Experience & Operations Executive

Member experience, run as an operation.

North Star's first Chief Experience Officer, owning member and employee experience across 13 branches and a Contact Center at a $470MM institution serving 22,000 members. Transactional NPS moved 70 to 82. Products per household rose 82%. A full core and digital conversion landed on time and on budget.

SRN · 2026 St. Johns, FL Steve Nannicelli, experience and operations executive
Base
St. Johns, FL
Work Mode
Remote · Hybrid · FL on-site
Target
CXO · VP Experience · COO
Sector
Credit Unions & Financial Services
$0MM
Assets Led
70 to 0
NPS Lift
0K
Members Served
$0MM+
Revenue Built
0+
Years
The Thesis

NPS is the readout.
The machine sits behind it.

Plenty of institutions run the survey, watch the number, and coach whichever branch scored worst last month. That treats experience as a reporting problem.

Member experience moves when four things move together: how members get onboarded, how staff get coached and paid, how fast internal friction gets resolved, and whether the core platform can actually carry the journey. Rebuild those and the score follows on its own.

At North Star the number went 70 to 82. At REV it went 68 to 83. Neither number was the project.

01
Onboarding is the product
The relationship gets decided in the first few weeks, so onboarding gets built like a product instead of a checklist. New Member, Indirect, and Existing journeys took products per household from 1.7 to 3.1.
02
Employees feel it first
A frontline team fighting internal friction cannot deliver an external experience. A 12-person Employee Experience Team and an online help desk cut internal response time about 40%.
03
Pay for the behavior
Service culture that is not wired into recognition and incentive design decays quietly. A CRM-automated incentive system for 100-plus staff grew products per household 90% and $10MM+ in revenue over two years.
04
The platform is part of the journey
Experience work stops at whatever the core cannot do. Carrying 22,000 members through a full Corelation and Mahalo conversion, on time and on budget, kept the roadmap open.
The Instrument

Five levers,
one gauge.

Every reading below came off a real dashboard at North Star Community Credit Union between 2021 and 2025. Select a lever to move the needle. The dashed marker holds the starting position.

0 100
Transactional NPS
82
From 70 82
Higher is better

Levers pulled, 2021 to 2025

Arrow keys move between levers. Auto-cycle stops once you take over.

Career

Twenty years,
one throughline.

2021 to 2025
North Star Community Credit Union
Minot, ND

Chief Experience Officer

  • Stood up the credit union's first Chief Experience Officer function across retail, training, consumer lending, and deposits: a four-department organization of about 80 people through three direct reports on a $2MM budget.
  • Held shared P&L with the CLO and CFO across income and expense lines while assets grew from $370MM to $470MM, driving about 10% loan and 5% deposit growth.
  • Delivered a full core and digital banking conversion (Corelation, Mahalo) on time and on budget for all 22,000 members, with member experience protected through cutover.
  • Lifted transactional NPS from 70 to 82 by rebuilding the member and employee survey program and adding SMS and text collection.
  • Grew products per household from 1.7 to 3.1, an 82% increase, through redesigned New Member, Indirect, and Existing onboarding journeys.
  • Built a 12-person Employee Experience Team and launched an online help desk that cut internal response time about 40%.
  • Launched a public and community deposit program that brought in $5MM in eight months.
  • Reported monthly to the Board on membership growth, loan production, retail condition, and service scores, and held a clean loan-exception report across risk, collections, and IT.
  • Ran financial wellness programming for members and staff.
13 Branches Contact Center $470MM Assets 80-Person Org $2MM Budget Board Reporting
2025 to Present
Professional Development

Career Sabbatical

  • Full-time family caregiver.
  • Earned the Electronic Banking Officer certification and completed AI Benefits and Risks for Banks through CareerLearning.
2014 to 2020
REV Federal Credit Union
Summerville, SC

Director, Sales, Service and Member Experience

  • Lifted NPS from 68 to 83 and raised mystery-shop service scores from 83% to 98% within six months.
  • Built a CRM-automated incentive system for 100-plus staff, growing products per household 90% and $10MM+ in revenue over two years.
  • Cut first-year operating expenses about 20% through a checking product-suite revamp.
  • Led the credit union's first member relationship-building training for 100-plus frontline staff.
  • Converted the AD&D portfolio, lifting member follow-up 80% and returning a $125K first-year payment to the credit union.
  • Ran Retirewell wealth management and built a wealth-management CUSO to launch-ready before COVID shelved it.
  • Directed cross-functional projects across risk, collections, real estate, and IT, and negotiated core and digital vendors.
NPS 68 to 83 98% Service Audit $10MM+ Revenue 20% Expense Cut CUSO Build
2010 to 2014
Piedmont Advantage Credit Union
Charlotte, NC

Regional Director, Branch Operations and Business Development

  • Ran three branches and 25-plus staff, delivering 285% new-member, 307% checking, and 123% loan growth.
  • Cut year-one expenses about 15% while driving triple-digit growth across membership, checking, and lending.
2006 to 2010
Local Government Federal Credit Union
Charlotte, NC

Membership Development Manager

  • Managed an 11-county territory and a $750K budget, growing net loans 11% and membership 8% in year one. Promoted in 2008.
2003 to 2006
South Carolina Federal Credit Union
Charleston, SC

Branch Services and Financial Services Officer

  • Top Sales Performer at 22 to 30% of pay-for-performance goals with perfect secret-shopper scores.
1994 to 2003
TAC Worldwide · DirectFit
Internet Development Consulting

Business Development and Account Management

  • Business development and account management across staffing and technology consulting.
Capability

What sits under the seat.

Exp
Experience and Service
  • Member and Employee Experience
  • NPS and Service Metrics
  • Journey Mapping
  • Voice of Member
  • Service Culture
Grw
Growth and Onboarding
  • Member Onboarding
  • Retention
  • Products per Household
  • Sales and Incentive Design
  • CRM Automation
Ops
Operations and P&L
  • Retail and Service Operations
  • Shared P&L
  • Budget Management
  • Process Improvement and Cost Reduction
  • Vendor Negotiation
Tec
Technology and Delivery
  • Core Banking Conversion (Corelation)
  • Digital Banking (Mahalo)
  • Omnichannel Delivery
  • CRM Automation
Lnd
Lending and Deposits
  • Consumer and Indirect Lending
  • Retail Deposit Strategy
  • Cost-of-Funds
  • Loan Administration
  • Collections
Gov
People and Governance
  • Employee Engagement and Recognition
  • Coaching and Training
  • Financial Wellness
  • Board Reporting
  • NCUA Compliance Coordination
Steve Nannicelli
Steve R. Nannicelli
Experience & Operations Executive
About

Twenty years asking one question.

What does this institution actually feel like to the member standing at the counter, waiting on hold, or opening the app at eleven at night. Two decades in credit unions have mostly gone to answering that, and then proving the answer in deposits, loans, and retention.

The path ran from the branch outward. Selling on the frontline at South Carolina Federal, developing an 11-county territory at LGFCU, running three branches at Piedmont Advantage, then building the sales, service, and member experience function at REV. North Star turned it into a seat at the table: their first Chief Experience Officer, four departments, roughly 80 people, and shared P&L with the CLO and CFO.

Disney Institute training on quality service shaped a lot of how the work gets framed. So did running a full core conversion, which teaches quickly that experience strategy is only as good as the platform underneath it.

Since 2025 the priority has been full-time family caregiving, with certification work fitting around it. That season is closing, and the search now is for a Chief Experience Officer, VP of Customer Experience and Operations, or COO seat where service scores, growth, and the operating model all report to the same person.

Education
Stonehill College
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science · Minor, Business Administration · North Easton, MA
Certification
Electronic Banking Officer
License #176075753
Certification
AI Benefits and Risks for Banks
CareerLearning
Registration & Training
NMLS Registered
Disney Institute Quality Service and Business Excellence
Contact

Open to the next experience seat.

Chief Experience Officer, VP of Customer Experience and Operations, and Chief Operating Officer roles across credit unions, banks, and financial services. Open to fully remote and hybrid work, and to on-site roles anywhere in Florida. Based in St. Johns, Florida.

Remote Hybrid On-site, statewide Florida Available now