Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.
Don't underestimate Tracy Rudolph's specialized skill for organizing, structuring and planning initiatives, and seeing them quietly through. Starting as Synovus Financial's head of receivables product management in 2021, she inherited a tech project wobbling from vendor issues that her methodical approach put back on track. A subsequent initiative she oversaw proceeded with so little hubbub — virtually unheard of with major tech conversions — that the bank's head of treasury product strategy and innovation asked if something was secretly wrong.
"No, it's going really well," she told Seth Marlowe, who was Rudolph's manager at the time.
Starting her banking career at Huntington National Bank servicing retail mortgage customers and admittedly "always one to volunteer for extra activities," Rudolph began assisting various treasury management operations groups with data analysis.
"I'm a huge nerd on data," Rudolph said. She transferred to an open cash-vault-operations position and eventually led that product segment across all of Huntington.
The role introduced her to continuous-improvement and change-management processes, Huntington priorities at that time, that guided her instruction to tellers and senior management alike about how to scrutinize their roles, processes and potential improvements.
Synovus approached her when it was building out its treasury management services, and she accepted her current position in which she aims to lay out the strategic roadmap, fill in service gaps and understand clients' future needs. She nourishes these responsibilities by participating on various committees at organizations including The Clearing House and the Federal Reserve Bank's Cash Advisory Council. Her product line's gross billable hours increased by 8.4% in 2024 over the year before, totaling $11 million. Rudolph's current sales pipeline exceeds $3.7 million.
Soon after Rudolph started at Synovus, it became clear that the bank and its vendor understood the end goal of a multifaceted project in progress but were struggling to complete it. Recognizing a cohesive plan was lacking, Rudolph listened carefully to her bankers and the vendors' reps and constructed one with action items and strict deadlines — not always popular but providing clarity.
"A lot of times when there's strain or friction in relationships, it comes from a lack of understanding," she said.
Rudolph's inclusive approach similarly helped Synovus avoid a reputational hit when it moved to an outsourced lockbox service and the U.S. Post Office accidentally assigned some customers to lockboxes already belonging to another bank. Rudolph got the big rival's attention by detailing the unfolding reconciliation disaster, and she spearheaded the effort to make Synovus customers whole.
The lockbox issue raised concerns about another project to transfer the bank's remote-deposit-capture service from three separate platforms to just one, increasing annual revenue by nearly $1 million, according to Synovus.
"Tracy dotted all the 'Is' and crossed all the 'Ts' to make it a positive experience for customers as well as bankers," said Marlowe, who left Synovus in March and recently founded the Treasury Whisperer advisory firm.
Rudolph said her biggest challenge is aggregating the range of payment types Synovus' corporate clients receive today, an ongoing effort that machine learning has facilitated. Artificial intelligence could further improve this work because the tech requires far less training to ramp up. But she's not yet convinced.
"It's still very early," she said. "We would like to see a bit more proof happening out there."
