Brad Smith | June Zeplin | Sharon Sokol
With over 20 years of executive-level banking experience, Mrs. Sokol is one of the foremost payments systems and treasury management experts in the community financial institution industry. Former COO of both de novos and large community banks, she brings an extensive understanding of community financial institutions to her position as Vice President of Product Development for Abound Resources. Sharon has the ability to design, plan, develop, and implement comprehensive projects and programs and oversees all web-based product development for Abound Resources. Her experience includes success in building product lines and infrastructure for three community financial institutions (including one of the first Internet banks in the country) and industry-leading cash management business lines ($16 million in billings at one community bank). Mrs. Sokol has a true insider's understanding of the challenges of managing operations and technology in community financial institutions.
As former COO of Southwest Bank of Texas (now Amegy Bank), Mrs. Sokol designed and developed the deposit and treasury management products. She managed bank-wide operations and retail services that encompassed 19 branch offices and 895 employees. Sharon built and managed operations systems, depository products and infrastructure to support the bank's growth from $44 million in assets to more than $2 billion. During her tenure, Southwest Bank won numerous service quality awards and became widely recognized as one of the most technologically innovative community banks in the country. Leading a successful merger, establishing a service quality effort, and managing multiple system conversions and system upgrades were all part of Sharon's work at Southwest Bank of Texas.
Ms. Sokol has also held the position of Director of Product Management for Commercial Services and Risk Management Products for The BISYS Group, Inc., a bank technology company serving nearly 1,000 financial institutions. She was product manager for all commercial services including internet treasury management, wire transfer, ACH, Positive Pay, Account Reconciliation, check processing and interfacing to all core systems. Managing all OFAC, anti-money laundering, and transactional risk analysis products were also part of Sharon's responsibility with The BISYS Group.
Sharon holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Houston and a Graduate Degree in Banking from the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking. She is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) and earned her Commercial Lending Certification from the National Commercial Lending School. She is a former Chairperson of SWACHA, and former Board member of both CHAS and NACHA. Sharon is an experienced speaker and has presented to leading industry organizations including the Texas Treasury Management Association, Independent Bankers Association of Texas' CEO Conference,Texas Bankers Association, Financial Women International, and Association for Financial Professionals.
