Zions Bancorp. has spent more than a decade transforming the digital system that acts as the hub for all deposit and loan accounts at the bank, aptly known as a core banking system — a feat comparable to changing a plane's engine in midair, according to experts who have consulted with banks on the task.

Kristiane Koontz, executive vice president and director of banking transformation at Zions, has led the majority-women team in its day-to-day operations. Jennifer Smith, chief technology and operations officer, has provided executive oversight to the project, which has enabled the bank to simplify its processes and deliver on critical initiatives.

The transformation has included stakeholders across the whole corporation, which in 2023 had $87 billion in assets and 13.4% return on equity. The team overseeing the transformation initiative includes representatives from impacted business lines and local leadership at Zions' six affiliate banks, which operate across 11 Western states.

Though it is difficult to mark a distinct end to an overhaul as large as a core system change, the past year has included a major milestone to cap off the project. In 2023 and 2024, Zions successfully converted all its deposit systems to new infrastructure, allowing the bank to fully retire six previously used systems. The conversions come after successive releases in 2017 and 2019, when the bank fully converted the company's primary loan systems.

The loan system conversion proved particularly timely. During the pandemic, Zions gained notoriety far beyond the 11 Western states where it operates by punching far above its weight in issuing Paycheck Protection Program loans.

"Despite being the 40th-largest bank in the country, we were a top-10 PPP lender in terms of the number of loans that we made in the first phase," Koontz said in 2022.

That performance was in no small part thanks to the core transformation team. By the time the pandemic hit, Zions had transitioned much of its lending operations onto TCS Bancs, a product of Tata Consulting Services in Mumbai. When the U.S. introduced the Paycheck Protection Program, Zions stood up its automated PPP lending product in three days.

The PPP success is only a microcosm of the broader benefits the bank's new core system has yielded.

A spokeswoman for Zions said that, thanks to the core transformation, the bank is fully positioned for 7-day processing when the U.S. adopts real-time payments. It has helped the bank improve account opening capabilities in branches, reducing opening of complex accounts by 75%. And, the bank has reduced controllable in-branch losses by 33% through improved fraud detection and reporting based on real-time processing and data visibility.

Perhaps it comes as no surprise that the core transformation has not always been smooth sailing. Koontz has said a major struggle for the bank — and part of the reason the initiative has taken 10 years — is that "we couldn't make decisions quickly enough."

But, the intentionality has also paid off by keeping regulators happy. Koontz said the bank has embedded its compliance partners with the agile teams that execute the transformation.

"Every feature that we create has compliance acceptance criteria," Koontz said. "It's been an incredible way to show our regulators that we're taking this very seriously."

Women have played an invaluable role in Zion's core transformation; 62% of the senior leadership team — people with senior vice president or above in their title — and 52% of the supporting project team were women.

Crucially, Zions and the banks core system team also supported the women on the project to accommodate the needs of not just their employees but their employees' families. Such was the case for Jennie Swindell, senior vice president and senior business transformation manager at Zions.

Swindell joined Zions just over 10 years ago as a junior analyst and a new mother. She said when she joined as a new mom, working on a project that required periodic travel between Zions' Salt Lake City headquarters and her Phoenix office, she questioned how she would manage it all.

"Zions had an answer," Swindell said. "They allowed me to bring a caretaker and my infant during extended-length business trips. Suddenly, the road ahead seemed less daunting."

Years later, as a senior leader at the company, she said she is grateful for the "support and sponsorship" the company has provided her.

"The project we began over a decade ago transformed the company, but it also transformed me," Swindell said. "Zions didn't just invest in a technology project; they built a bridge between my professional aspirations and my family's needs."

Team Members

Jennifer Smith, Corporate Executive Vice President, Chief Technology & Operations Officer

Kristiane Koontz, Executive Vice President, Director of Banking Transformation

Jennie Swindell, Senior Vice President, Senior Business Transformation Manager

Carina Freeze, Senior Vice President, Senior Manager, Functional Product Streams

Melanie Jordan, Executive Vice President, Director, Enterprise Retail Insights & Strategic Initiatives

Karen Nielsen, Executive Vice President, Division Manager, Enterprise Commercial Products

Laura Schaeffer, Executive Vice President, Director of Operations and Technology, National Bank of Arizona

Diane Maben, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Amegy Bank (Texas)

Jennifer Troyan, Executive Vice President, Business Operations and Strategy Manager, California Bank & Trust

Ashley Dewey, Vice President, Retail Market Sales Manager, Nevada State Bank

Heather White, Executive Vice President, Community Banking Director, Vectra Bank Colorado

Allison Riley, Vice President, Learning and Development Manager

Jessica Sorensen, Vice President, Retail Product Implementation Manager

Nicole Curfman, Senior Vice President, Bank Operations Division Manager