Recently, EPCOR solidified its 2020-2021 Board of Directors, welcoming a few new faces including Board Member Jason West, AAP.

Currently, Jason is Senior Vice President, Director of Operations at Fidelity Bank, N.A. In his position, Jason is responsible for the strategic direction and oversight of the bank’s operations division. The bank’s operations team is comprised of 40 employees across seven functional departments, and these departments are responsible for the bank’s operations and payment systems, including ACH, wire transfer, checks, debit cards and ATM network, as well as online banking, fraud prevention, research, item processing, core system support, deposit operations, and retail training.

Regarding his experience with EPCOR, Jason shared: “My first memory goes back to Mid-America Payments Exchange (MPX), before the association merged with Payments Central to form EPCOR. I had only been working in the ACH department for about two months (after four years of working in branches), and my supervisor called me early in the morning to see if I could attend an MPX Rules Update session that day in place of a sick co-worker. While I had no idea what the ACH Rules were before that day, the passion that Shelly Sipple and the rest of the attendees exhibited about ACH and payments left a lasting impression on me. I remember leaving that session thinking that I had found a home in the payments space and hopeful that I could turn it into a career. In the years since then, EPCOR has played a pivotal role in my development as a payments professional, and I am excited to continue giving back to the association by serving on the Board.”

When asked about EPCOR’s future, Jason was proud of the EPCOR staff and the work they do, saying “Over the years, the staff at EPCOR have been an invaluable resource for me and my teams at the bank, and their knowledge, passion and willingness to help members really helps create value for the membership. In the future, I see EPCOR growing and becoming a more widely-recognized resource for financial institutions and service organizations across the country.”

In his professional life, Jason is most passionate about providing an unparalleled level of customer service while empowering his teams to make decisions and to operate on their own. He explained, “That requires a significant investment in education and training, which is my priority as a leader and one of the many ways that EPCOR helps our organization move forward.”

On a personal level, Jason says he is passionate about three things: his family, his church and the Kansas City Chiefs. He shared, “My wife and I have two children, and we enjoy taking road trips and spending time at the lake. In my spare time, I serve on the leadership team at my church, assisting our pastor and his staff with strategic planning and decision making. Lastly, I am hoping that we can emerge from the COVID-19 crisis and be able to watch the Chiefs defend their Super Bowl title this season!”