Tom Webster, Chief treasury and investment officer, First West Credit Union
Tom Webster, CFO for First West Credit Union for more than a decade before assuming a new role as chief treasury and investment officer with the institution, has financially guided nearly eight-fold growth and been instrumental in First West becoming one of B.C.’s largest businesses as the fifth-largest credit union in Canada, with more than $12 billion in assets and $15.5 billion in assets under management. In addition, he has grown capital through retained earnings to just under $1 billion.
He oversaw transformation of the operational banking and finance processes across three separate entities to one standard and the phased harmonization of three banking systems, which was completed with no material member impact.
Last year, in just seven months, he led the implementation of the Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system on time and on budget while 70% of First West’s employees were working remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – something that couldn’t have been done without significant investments in transitioning systems to the cloud.
Webster is credited with driving expense management activities to improve operating efficiency year over year since 2015.
He personifies the organizational ethos of keeping it simple and leading the rationalization of company structure, resulting in the sale of inefficient assets and divestiture of non-core businesses to reinvest in products and services.
Under his leadership, First West went into the pandemic in a favourable position in terms of capital and liquidity. Prior to the pandemic, the credit union strengthened its infrastructure and banking systems, practised prudent expense management and made strategic investments in cloud technology. First West ended the year realizing significant growth.
Webster possesses strategic vision regarding physical infrastructure. Five years ago, he saw the need to invest heavily and upgrade physical work environments to ensure the company could optimize costs and attract top talent into collaborative workspaces. These investments represent a total of $120 million.
Under his stewardship, First West has evolved its portfolio of assets under management, including a focus on ESG funds and obtaining an ESG rating as First West invests more than $1.5 million into community giving each year. He is a board member on Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in Vancouver and over the past four years has raised more than $ $72,000 for Covenant House through the annual Executive Sleep Out initiative. •
