Teresa Knox

Teresa Knox’s expansive 28-year career spans a number of areas in the financial services industry, including community banking and mutual funds administration.

It all began at Mechanics Savings Bank, where, following a move back to the Hartford area, she took a branch position as a customer service representative.

“I really hadn’t been exposed to finance, but wanted to learn more about it,” she recalled, having earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing, and later her MBA. “I enjoy working with customers, and there were opportunities to grow and learn different areas of banking,” she said,

Over the next 13 years at Mechanics, she worked in the training, operations/information technology and investor relations departments. When the bank was sold, she relocated to New York and worked for a mutual fund company.

In 2003, she returned to Connecticut and began working at American Eagle Financial Credit Union. In her current role as senior vice president of retail delivery and operations and COO, she’s dedicated to member satisfaction.

“My group is focused on ensuring that we deliver the best possible member experience that we can provide. Whether it’s through the branches, call center, technology or the products and services we provide, we want them to be completely satisfied,” she said.

She’s proud of the many changes her team has made toward this effort. “We’ve grown from five community branches to 12. Our contact center has grown from originally four people to now a staff of 17,” she said.

She’s also pleased with their technological growth. “We offer a variety of ways members can interact with us including online banking, bill pay, mobile banking, remote deposit capture, and over 60,000 surcharge-free ATMs. Even though we’re a mid-size credit union, we want to compete with the larger financial institutions.”

Knox values the importance of financial knowledge and looks for opportunities to instill financial literacy in students and consumers of all ages.

“We’ll go into communities and schools to run financial literacy classes for students, from elementary school through high school, as well as some college classes,” she said. 

She enjoys representing American Eagle in leadership roles on several area chambers of commerce, and trade and industry groups. She is a member of the Industry Advisory Board for Pathways Academy of Technology and Design, a magnet school located in East Hartford.