Kelli Schultz

Q: How long have you been a part of AFT?

I’ve been a member of AFT for about eight years. Digital Compliance delivers vendor management solutions to financial institutions and the technology vendors that serve them. AFT is a perfect place for me to be a member and to serve on the Board of Directors.

Q: Who would you say would benefit from a membership in AFT?

Anyone who has a company that seeks to serve financial institutions, and anyone who works at a level where strategy, leadership, networking and business development are important.

Q: What makes AFT so special?

AFT is unique. It is rare that you find an organization within an industry where companies actually get together in a room and exchange ideas, especially when many of those companies are competitors. To have that group of executive-level people participate in open dialogue, that really allows for the exchange of ideas and collaboration to occur is what makes AFT so special. It is that dialogue that moves the industry itself forward. AFT creates a learning environment that is quite unique.

Q: You have a lot of resources that you can pull upon and many contacts you’ve made throughout your career. How would you rank AFT in terms of viable resources?

AFT is at the top of my list of necessary resources.

Q: When is it appropriate for a company to join AFT?

When companies have a need to work with other companies in this space, have a need to bring products together and build distribution partnerships, or even have a need to exchange best- practice info. Any company that finds itself in a position where it is asking itself who it can partner with for “X,” or to extend products by partnering instead of building or buying, AFT is a great place to identify potential opportunities. If it is looking for distributors of its product, AFT is a great place for that as well.

AFT is also a great way to broaden my knowledge of the industry, to learn more about what my clients need broadly — not just from me, but from other players in this space who are offering different products and services. It helps you get a better–rounded view of your buyer and the broad market that serves those buyers. I’ve walked away from several AFT meetings where we all acknowledged our clients had a need that wasn’t being fulfilled. So we walked away several times with ideas that ultimately resulted in us going out and building a product, or partnering to offer a product.

Q: One of your first actions as President and CEO of Digital Compliance was to join AFT. Why did you feel the need to come right back to AFT?

The line of business I am in is to build bridges between the technology vendor community and the financial institutions they serve. It was very obvious that AFT was a great forum for the type of business I am in today.

Personally, the relationships I’ve been able to foster through AFT are invaluable. For example, let’s say I’m grappling with an issue in my strategy, and I want to bounce ideas off of someone who has an unbiased view but knows my buying market. It is not uncommon for me to call up a friend I’ve made through AFT and run ideas by them. It is a great way to get feedback on where you’re headed and establish relationships with people that can be helpful to you down the road.

Q: Why should another company who is working with financial institutions in the technical space join AFT? What would you tell the CEO of that company?

This space is really tight. People move around from company to company but stay within the financial institutions circle. Get to know people who understand the space well, and be able to tap into those resources at the right time. AFT is a group of people where some percentage of that group is going to be useful for you. I encourage you to have that group at the ready so you can quickly resolve issues, get answers to questions, and explore potential opportunities.