Chief Information/Technology Officer: Brad Rein

PUBLISHED JANUARY 2024

Brad Rein can tell you all about a special challenge that tech executives confront daily, especially in large organizations: How to effectively translate the arcana of TechSpeak into something the non-tech exec can absorb. “I’ve known many highly accomplished people with responsibility in key areas of businesses who had the mindset that anyone in the IT department could do any tech-related task,” says the chief information officer for Mazuma Credit Union. “I’ve used the analogy that if you had a dislocated elbow, would you go to a cardiologist to fix it? Of course, the answer is no, and that’s the same thing with tech. In any technology team, you have professionals with hardware infrastructure, networking, virtualization, applications development, security, support—they are all unique specialties with specific training, so they are not all cross-functional.” 

It didn’t take this Overland Park native long into his IT career to learn that a key to his own success would be the ability to effectively communicate the potential benefits of tech correctly done—and the pitfalls of short-sighted IT strategies—to organizational stakeholders. His ability to do that, and to help drive a sharp increase in assets for Mazuma, has made him our 2024 CIO of the Year. In a career that has taken him from notable local companies, Rein has committed himself to adding value to organizations through effective technology design and implementation, effective processes and effective people. With a big emphasis on the people part.

“What you look for in talent are the core technical skills, really seeking out, at least in some on the team, those people who you feel comfortable bringing into a boardroom,” Rein says. “I’ve built a lot of amazing tech teams, and one thing I always looked for, in addition to raw talent, is the culture fit and ability to build trusted relationships.” Rein’s path to career success started with a childhood he calls a typical Midwestern upbringing. He was a competitive swimmer and active in the Boy Scouts of America, where he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. 

Rein has never forgotten the influence of a swimming coach, whose guidance provided a life lesson: “He had team T-shirts made for us that said, ‘You can’t win by losing,’” Rein says. “It was sort of a tongue-in-cheek slogan, but it always stuck with me.” It was much the same with Scouting (Rein’s own son followed that path, as well). “Some of the values that the Scouting program teaches have been the most significant for me,” he says. “The skills like camping, backpacking, all the merit badges earned, first aid, swimming, cooking, outdoor survival skills—all of those are opportunities to learn things you don’t learn in other aspects of life and other activities. And, of course, leadership is a big part of the Scouting program.”

At Mazuma, Rein has leveraged tech upgrades, cloud and digital strategy and processes that have helped retain members and acquire new membership, putting the region’s second-largest credit union on track to surpass $1 billion in assets this year. That’s tough to do in a financial-services environment as competitive as Kansas City’s. “We are a very saturated market here, and in the financial services industry, growth has to come from brand new people,” Rein says. “In a heavily saturated market, you have to target potential members who are established with other financial institutions. That takes time and commitment.” 

The key? “You have to create the value proposition and find every way you can to ease the pain of change for people,” he says. “Think of what that means with a bank, unwinding all the embedded ACH transfers, accounts, credit cards—it’s kind of a hassle. With our tech, and through our marketing strategies, we can cover all those to grow our membership base, and with that come the deposits to get assets to the targets we want to hit.” Across the enterprise, his team provides the tools for operations, finance, marketing and branch locations. “Everybody in our organization plays a significant role in building the community relations to grow the business, and I feel our technology and team is simply creating the opportunity for everyone to be successful,” he says. “We provide and support the tools that support the critical functions of the business and make those functions easier for those who are directly involved in serving our members—making deposits, generating loans, creating accounts. It’s a simple business: All we do is buy and sell money. But it gets more complicated on the back end.” 

All made easier, of course, if you’ve assembled the right team. “We’ve had some amazing people with the ability to transcribe complex tech jargon and acronyms into easy-to-understand language,” says Rein, whose own acumen and achievements were rewarded with the IT sector’s version of an Oscar, the 2022 ORBIE. “A big part of what I’ve observed in people who are really effective is that they are great story-tellers. They’re able to explain the why and the impact in ways that are not technical. I’ve sat in so many meetings and conversations where you look around and see people nodding ‘I get it,’ and I think that’s a skill that falls on the ability to tell stories and help people understand content that isn’t technical.”