San Diego County CU Employee Recognized for Contributions to Community
December 9, 2020
SAN DIEGO, Calif., (December 8, 2020)-- San Diego County Credit Union® (SDCCU®), San Diego’s largest locally-owned financial institution, is proud to announce that SDCCU Executive Vice President, Chief Experience Officer and Digital Channels, Nathan Schmidt was selected as one of SD Metro Magazine’s San Diego County 2020 Men of Influence. The award recognizes men who are making meaningful contributions to the San Diego region, and this marks the second consecutive year Schmidt has received this honor.
Schmidt was selected by a panel of judges for his impactful contributions in the credit union field and the San Diego community. He was nominated for his dynamic leadership and unwavering focus on continually raising the bar on creativity, service, strategy and execution, resulting in exponential growth for SDCCU and impacting the overall credit union movement. His approach to leadership materializes into an execution that leverages all resources to maximize results and awareness of the SDCCU brand and has greatly contributed to SDCCU’s growth and success. This includes: propelling SDCCU’s position to a top credit union in the nation and; being voted BEST Credit Union for the 21st consecutive year and for the eleventh year in a row: BEST Financial Planning and BEST Mortgage Home Loan Provider and BEST Auto Loan Provider and BEST Place to Work for the seventh year in The San Diego Union-Tribune Readers Poll.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March highlighted a number of Schmidt’s notable efforts. In late-2019, Schmidt led the successful launch of SDCCU’s new and improved online banking platform, which quickly became a valuable resource for customers to perform nearly all banking transactions from the comfort of their home.
Under Schmidt’s direction, this year with the COVID-19 pandemic preventing SDCCU from hosting in-person presentations, SDCCU moved its Financial Wellness Wednesdays program to a digital format to make financial education accessible for the community at a time when it was needed most. So far in 2020, his team has delivered more than 300 presentations to over 3,000 attendees.
Additionally, to help give parents who were now teaching kids at home some resources and reprieve, SDCCU shared its SDCCU Biz Kid$ Program. The program, which is predominantly online and ideal for distance learning, helped engage kids at home with a fun and interactive way to learn about money. Biz Kid$ includes an Emmy award-winning television series from the creators of Bill Nye the Science Guy, free curriculum, outreach activities and a website engaging kids of all ages. It is an award-winning, comprehensive financial literacy program focused on teaching kids how to use credit wisely and about the importance of saving, budgeting, investing and giving back to their communities. The program is also based on national standards for financial literacy and entrepreneurship education, and have been mapped to local, state and national standards. To complement the resources, SDCCU furthered its reach with Biz Kid$ and help for parents and teachers by hosting regular Biz Kid$ events online for students throughout the summer and launched a Biz Kid$ Back to School campaign in the fall.
Schmidt has earned notable recognition for his accomplishments and leadership in the time he has been with SDCCU. In 2019, he was named among SD Metro Magazine’s Men of Influence. In 2017, he was selected as the 2017 Marketing Professional of the Year by the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council. In 2015, he was named a Credit Union Rock Star by CUNA. He was also named Brand Professional of the Year by One Club San Diego, San Diego’s premiere marketing association, the organization that recognized SDCCU as Brand of the Year in 2014. He was selected by SD Metro Magazine for the "40 Under 40" award. He was also named as a “Trailblazer 40 Below” by the Credit Union Times. Schmidt was also selected as a finalist for the inaugural “Marketing Executive of the Year” award by the San Diego Business Journal and winner of the Young Influential award by the San Diego Daily Transcript. Schmidt’s work was acknowledged in 2020 with a MAC Award and was also designated with the highest honor as the MACQUEE winner.
Schmidt has a Bachelor’s degree from California State University, Sacramento, and a Master’s in Business Administration from Saint Mary’s College of Moraga, Calif. He serves on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Bowl Game Association (SDBGA), whose mission is to generate tourism, exposure, economic benefit and civic pride for San Diego and its citizens by producing the nation’s most exciting bowl game and festival of events. Schmidt is also active in the financial services industry serving as a board of governor for the California Credit Union League, San Diego and Imperial Chapter. He is also a Biz Kid$ Advisory Board Member.
SDCCU is one of California’s largest credit unions, proudly serving the financial needs of customers in San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties. SDCCU has assets of $9.5 billion, over 424,000 customers, over 40 convenient branch locations and 30,000 surcharge-FREE ATMs. SDCCU provides breakthrough banking products that meet the demands of today’s lifestyle and delivers banking services that save customers money. SDCCU is leading the way, offering FREE Checking with eStatements, SDCCU mobile banking, mortgage loans, auto loans, Visa® credit cards and business banking services. Federally insured by NCUA. Equal Housing Opportunity. For more information, visit www.sdccu.com.