Tampa, Fla. (January 3, 2019) – GTE Financial, one of Florida’s largest credit unions, announced today the promotion of six associate vice presidents to new positions in its leadership team. Holly Markham is now VP of Community Engagement and Development, Scott Goldbach is the new VP of Member Sales — East, Shane Asbel is the VP of Member Sales — West, James Esner is the VP of Consumer Lending, Tania Pratt is the VP of Member Care and Experience, and Nikki Wills is the VP of Member Experience. Combined, the executives have over 50 years of experience in their respective fields.
“We’re elated to advance these six extraordinary individuals to our growing leadership team at GTE Financial,” says Brian Best, president and CEO of GTE Financial. “They all are experienced in their roles and bring creative ideas and innovative processes to the table that contributes to enhancing both employee and member experience.”
Markham will be leading the Community Engagement and Student Strategy areas for the credit union. She has more than 15 years of experience with GTE Financial. Markham’s passion for financial literacy and community relations makes a significant impact throughout the organization. In her new role, she will be advancing the credit union’s community and philanthropic efforts, business development, developing and expanding student strategy programs, which includes the credit unions scholarships and internships, and creating and sustaining an integrated grant strategy that will benefit members and all of Tampa Bay.
Goldbach is a proven sales leader who assumes the role of VP of Member Sales for the East. He has led, built and sustained a high caliber sales and service team while servicing members in the western portion of the credit union’s footprint. He has over 17 years of experience in the financial services industry.
Asbel will oversee Member Sales for the West. The St. Leo University alum has over ten years of experience with GTE Financial. He’ll be working in tandem with Goldbach to ensure GTE Financial sales teams are adequately trained and qualified to provide remarkable service to the credit union’s members.
Esner is responsible for the Consumer Lending department. He has 14 years of experience in the credit union industry. Recently, he became the recipient of the 2018 Rising Star award winner by Credit Union National Association (CUNA) for his contributions to lending. In his two years at GTE Financial, he has transformed and successfully led the Indirect Lending program.
Since 1993, Pratt has led GTE in providing world-class care for our members both in the retail and call centers. Continually striving to improve the experience for both our members and employees, she has successfully led and managed teams at all levels leading up to this latest promotion. In this new role she will focus on both the employee and member experience across Member Care, Onscreen and the impending Card Channels.
Wills has served the organization for several years previously as the Regional and Member Experience AVP, supporting the Community Financial Center network in the area of sales and service. She has led several high performing teams who are responsible for delivering exceptional service to our members. Wills and her team have successfully conducted the credit union’s Net Promoter Member Loyalty program and GTE’s improved experience across the retail channels. Most recently, she and her groups launched the Internal Net Promoter System, raising the bar for the employee experience building loyalty and engagement. In this new role, Wills will expand the experience focus across the GTE footprint while gaining the outbound activities designed to increase member loyalty and experience. She will continue to lead the vision for Member Experience as the organization transitions to the new Qualtrics experience management system.
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About GTE Financial:
GTE Financial is a not for profit financial cooperative with more than $2 billion in assets and 24 Community Financial Centers located throughout West Central Florida. Chartered in 1935, GTE Financial is locally owned and operated in the Tampa Bay area, serving more than 260,000 individuals and businesses. More information on GTE Financial can be found at www.gtefinancial.org.