ValleyStar Credit Union Sponsors Virginia Tech Data Analytics Graduate Students

CONTACT:
Becky Freemal, CMCO
Phone: 540.483.0018 x3201
email: beckyf@valleystar.org

Martinsville, Virginia (November 7, 2022) – ValleyStar Credit Union will partner with Virginia Tech as a capstone sponsor for the Pamplin College of Business Center for Business Analytics (CBA). The team will build a data-based enterprise risk management (ERM) framework to strengthen the alignment of all ValleyStar teams. It’s a project that will benefit the security of credit union members, making this one more example of how ValleyStar lives its mission: “Employees First. Members Benefit.”

An ERM is a coordinated approach to identify, minimize and address an organization’s risk. An ERM process allows the credit union to locate any organizational challenges and provide insight on how to effectively prioritize and manage the risks at hand.

The capstone agreement brings together a diverse group of graduate students with different career backgrounds and experiences, to help ValleyStar enhance a holistic, data-driven system to reinforce security and stay ahead of any risk that could enter the financial ecosystem as the credit union evolves and moves toward the future.

“This is just one more way for ValleyStar Credit Union to strengthen the knowledge and expertise of its employees in order to benefit credit union members. ValleyStar Credit Union gains the diversity of knowledge that comes from a team of graduate students with such backgrounds as finance, business and journalism,” said Robert Sparrow, chief risk officer at ValleyStar Credit Union. “The students gain the real-world experience of building data-driven methodologies in real-life applications. In the end, ValleyStar members will benefit from the increased efficiency and effectiveness of credit union operations.”

ValleyStar will work alongside the CBA program students to work with the ValleyStar risk and compliance team to take a critical look at the data used in the credit union's current ERM program while focusing on ValleyStar’s strategic drivers to become the best in service and convenience.

We speak your language. Since 1953, the ValleyStar team has guided, educated and stood by its members to make banking and managing your finances as easy and convenient as possible. The credit union is $600 million in assets, serving cities and counties in Virginia and North Carolina. ValleyStar is a full-service financial institution that offers consumer and commercial products and services. Headquartered in Martinsville, Virginia, ValleyStar operates digital banking services and seven physical branch locations in Collinsville, Danville, Martinsville, Richmond, Roanoke, Rocky Mount and Waynesboro, Va. and a loan center in Fishersville, Va. For
more information, visit valleystar.org. We’d love to speak with you.