FinTech Magazine October 2020 | Page 135

in particular – it has reinforced the human-centric trend . “ We ’ re in the age of the consumer right now ,” says Novak . “ You have some stellar companies and industries that , because of where they are on their digital journeys , were able to react and thrive very quickly amidst the disruption . In my view , it ’ s very difficult for any business to truly succeed if they haven ’ t made significant headway in putting members first , and we ’ re seeing that being played out as a result of the pandemic .” A great example of this , says Novak , is the physical and digital parity that a retail leader such as Wal-Mart has done . With e-commerce sales up , it is now planning to convert the parking lots of 160 of its stores in August to drive-in movie theaters , where it can sell products from the store for the patrons to snack on while watching the movie .
Thanks to Novak and his colleagues ’ work on its digital transformation strategy , Visions has been able to respond rapidly to the disruption brought by the pandemic . “ An example is the emergency loans we offered at the onset
135

EXECUTIVE PROFILE : Thomas Novak

Title : AVP / Digital
Industry : Financial services , credit union
Thomas P . Novak is a vastly experienced financial services leader . Today , he is AVP / Digital at Visions Federal Credit Union , where he is directly responsible for the digital strategy of the organization and overseeing all digital banking , digital payments , and the operations of public and secure digital platforms . Thomas leads on digital transformation in relation to member-facing technology platforms . At Visions , he actively works with marketing , business development , IT , lending and branch administration to assess automation needs and initiatives that include : UI / UX , SEO , digital analytics , voice of the customer , content management , vendor management and strategic planning . fintechmagazine . com