Center team just gives it their all each and every day no matter how hard a call may be.”
Contact Center Team, (L to R): Angel Fink-McMickle, Cathy Marleau, Lorraine Gadreault, Christian De La Torre, Megan Bagg, Millie Suarez-Oviedo, Sam Einzig, Katie Lawton, Tim Berryman, Willow Johansmeyer, Hillary Tgettis, Desiree Evanson, Jacob Wenner, Megan Lagoy, Brittany Ward, Angela Smith-LaClaire, Karla Roman, Dina Leavitt.
Tara Sanderson started her UMassFive career on December 26, 2017 as a Loan Servicing Specialist. She was promoted first to Senior Loan Servicing Specialist, then became the interim Loan Servicing Supervisor before being offered the official title in 2019. Most recently, Tara was once again recognized for her hard work and promoted to Loan Servicing Manager in December of 2020.
Here is what other departments had to say about Tara:
“Tara has been instrumental during our system upgrade, and for the continued success of Loan Servicing in general. She consistently shows up for our members and employees all while maintaining a positive attitude. She embodies the SMART behaviors. She is ALWAYS there to assist employees and members alike, with an unyielding positive attitude and smiling approach.” “Tara has been a 'rock star’, not only for the Lending team but also for the entire UMassFive organization and membership. Tara oversaw so many aspects of the system upgrade as it related to anything to do with lending. We are all extremely impressed with her knowledge and understanding of the items that came in her area of expertise. No matter what, she was able to provide thorough updates and always maintained complete professionalism, guiding conversations to the ultimate goal of solving the problem. She was also a very strong communicator and made efforts to keep anyone who might have been impacted by a change or issue informed and invited to provide input. Tara is a great leader!”