A Short Version

“Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win” – Bobby Knight

 

When I left for Wilmington College in the Summer of ’96, my initial life intent was to become a high school American History teacher and return to my hometown of Hamilton, OH, to hopefully live out my days.  A couple years into my academic program, disenchantment set in with the prospect of teaching, but I still endeavored to finish within four years.  I graduated Summa Cum Laude, with a History degree, supplemented by a minor in Communication Arts, and some tethers to a slew of credentials and accolades that indicated leadership capabilities.  While it remained unclear what my career trajectory would become, I utilized the resources available to me and worked to line up interviews with local, reputable companies.

 

Pleased to meet you, Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati, OH.  True story…in August of 2000, a couple of days before my start date as an Operations Associate (OA), my hiring manager invited me to join an Operations Division celebration at a Cincinnati Reds game to meet fellow OAs, Managers, and potentially Executives.  Since I was one of the few people there not employed yet, I arrived early that weekday evening and was casually speaking with an event coordinator in the leftfield Beer Gardens section at old Riverfront Stadium.  Then, out of the centerfield bleacher area, came a tall, bespectacled gentleman in a nicely pressed, navy-blue suit adorned with a red power tie.  It was none other than Fifth Third Bancorp CEO, Mr. George Schaefer.  One of the ladies looked at me and said, ‘I hope you are prepared to make an impression. because his is going to talk to you!'  While I imagine Mr. Schaefer does not recall me from Adam, it was a profound ten or so minutes to chat with such a distinguished member of the business world (who himself has an intriguing backstory, much greater than mine, of being a West Point grad, who's initial career plan was nuclear engineering, that turned to Fortune 500 CEO).  One of the core concepts he touted and aligned with my own value set was the importance of sheer 'hustle'.  In most success stories, one predominant determining factor is usually a person's ability to outwork others.  I already had an innate desire to achieve, but that small interaction left a lifetime of impression, and threw gasoline on the fire as I took on my first professional role as an OA charged with completing a one-year training program to learn Bank Operations.

 

The OA program offered a huge advantage with allowing me to find my comfort and niche within the bank.  I was fortunate that my first training rotation was in the Item Processing (IP) department.  Essentially, it is the production factory, with heavy machinery, processing deadlines, and demand for daily success to ensure the bank remains on a tight schedule.  This ‘blue collar’ area just made sense to me and I was attracted to working towards the nightly goal to complete the paper processing functions, which were critical to ensuring a positive domino effect on all other accounting and settlement deadlines across the Bancorp.  In addition, due to my interest and performance, I was given an opportunity to complete a remote IP rotation at an existing Indianapolis, IN site which parlayed to supporting a merger and acquisition of Old Kent Bank at a newly acquired Chicago, IL site.  Given all this early exposure and happenings,  I knew I had found my home as an IP Manager, where I could be a part of the operational central nervous system.

   

One year after that notable Reds game interaction, I posted into IP as the second shift Sorter Operator Manager.  It is always difficult to mention the 9/11 Tragedy (Never Forget!), but that occurred roughly two weeks into my new assignment.  On that Tuesday evening, some paper commerce was halted for days due to the grounding of freight flights across the country.  While the electronification of check processing was already in its infancy, that event exposed how that payment rail could be delayed and even stopped, thus shining a light on the national vulnerability it presented.  This served as the catalyst for the federal adoption and enactment of the Check Clearing Act of the 21st Century or Check 21.  This legislation called for significant processing changes and technology updates to a major U.S. payment rail that had not been altered in 50 years.  I now happened to be at the crossroads of understanding and knowing the antiquated paper way and learning the modern image methodologies on the horizon.  My opportunity with living and breathing these changes over the next 5-year period boosted all aspects of preparing and planning for change.  From internal and client communication, to employee training, to procedural documentation, to project management, to process change, it was imperative that there was a plan, and all team members knew their roles to ensure successful execution.  It was a challenging time and rewarding circumstance to be involved in, for which I am forever grateful. 

 

Once some of the initial goals of Check 21 technology such as prime pass capture, item truncation and IRD replacement were implemented, the race became focused on full blown image exchange.  In those early days, there was a coolness factor to just having the image capture capabilities, but the virtual exchange efficiencies weren’t realized as it was widely regarded as ‘big bank’ technology; the 'mom and pop' financial institutions were not involved yet.  A bank in Florida, likely doesn’t have high volume of items drawn on a bank in California and so on, so while large exchange networks were up and running the pipelines were dry.   Circa 2005, enter a Wichita, Kansas-based start up called LendingTools.com (LT; eventually Juniper Payments).  LT had already established a robust web-based cash management system offering that was predominantly deployed in the Correspondent Bank sector.  Keen to see the burgeoning opportunity, they wanted in on Check 21 processing.  Within their market, the correspondent banks served as mini-Federal Reserve Banks to thousands of respondent banks that generally exist in proximal, regional clusters where inclearing (On-Us) check volume thrived, could be aggregated, and most importantly cleared among participating financial institutions.

 

It would take another website to explain how LT and I were introduced, but suffice it to say I was ready to take my Check 21 knowledge and experiences to the grass roots level, and our respective drive and ambitions matched.  In February of 2006, I joined LendingTools as their fourteenth employee and the Electronic Check Project Manager.  This entailed creating the overall product launch plan, establishing customer, vendor, and processor relationships, facilitating weekly implementation meetings, assisting sales and marketing efforts as needed, and documenting all Check 21 based processes and procedures.  My first day, I was introduced as the 'check guy' and asked to give some background.  Essentially, after some pleasantries I laid out the seven step project cycle I had come to know, and why it would be utilized for our success.  I received a few hearty "Yeahs!' and 'Alrights' from my new bosses and coworkers, and the real work began that day.  The OnWe® Image Exchange Network was successfully launched in October 2006 and eventually grew to a 20-million item/month virtual sort engine within a five-year period.  Another key attribute to the aforementioned customer clusters was establishing exchange relationships with Mega Bank entities such as JP Morgan Chase, US Bank, and Wells Fargo Bank.  These partners had access to the Tier 2 - Tier 4 check volumes that enhanced the inclearing exchange ratio.  Two primary goals of item processing is to not possess the item (or image) for too long and minimize the amount it is touched to eliminate exception issues.  The OnWe® Image Exchange Network eventually operated at a rate where 40% of the forward presentment volume became a one-time touched inclearing item, proving critical mass had been reached and stabilized.

 

My time at LendingTools following the Check 21 technology launch offered exposure to additional Cash Management payment rails, like ACH and Wire, working with a wide variety of clients, vendors, and third parties across the nation, Information Technology in general, and witnessing a .com start-up evolve to more corporate leanings.  That catalog of experiences was invaluable to my own professional growth.  The bottom line though is whenever there were goals and results to achieve, the preparation and planning was a requisite for success.  That skillset allowed me to flourish even among subject matters where I had limited or no expertise.  Preparation is transferable!  Ultimately, this led to the opportunity of being elected Chief Operating Officer and working to maintain a consistent, stable, and reliable delivery of the entire product and service suite. While I could not have foreseen this path, it was an honor and privilege to be part of this level of execution and success. 

​

These exploits described and my career to this point have been fulfilling.  I would be remiss not to mention that these accomplishments were not a one-person effort.   At all my stops and role changes, I had fantastic employers, stakeholders, mentors, co-workers, employees, customers, and third party peers.  Anything achieved was of an utmost team effort, but on more occasions than not, I represented the driving force and glue that held it together.  The two foundations of launching Check 21 process change and technology updates at both the commercial and community bank levels, likely far exceeds anything I may have accomplished if I stayed on my Education track all those years ago.  As I have aged, married, and started a family, I look forward to embracing the entrepreneurial spirit prevalent in the Wichita area, and this consultation venture is an attempt to see if my knowledge, experience, and abilities can be leveraged to help others succeed.  Circling around to the Bobby Knight quote that kicked this diatribe off…preparation has been a primary key for me, and I find it difficult to argue with the results.

 

If you made it this far, you have my Kindest Regards, and I hope to speak with you in the future!

 

Tony Vastola   

​