Senior Vice President of Culture & Impact Greater Knoxville, TN Area

The Senior Vice President of Culture & Impact is a key member of the senior leadership team responsible for advancing a consistent, purpose-driven experience for ORNL Federal Credit Union's members, employees, and communities. This position provides strategic leadership and oversight for community engagement, member experience, organizational culture, and employee engagement. In partnership with Executive Management and leaders across the organization, the SVP of Culture & Impact translates ORNL FCU's mission, values, and strategic priorities into meaningful programs, experiences, and behaviors. The role helps operationalize the culture and expectations established by the CEO, C-Team, and Board of Directors, recognizing that culture and service delivery are shared responsibilities across the organization. The SVP develops an integrated approach to culture and impact, ensuring that community investment, member feedback, employee engagement, and organizational initiatives reinforce one another and strengthen ORNL FCU's long-term success. This leader uses data, feedback, and relationships to identify opportunities, influence organizational priorities, and demonstrate measurable impact.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Culture Strategy & Organizational Alignment

• Partners with the CEO, Executive Management, and organizational leaders to operationalize ORNL FCU’s mission, values, service expectations, and desired culture.

• Develops strategies, programs, and resources that reinforce expected leadership behaviors and help employees understand how their work contributes to the organization’s purpose and strategic priorities.

• Collaborates across departments to embed culture into the employee and member experience, including communications, recognition, leadership development, onboarding, and organizational initiatives.

• Serves as a trusted advisor to Executive Management on matters related to organizational culture, engagement, member experience, and community impact.

• Identifies cultural strengths, gaps, and emerging trends through employee feedback, organizational data, observation, and collaboration with leaders.

• Supports organizational change by helping leaders communicate effectively, engage employees, and reinforce alignment around shared goals.

• Promotes consistency between ORNL FCU’s stated values and the experiences delivered to employees, members, and communities.

Member Experience

• Provides strategic leadership and oversight for the continued development and execution of ORNL FCU’s member experience strategy.

• Partners with business leaders to operationalize the enterprise service model and reinforce consistent service expectations throughout the organization.

• Oversees the collection, analysis, and communication of member feedback through surveys, complaints, observations, and other listening channels.

• Translates member insights into actionable recommendations and works collaboratively with departments to reduce friction, remove barriers, and improve the member journey.

• Promotes personalized and meaningful experiences that recognize member relationships, milestones, and significant life events.

• Establishes measures for evaluating member satisfaction, loyalty, service consistency, and the effectiveness of experience-improvement initiatives.

• Ensures member experience priorities remain aligned with ORNL FCU’s brand, strategic plan, operational capabilities, and commitment to exceptional service.

• Champions a member-centered perspective in organizational planning and decision-making.

Employee Engagement

• Develops and oversees a comprehensive employee engagement strategy in partnership with Human Resources, Internal Communications, Learning and Development, and organizational leaders.

• Establishes effective channels for gathering and responding to employee feedback, including engagement surveys, focus groups, listening sessions, and ongoing dialogue.

• Uses employee feedback and organizational data to identify trends, recommend priorities, and support leaders in developing meaningful action plans.

• Partners with leaders to strengthen employee connection, recognition, communication, inclusion, and understanding of organizational goals.

• Supports initiatives that improve the overall employee experience and reinforce ORNL FCU as an employer of choice.

• Develops methods for measuring employee engagement and evaluates the effectiveness of related programs and initiatives.

• Promotes shared accountability among leaders for creating an environment where employees feel valued, supported, informed, and empowered to serve members effectively.

Community Engagement & Impact

• Provides strategic leadership and oversight for ORNL FCU’s community engagement, charitable giving, and volunteer initiatives.

• Develops a comprehensive community impact strategy aligned with ORNL FCU’s mission, brand, strategic priorities, and the evolving needs of the communities it serves.

• Builds and maintains strong relationships with community organizations, nonprofit partners, business leaders, educational institutions, and other key stakeholders.

• Evaluates community investment opportunities and establishes processes to ensure resources are deployed strategically, equitably, and effectively.

• Identifies opportunities for ORNL FCU and its employees to make a meaningful difference through volunteerism, financial education, community partnerships, and philanthropic support.

• Represents ORNL FCU at community events and with external organizations, strengthening the credit union’s visibility, reputation, and relationships.

• Establishes meaningful measures of community impact and communicates outcomes to Executive Management, the Board of Directors, employees, members, and community partners.

• Ensures community initiatives are coordinated across the organization and consistently reflect ORNL FCU’s values and commitment to the communities it serves.

Leadership, Administration & Performance Management

• Leads, develops, and supports employees and teams responsible for culture, community engagement, member experience, and employee engagement.

• Establishes departmental goals, priorities, performance expectations, and measures aligned with the organization’s strategic plan.

• Develops and manages applicable budgets, ensuring the responsible and effective use of organizational resources.

• Creates an integrated measurement framework and executive-level reporting for culture, employee engagement, member experience, and community impact.

• Monitors trends, emerging practices, and innovations related to organizational culture, employee engagement, member experience, and corporate social impact.

• Develops policies, procedures, and governance practices necessary to support effective and consistent execution.

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Experience:

• Ten or more years of progressively responsible leadership experience in organizational culture, employee engagement, member or customer experience, community engagement, corporate social responsibility, human resources, communications, or in a related discipline is required.
• One or more years of experience leading multiple organizational functions, developing enterprise-wide strategies, managing teams and budgets, and influencing across departmental boundaries is strongly preferred.
• Financial services or credit union experience is preferred.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in business management, human resources, or in a related field, OR an equivalent combination of education, training, relevant experience, or military experience is required.

Other Skills Required:

• Exceptional leadership, relationship-building, and influencing skills with the ability to drive organizational alignment and engagement.
• Strong strategic thinking capabilities with demonstrated success translating vision into measurable outcomes.
• Ability to leverage data, feedback, and organizational insights to identify opportunities and guide decision-making.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and presentation skills with experience engaging executive leaders, boards, employees, members, and community partners.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and build collaborative partnerships across all levels of the organization.
• Strong business acumen, analytical capability, and program management skills.
• Ability to champion organizational culture, member experience, and community impact while balancing strategic and operational priorities.
• Demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and service excellence.