Susan Rogers named HR Professional of the Year

Cornerstone Credit Union League has named Susan Rogers, SVP of Human Resources for Tinker Federal Credit Union, as its 2019 HR Professional of the Year. The award was presented during the Aug. 7-9 Enterprise Risk Management Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

Cornerstone SVP Credit Union Relations Mike Delker presents Tinker Federal Credit Union's Susan Rogers with the HR Professional of the Year award at the 2019 Enterprise Management Conference in San Antonio.

The HR Professional of the Year award recognizes an outstanding HR professional’s achievements and contributions to the advancement of HR in our movement. This professional strives for the highest standards of performance in HR, works to improve HR standards and ethical conduct, develops a great appreciation for the HR function, and promotes HR knowledge.

Rogers is a credit to her profession. She believes her role is to equally represent employees and the credit union, which can be challenging at times. Over the years, she has learned that treating employees right and being honest with them reduces the number of employment-related issues for the credit union. She holds herself and her staff to simple but high standards—doing things right the first time, completing assignments accurately and timely, and when an employee makes a mistake, she counsels them to own it, fix it, and be proactive.

Rogers is actively involved in the development of her credit union’s strategic plan, contributing in the areas of culture, member experience, and community philanthropy. She makes sure that she has the right person in the right job, ensuring the employee has the resources to be successful and a positive, productive work environment.

Tinker Federal Credit Union’s President/CEO Mike Kloiber has high praise for this professional. “Susan is the No. 1 employee advocate at TFCU. She has the best interests of the credit union and employees at heart, and she works to ensure the needs of both are appropriately met. It is always surprising to find that employees do not realize just how much she does for them. [She] and her team do a great job of guaranteeing the diversity of our workforce."

Rogers has worked for the Oklahoma City-based, $4.1 billion credit union for 30 years. Of her position at TFCU, she says, “I am 100% committed to doing the best job possible. Taking care of the credit union's needs, being an advocate/resource for employees, implementing policies and practice to ensure a positive, productive work environment, designing benefits, compensation, incentive programs, and performance management programs, which ensure TFCU is an employer of choice—it's all I know and what I do.”

Rogers also talked about an event that had a deep impact on her. “Probably the most emotional/traumatic thing I have ever done as a HR professional was to file the 18 death claims for the Federal Employees Credit Union (now Allegiance) after the bombing in 1995. HR helped develop required employment forms and assisted with their recruiting and hiring needs. That experience had such an impact on me that TFCU employees are required to complete beneficiary designation forms about every three years.”