Maybe he’s joking, but when Tim Williams says he doesn’t sleep a lot, it sounds believable — he’s too busy. The banker and entrepreneur has spent the past six months, assisted by a staff of 25 mostly long-term employees, pushing out innovations and new products at Sno Falls Credit Union. He and staff will be doing more of the same through June, when he marks his first anniversary as the president and chief executive officer of the credit union.

All of that work—a recently completed rebranding effort, the launch of a new website in December, the new checking account offering this month, the new computer system to be implemented in February, and  the updated online banking system and mobile banking app expected in March—is really just a good start, though.

“These things are just basically getting us caught up to where we need to be,” says Williams, a career banker and 20-year resident of the Seattle area. He moved to Washington from California, but he grew up in Albany, Georgia. After serving eight years in the Navy, he made his life in Washington, getting a degree in finance from St. Martin’s University, then serving in various leadership roles at Hometown National Bank, KeyBank, Verity Credit Union, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. He also owned a Ford dealership.

Every day, he considers new possibilities for Sno Falls Credit Union, too. It’s strategic planning, tempered by business realities.

“Some of the projects we’re doing take a year or a year and a half to do,” he says, “but we don’t have a year or a year and a half.”

The modern world, he says, has changed banking for the better, in many ways, but it’s created challenges, too. For the 58-year-old Valley institution, the challenge is keeping their 6,000-plus customers happy —they are the owners, after all—while keeping up a stiff competition with other financial institutions.

“It’s a balancing act, to be able to continue to offer the products and services that our older customers want, and the modern conveniences that younger customers want,” Williams said.

Credit unions are owned by the members who bank there, and so, are not-for profit, like other banks.

“Everything we make goes back to the members in different forms,” said Williams, including larger dividends, lower loan rates, and no-fee services.

Updates like the ones now in play at Sno Falls will help keep the facility competitive, but they aren’t always welcome, Williams says.

“Change can be difficult,” he says, but “everything we’re doing is for the benefit of our membership.”

None of the changes will involve staff, or locations (there are three branches, at the North Bend QFC, the Ridge Market on Snoqualmie Ridge, and the main office on Meadowbrook)  although many of them should improve the organization’s overall productivity.

The new computer system, for instance, is “…going to allow us to be even better at service,” Williams said. “It’s going to allow us to be faster and more nimble.”

It will also enable the facility, now well over the regional economic struggles of 2008, to expand.

“We’re ready to start growing again, growing the asset base of the credit union, growing the membership,” said Williams. But rest assured, he says, “We’ll always be Valley focused.”

Williams was hired last June to replace retiring CEO Linda Larion.

Learn more about Sno Falls Credit Union at www.snofalls.com.