Marketer impacts financial choices

It didn’t take long for Tiffany Goforth to see the value of credit unions after she joined $200 million asset United Southeast Federal Credit Union in Bristol, Tenn., in 2012.

“I fell in love with the ‘people helping people’ motto,” says Goforth, vice president of business development and marketing. “It can mean so many different things for our members, whether that’s member service representatives helping members open a checking account, someone buying a dream home, or helping our community’s schools.”

Goforth leads efforts to educate local students about building a better financial future. Her goal is to improve students’ understanding about the importance of saving, budgeting, money management, and the value of credit unions.

“We’ve all been in their shoes, lacking the knowledge to understand the impact of our financial choices,” she says. 

Goforth enjoys being in the classroom, teaching financial basics and Junior Achievement classes while offering hands-on experiences to provide financial insights. United Southeast Federal values financial education for people of all ages in all circumstances.

Her latest foray into financial education is the credit union’s participation in the Sullivan County jail system’s transition-to-work partnership. Participating prisoners receive assistance finding jobs through community resources.

“It is an eye-opening experience,” Goforth says. “When someone is in that situation, they need community support to acclimate to the work environment. We are honored to be part of the solution to launch them forward to success.”

She also focuses on the credit union’s strategic goals, particularly growing membership and increasing product and service use among United Southeast Federal’s more than 17,000 members. Marketing growth is a team effort, and Goforth created a marketing dashboard so team members can track daily progress toward short-term and strategic goals. 

“I’m passionate about sharing goals with team members,” Goforth says. “Team members become engaged in their part of achieving goals if they know what we’re working toward every day.” 

As an on-the-go mom of two sons who love playing baseball, Goforth “just keeps going,” keeping her energy level set on high. She wants to make her sons proud of the civic and church work she does in the community while encouraging them to wake up every day and choose their attitude. 

“We can make a difference every day to someone who might be going through something tougher than we’ll ever see,” she says. “My job at USFCU allows me to share the people helping people philosophy daily.”