By Mary Beth Roach
Women in leadership roles in credit unions are many, according to various credit union associations. The Credit Union National Association, for example, posted in the fall of 2023 that the majority (51%) of credit union CEOs are female.
For Jen Wolfe, who was named chief operating officer at Empower Federal Credit Union in Syracuse about eight months ago, this number comes as no surprise.
“I’ve seen a lot of growth in this area throughout my career. So, I’m excited that we’re part of this trend,” she said.
“Collaboration is at the heart of what a credit union is. People helping people, and I think that philosophy opens up a range of ideas and thoughts and willingness to collaborate across diverse groups of people,” she added.
In her role, Wolfe oversees 570 employees. She said she has the “privilege to have over-arching responsibility for the member experience,” including such things as retail services, member contact center, office operations, lending and information technology.
Since its founding in 1939, Empower FCU has grown to more than $3.5 billion in assets, serving more than 250,000 members, with 26 branch locations across Upstate New York. It is a nonprofit financial cooperative owned by and operated for its members.
Empower FCU is the fourth credit union that Wolfe has worked at in her career. She started working inside a lending call center and quickly moved into management from there.
Through the years she said she’s been fortunate to have had opportunities to lead areas that focus on direct customer interactions as well as back-office shared services. “These opportunities have provided me a holistic journey across the operations of the credit union” and prepared her for her current position as COO.
