Anna Lisby has been described as a “behind-the-scenes machine,” a nickname that fits her perfectly.

Throughout her career, Lisby, senior vice president of finance at $10.5 billion asset San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU), has put her top-notch analytical skills to work. Today, her areas of responsibility include financial reporting, asset/liability management reporting, allowance for loan and lease loss calculation, and business intelligence.

In other words? She’s the one at the credit union doing the deep-dive work into financial processes and products to understand their implications and help leadership make informed decisions for the credit union.

“The pandemic was a perfect example of a time when a lot of things changed and we needed to adapt to the analysis needs of the credit union,” says Lisby, who’s been at SDCCU for nine years.

Lisby has been credited with streamlining the management of production processes, something that has saved the credit union countless labor hours. She has also helped implement the enterprise risk management program, which enables the team to quantify, identify, and mitigate risks.

These initiatives take place “backstage,” so to speak, and that’s the way Lisby likes it.

“I was introduced to the concept of ‘being a shortcut’ through a book by Scott Halford years ago,” she says. “According to Scott, shortcuts consistently go above and beyond and are lifelines to the people and companies that need them by being dependable, available when needed, masters of their skill, and task completers without complaint.

“I have tried to implement this in my professional life and use my areas of expertise to work hard behind the scenes to be a resource for others and provide people with whatever they need to make their lives easier.”

Lisby has been married for 20 years and has four children ranging in ages from 4 to 14. She loves supporting her kids in all their activities, and when she’s not cheering them on, you’ll find her helping others throughout her community.

That’s just the kind of behind-the-scenes team player she is, a term she defines as “someone who offers assistance to others whether they are on your same functional team or in other departments.”

“We all have different strengths based on our areas of expertise,” Lisby says. “A team player uses those strengths to make the whole organization better and stronger.”