The Customer Relations team for Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) is on the front lines of engaging with more than 9,000 financial institutions across the country. Meet Stacy Springer, one of this team’s many “faces of the Fed.”
Q: When and why did you come to work for the Federal Reserve?
A: Growing up near Minneapolis, my neighbor who worked for the Fed gave me a pen with shredded money in it. At seven years old, that pen not only made me a celebrity among first graders, it also foretold my future. When my husband Jeff and I decided to move to Montana (our kids are now sixth generation Montanans!), and after I took time off from work when our two children were little, it felt natural to explore working at the Helena branch (Off-site) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. I joined the Fed in 2012 as a business analyst in community outreach, focusing on financial literacy and other topics of public interest. When it was suggested that I consider working more closely with financial institutions, I began serving community banks and credit unions in 2015.
Q: What do you do now as a senior relationship manager in Community Customer Relations (CCR) for Federal Reserve Financial Services?
A: I serve community banks and credit unions in the 10th District states of Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming. These smaller financial institutions are vital to their communities — they know what’s going on locally, have relationships that take “know your customer” (KYC) to the next level, and serve their people just as we serve them.
My job is to consult with financial institutions and guide them to the solutions that work best for their goals and risk tolerance. I listen for their pain points, such as manual processes that could be automated with one of our services. Our conversations often uncover latent issues or desired product enhancements, and help financial institutions maximize the value of the services they already have in place. These conversations help me build relationships and trust, further extending the Fed brand.
Most of my meetings are virtual, but I also have valuable face-to-face touchpoint conversations with customers at conferences and events within the region. While part of my job is to provide feedback and market intelligence to others at the Fed, leaders in FRFS also want to hear directly from a given bank or credit union. I love how our CCR and FRFS team members learn from each other and share what’s working to help us better serve our customers.
Q: Which topics are top-of-mind among our customers these days?
A: They’re very excited to see demonstrations of our FedPayments® Insights service, which can help financial institutions validate suspicious ACH activity and trends at a glance. Our Fedwire® Funds Offline Service customers are establishing FedLine Advantage® connections to maintain their access to Fedwire. Check advanced notice return reports from FedPayments® Reporter for Check help our customers quickly identify returns with higher-than-average dollar amounts.
My customers were also thrilled to see the FedNow® Service Provider Showcase (Off-site), which came about because community institutions asked for it (since many of these smaller financial institutions plan to offer instant payments through a service provider). And they were delighted when FRFS began to offer a single customer service phone number, rather than making customers navigate multiple numbers.
Q: What is it like to live in Montana?
A: The Helena Valley sits quietly between two Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks and two rival schools: Montana State University (MSU) and the University of Montana (UofM). It’s a quaint gem, allowing us to volunteer in the community and the kids to pursue diverse interests. Mount Helena, the third largest city park in the U.S., is blocks away where yes, we’ve encountered bear.
Family is at the center of our pursuits, and we commonly drive hours for our favorite events and people. Sixty-eight family members spanning four generations just returned from the 55th annual Springer Gathering over July Fourth. We enjoy welcoming friends and our Minnesota family for visits and heading to Grandma’s and Papa’s home on the lake, where you’ll likely catch me working from the patio.
Soon we’ll exchange lake time with football time (Go Cats!), and rivalries are fierce. Papa played for the rival UofM, but the rest of the family members are MSU alums and our daughter will be a freshman there starting this fall. Our son’s passions are football, all other sports, and the arenas they’re played in. We cherish the comfort of our family and friends — in Montana, we’re never far from someone we know.
