Zia Credit Union President and CEO Dwayne Herrera addresses employees from his branches in Española, Santa Fe and Los Alamos gathered for a training June 12 at SALA. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Standing from left, Zia President and CEO Dwayne Herrera, Kasasa’s Retail Experience Consultant Shannon Head and Client Director Haley Thieblot and Zia Vice President Marketing/Business Development Laura Loy at the June 12 training at SALA. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Zia Credit Union employees from Española, Santa Fe and Los Alamos branches gather for a training June 12 at SALA Event Center Los Alamos. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com
Zia Credit Union gathered some 60 employees from its branches in Española, Santa Fe and Los Alamos for a training event held June 12 at SALA in Los Alamos. This wasn’t a typical training though. Employees wore superhero capes and competed in groups for the best cheer.
The Zia employees were there to learn more about their checking and savings account products supplied by Austin-based company Kasasa. While Zia Credit Union has worked with Kasasa for a number of years, the credit union just decided to drastically raise its rates – offering 5.00% APY on a free checking account, and 2.00% APY on a free savings account.
“I’m sure community members have noticed that local financial institutions are offering increasingly higher rates on their CDs. While we do also offer good CD rates, we wanted to reward our members with higher interest on balances they keep with us every day,” said Zia Credit Union President and CEO Dwayne Herrera.
So where did the capes and cheers come in?
“The slogan for Kasasa is ‘Ask for Kasasa Rewards. It’s our superpower’,” explained Laura Loy, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. “Our trainers had superhero capes for every employee to wear. They also broke us up into groups of 10 and challenged us to come up with the best cheer incorporating ‘Zia’ and ‘Kasasa’. To see our coworkers up there being silly and performing their cheers was a lot of fun.”
Zia chose SALA as the venue for its training because of all that it had to offer. Not only did Zia rent the theater, but they also had SALA provide pizza and movie theater “Snack Attack” packages, including a drink, candy and of course, movie theater popcorn. As an added treat, Zia employees were encouraged to stay after the training to watch a movie.
“SALA was so easy to work with,” Loy said. “We will definitely use the venue again.”
Zia Credit Union is a member-owned financial cooperative providing financial services to approximately 12,353 members with offices in Los Alamos, Española, and Santa Fe. Membership is open to those who live, worship, work (or regularly conduct business in) or attend school in, and businesses and other legal entities located within Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Taos, or Santa Fe counties. To find out more, visit www.ziacu.org.
Zia employees were challenged to come up with the best cheer incorporating ‘Zia’ and ‘Kasasa’ during the training at SALA. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Kasasa Retail Experience Consultant Shannon Head speaks to Zia employees during a training June 12 at SALA. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Kasasa trainers provided superhero capes for every employee to wear during the Zia training event at SALA. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Zia Credit Union employees from Española, Santa Fe and Los Alamos branches gather in the lobby ahead of the training June 12 at SALA Event Center Los Alamos. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
SALA provided pizza and movie theater ‘Snack Attack’ packages, including a drink, candy and of course, movie theater popcorn for Zia employees gathered for a training June 12 at SALA. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
From left, Zia Vice President Marketing/Business Development Laura Loy, Kasasa’s Client Director Haley Thieblot and Retail Experience Consultant Shannon Head, Zia Vice President of Member Experience Valerie Martinez and President and CEO Dwayne Herrera at the June 12 training at SALA. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com