The Shining Star of the Year Award goes to an employee who has consistently displayed Excellence, Commitment, Integrity, Trust, Teamwork, Innovation, and Loyalty, the Core Values of Astra Bank. This employee, throughout the year, has shown they are a model of the standards that Astra Bank seeks to uphold.

Astra Bank is proud to announce that the 2018 Shining Star of the Year is Crystal Freed!

Crystal is known throughout the bank as being extremely knowledgeable about the operations of the bank and can be counted on to help lead the most important projects. Read more about her accomplishments and why her peers nominated her for this award below!

Pictured is Crystal Freed with President & CEO Kyle Campbell

Accomplishments

Crystal Freed started working for Astra Bank on August 21, 2000.  Since then, she has accomplished the following:

• Promoted to Operations Officer on January 1, 2013;
• Promoted to VP Deposit Operations Manager on January 1, 2014;
• Nominated for Shining Star award 9 times;
• Implementation of BPM;
• Transition of MWC systems (Jack Henry to Fiserv);
• Transition from Harland Clark to Deluxe;
• Reverse migration from Precision Service Center to In-House.

Nominations

Co-workers have nominated Crystal for the Shining Star Award and cited the following:

• Crystal has a tremendous knowledge of the bank’s process and procedures and is willing to share that knowledge;
• She will always go the extra mile for anyone who needs help;

• She is always helpful no matter how busy she is;
• Crystal is willing to take on more projects/tasks even when her schedule does not permit;
• Crystal is very good at explaining things and helps us understand the “background” of our department;
• Crystal is good with how she handles different situations within the location and always does it with a smile on her face;
• She has an extensive knowledge of Deposit Operations, which is vital to the success of her staff;

• She shows dedication to Astra Bank and the employees by the way she conducts herself on the job and how she relates to others;
• She is well-known and liked throughout the Bank ;
• She steps up to help out where needed.  She can be found working the teller line, helping with card services and general bookkeeping operations;
• Crystal was a huge part of the success of the in-house migration from Fiserv;

• Crystal (and her team) worked endless hours to ensure that the migration went smoothly;
• During the migration, Crystal went above and beyond to be available to the Operations staff and Fiserv employees by working long hours, even working through lunch; 
• Crystal (and the team) worked relentlessly to plan and prepare for the in-house migration.  In doing so, the process went very smoothly and any issues that arose were handled quickly and professionally;
• Crystal is a vital part of the success of Astra Bank.

Congratulations Crystal for this well-deserved award!