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What is your
background and what brought you to COCC?
I began my career in 1984 in public
accounting, and joined Touche Ross & Co.
in 1986 as a senior accountant. COCC
recruited me as Chief Financial Officer
in 1991, which exposed me to this great
organization, its clients, and its
potential. In 2001, following an
extensive search, I was named President
and CEO. In total, I’ve been with COCC
for 18 years, which is quite typical of
our employees.
What kind of company was COCC when
you became President in 2001?
COCC was a mature company with an
experienced and dedicated Board of
Directors, talented management, great
clients, terrific employees, and a deep
heritage of customer service. My
predecessor, Mark Pumiglia, created a
culture of customer service excellence
which still thrives today. Few people
realize that our company has one of the
longest records of service in the
financial data processing business. We
processed transactions for our first
clients in 1967, before most of our
competitors existed! When I became
President in 2001, COCC had just
completed a terrific Y2K performance
that won kudos throughout the industry.
More significantly, we started
converting clients to our next
generation client/server processing
platform. This enormous effort brought
our entire company together in a very
meaningful way. Today, we are a company
of 360 people who all have the same
commitment, passion, and client focus. I
feel extremely fortunate to have been
given the opportunity to lead COCC
forward.
What accomplishments give you the
greatest satisfaction today?
More than the next generation technology
we have installed and the growth we have
experienced, I am most proud of our
service report card grades over the past
six years. During that time, our clients
have given us the highest grades in our
42 year history — well into the
"excellent" range. That tells me a lot
about the work we do and the promises we
keep every day. Right behind our report
cards is completing the .Net upgrade.
While our competition continues to apply
band-aids to their 20 and 30 year old
legacy technologies, we are upgrading
our clients to the second generation of
the latest technology. |
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What have you done over the past
eight years to help COCC achieve
this level of success?
I have helped COCC succeed by
capitalizing on our existing
strengths. We took advantage of
our long standing relationship
with Open Solutions, Inc. to
deliver the leading core
technology in the industry. No
other data processor has a more
advanced core system, and no one
is doing more with Open
Solutions, Inc. to keep that
system ahead of the competition.
We also added experienced staff
in key areas of the company to
deliver the superior service
that our clients expect and
deserve. These actions have made
us industry leaders in several areas —
check image processing, risk
management, business
intelligence and business
process optimization. When
potential clients look closely
at COCC, they are impressed with
every aspect of our
organization.
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What makes COCC
special in today’s market for financial
data processing services?
COCC offers the best technology, the
strongest suite of services, and the
most dedicated service staff — all
supported by a cooperative ownership
structure that maintains the highest
level of quality in the industry. It’s
an unbeatable combination. Because we
use the latest open architecture
processing environment, an institution’s
conversion to COCC is the last
conversion they will ever need to make.
As a client-owned cooperative, COCC
encourages dialogue and responds to
service suggestions more quickly than
many clients expect. Because of the
exceptionally low turnover among our
staff, we have exceptionally strong
experience throughout the company, as
well as a culture of being the best!
That’s why COCC is special in today’s
market for financial data processing
services.
What are your plans going forward?
Certainly revenue growth is in
COCC’s future, but it’s controlled
growth at an annual rate of 5-10
percent. As a service business, we
cannot afford to grow so quickly that we
lose the qualities that make us
successful. That’s why client feedback
and frequent contact with our clients is
so important. Our efforts with Open
Solutions, Inc. to deliver the
industry’s only .Net technology solution
are another important part of our
future. This new technology gives our
clients new functionality and
efficiencies, while giving COCC an
enormous advantage in the industry. .Net
really is a tremendous leap forward for
COCC and our clients. New security
products under the Sentry Services
umbrella and further progress in imaging
and payments technology round out our
product efforts. Behind the scenes, we
are constantly investing in our
technology infrastructure. and our
people. More than products and
technology, we find that people create
our success. We are generating
leadership and enthusiasm through our
company’s "Core Values" which encourage
security, passion, teamwork, and
results. I am convinced that this
initiative is the cornerstone of our
future success. |
