Prepared for the team
FI Strategist. Practitioner. GTM Operator.
I spent 22 years inside a $1.2B credit union, building digital banking from the boardroom out. Today I help FIs & FinTechs connect what technology can do with what a financial institution is really deciding.
From FI to FinTech, I bring empathy and experience that actually matters.
Then · Honda FCUAs Head of Digital Technologies at Honda FCU, I didn’t inherit digital banking, I built it from zero. I built and led the team, owned the budget and vendor portfolio, led a nine‑month, six‑vendor evaluation to one board‑approved digital banking platform, and then lived with that decision through conversion, optimization, and renewal. That’s where the real lessons came from, not the RFP, but every Monday morning after go‑live.
Now · ebankITAt ebankIT, I work the other side of that same table. I help financial institutions build the ROI and TCO case they need before they say yes, shape three‑to‑five‑year digital roadmaps, lead a sales team spanning the U.S. and Porto, Portugal, and own the U.S. partnerships marketplace I built from a blank page. For a fintech, it means having someone who can anticipate the FI board’s questions and concerns long before the conversation ever reaches them.
Run the five year picture 2-minute stay vs. switch cost model Start the conversation Email, LinkedIn or call
jerry.webp and it appears here.01
Title: Sr. Solutions Engineer
Scope: FI strategy, partnerships & value consulting.
Strategy, partnerships and the long-range planning institutions depend on, from someone who has already navigated the same decisions from the inside.
Turning institutional questions into clear ROI decisions.
I build the ROI and total cost of ownership case an institution needs to say yes, on its own numbers, with conversion cost, operational lift and risk stated plainly. I’ve built these models as a buyer, a vendor and an independent advisor.
Charting the next five years with clarity and truth.
I map where an institution’s digital channel needs to go over the next three to five years, and what has to be true to get there. I did this work at Honda: I wrote the roadmap, defended it to a board, and lived with the outcome.
Responding with empathy from both sides of the table.
I lead RFI and RFP responses from start to finish and stay involved through implementation, scoping requests into estimates institutions can trust. I’ve written these questions as a buyer and answered them as a vendor, so I know where alignment usually breaks down.
Shaping demos through conversation & AI insights.
I start every demo by listening, then use AI to build a clear picture of the institution’s market and digital priorities. When the demo appears on screen, it reflects what the institution told me and what it is working toward.
Creating a partnership model institutions can trust.
I built the U.S. partnerships marketplace from a blank page and stood it up inside six months, setting how partners are selected, enabled and managed once live. Every institution should understand why each partner matters to its digital strategy.
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Four examples of my work, each framed by the situation, the actions I took, the outcome, and what it reveals about how I operate.
Situation
Our digital channel sat on an incumbent platform that kept auto‑renewing and no longer fit where the institution was going. Our CEO wanted a decision that could be defended to the board, regulators, and most importantly, to our members.
What I did
Results
What it says
I made this decision with my name on it.
When I sit with an institution now,
I understand the pressure behind their questions because I’ve carried it myself.
Situation
ebankIT lacked clarity on which partners truly mattered to financial institutions and what would strengthen partner and integration confidence with prospects and existing clients. At the same time, the company was growing in North America without a repeatable way to select, enable, or govern partners, while institutions were looking for confidence, history, and proof behind FinTech partnerships.
What I did
Results
What it says
I solve institutional problems from the inside out
by using FI leadership and digital‑banking experience
to build what others wait for.
Situation
Enterprise digital banking deals stall when the demo doesn't translate into the FI's financial reality. The value needs to be visible!
What I did
Results
What it says
I turn platform capability into institutional clarity
with FI experience and digital‑banking leadership
to solve the real problem behind the demo.
Situation
Vendors build what they hear and which institutions they listen to determines what gets built.
What I did
Results
What it says
I can tell you what institutions are actually asking for,
and I can tell the difference between a feature they will use and a feature they will admire.
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Most of this job is knowing what happens in the room after you leave it.
Trust the presenter before the math.
In my experience, every boardroom has a moment when the cost stops leading the conversation and what the people say starts to matter more. When someone acknowledges the real cost of change, the risks, the staffing strain, they earn the room's trust.
key_takeawayEmpathy & credibilityA business case that names the risk is the one that survives the meeting.
Clarity begins with the right questions.
After trust settles the room, the next thing people look for is clarity. In every institution, clarity starts with asking what must be true, not what must be sold. The questions that matter are simple ones: What problem are we actually solving? What changes if we’re right? What breaks if we’re wrong? When those questions get answered plainly, the room stops guessing and starts thinking.
key_takeawayCuriosity & clarityThe questions that matter reveal the decision that matters.
Every number earns its place.
Clarity sets the direction, but precision determines whether the direction is viable. A model must show the economics exactly as they are, not as we wish they were. When the math accounts for risk, operational strain, and the year‑one dip, the room stops questioning the foundation and starts evaluating the path. A model that survives scrutiny earns the decision.
key_takeawayPrecision & integrityA model that cannot survive a skeptical CFO is not worth presenting.
What I learn before the meeting.
Before any board conversation, I try to understand what the institution is actually carrying: the strain, the fear, the pressure to get the decision right. When you walk in knowing those things, the room feels understood. And when people feel understood, trust doesn't have to be earned from scratch.
key_takeawayReflection & learningTrust begins when people feel understood.
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This is the model I would build with you, in miniature. Change the numbers and watch what a five year platform decision actually looks like. Nothing is stored and nothing leaves this page.
Most platform comparisons stop at the subscription line. The decision is settled by everything underneath it: conversion, exit fees, staff time, and what happens to adoption in year one.
Defaults describe a $1.2B credit union with 48,000 digital users. Every figure below is editable.
Stay
Switch
| Year | Stay, cumulative | Switch, cumulative | Support FTE saved | Net value, discounted |
|---|
$0 low · $0 expected · $0 high
Value = (users × enrollment lift × revenue per active user) + (users × attrition avoided × average relationship value) + (support hours saved × $45 loaded hourly cost), ramped over five years at 40, 70, 90, 100 and 100 percent of full effect. Low and high are the expected case at 0.6x and 1.5x. One FTE is 2,080 hours. Net value is cost difference plus value created, discounted each year. Low risk tolerance means a higher discount rate and a shorter payback window, the way a cautious board actually decides. The 67 percent ceiling on the enrollment slider is my own measured first year result at a $1.2B credit union, not a promise.
If you want the real version of this for your institution, get in touch.
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What I do when nobody is buying anything.
I write and speak about digital banking for the people who have to run it, in plain language rather than vendor language. Webinar panels, blog posts, a Financial Brand contribution, and LinkedIn posts, all under one hashtag.
More than 60 industry conferences across my career. I go for the hallway conversations, not the sessions.
Certificates of completion in generative AI from Anthropic and AWS. Product management at Cornell and UX certification from Nielsen Norman Group. I learn the tools before I talk about them.
What AI actually changes in a platform evaluation and what it only appears to change. Where the CUSO model goes next. Why so many institutions buy a new platform and then run it like the old one.
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If you are hiring for FI strategy, partnerships or value consulting, or you just want to compare notes on how institutions really buy, I would like to hear from you.
Prefer to write directly? hello.jerry.reese@gmail.com