Member Spotlight: Margie Krafft

CUNA Technology Council
December 30, 2009 | COMMENTS

Margie Krafft is assistant vice president of information systems for Great Lakes Credit Union in North Chicago, Illinois. A Midwesterner by birth who enjoys the snow, Margie held various Technical/IT management positions in the pharmaceutical, insurance, and distribution industries before joining Great Lakes Credit Union. “I love learning new things and this position provides a wide variety of technical opportunities,” she says.

Biggest challenge

Growth of membership is a recurring challenge, even with so many products and services. My biggest personal challenge is understanding the many regulatory issues that affect our IT functions.

Best advice

Together we achieve more. There are no limits to what "WE" can accomplish.

Greatest benefit of Council membership

Reaching out to others to see how they do things. I get a lot of good information from the List serve and conferences.

Best part of my job

Working with a team that is committed to a common goal whose members enjoy working with each other.

Hardest part of my job

Keeping projects moving forward and testing changes when they are not in the "top percent" of others' workloads or responsibilities.

Success story

Installing a new VoIP phone system with a secondary system for business continuity and automatic failover. The many changes that affected each person's desk, all done in one session in 10 locations, and having it all work well, makes me proud.

Hobbies and interests

Scuba diving, hiking, biking, and reading.

Recent book

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer.

Life goal not yet accomplished

Scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef and seeing Australia and New Zealand.

Something that always makes me laugh

Playing cards with kids.

Favorite quote

“There is no "I" in TEAM.”

If I could spend a day with anyone . . .

I would visit my cousin—he lives in Australia so it would also get me closer to one of my personal goals.

How I would explain the credit union difference to a potential new member

We are member-owned. This means that you are an owner, so you are important to us and we listen to you. A credit union has better rates for saving than banks and can offer better options. Credit unions offer shared branches, meaning that it is probable that a credit union near you when on vacation is available to you, just as if you were at home.

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