Raj Bandaru Joins Kinecta as SVP, Chief Information Officer

Kinecta Federal Credit Union today announced that seasoned IT professional Raj Bandaru has joined its Executive Management Team as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Bandaru succeeds Sharon Moseley, who is retiring effective November 1, 2021 after a successful 10-year tenure at Kinecta, where she built a strong foundation of member-facing technology focused on providing the most secure and ideal member experience possible.

Bringing over 25 years of experience in leading digital transformation initiatives within the banking, financial services and credit union industries, Bandaru will be responsible for managing the technology infrastructure and digital strategic initiatives to support Kinecta's strong financial position and longstanding commitment to its members, employees and communities. Bandaru will report to Keith Sultemeier, Chief Executive Officer of Kinecta.

"We're honored to welcome Raj Bandaru to our leadership team," said Sultemeier. "Raj's excellent blend of strategic, technological and business skills, in addition to his passion for developing his employees to their fullest potential, will further Kinecta's goal of offering the latest digital strategies to better serve our members and communities."

Sultemeier added, "I would like to acknowledge and thank our retiring SVP/CIO, Sharon Moseley, for her outstanding contributions. In 2012, Sharon and her amazing IT team developed an overarching Omni-channel strategy, aimed at creating a seamless and personalized banking experience for our members regardless of their chosen technology channel. We congratulate Sharon on her retirement and are confident that Kinecta's members and team will continue to benefit from her values-based approach."

In Bandaru's most recent role as Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at Gesa Credit Union, he was instrumental in driving digital transformation, multiple mergers, core digital transformations and online/mobile banking conversions. Furthermore, Bandaru was given the opportunity to take on additional responsibility for back-office operations, fraud management and the member contact center. In 2020, he also joined Digital Align, Inc., a leader in business process transformation for credit unions, as an advisor.

Bandaru started his career as an Oracle database developer and an AIX system administrator and consulted with several different Fortune 500 companies prior to joining JPMorgan Chase & Co, where he worked for 14 years holding various leadership roles of increasing responsibilities managing global teams and leading several strategic initiatives, mergers, acquisitions, conversions, datacenter consolidations and offshoring initiatives.
 
With the hiring of Bandaru, Kinecta bolsters its Executive Management Team to continue guiding its members and communities to financial security. Last April, Kinecta announced its merger with Xceed Financial Credit Union, which positioned it as the nation's 35th largest credit union, California's eighth largest in terms of asset size and the largest credit union operating in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County.