Austin Braithwait began his tenure at U.S. Central as manager of financial operations and vice president of Corporate Network eCom sales, from 1997 to 2000. Since then, he has served as vice president of member relations, prior to his recent promotion to senior vice president of member relations and communications. Mr. Braithwait is responsible for building and maintaining member relationships and plays a crucial role in identifying member needs and formulating organizational strategies to meet those needs. Additionally, he oversees the established company communication plan, including completion of timely, consistent and comprehensive communication with internal staff, corporates, the board of directors and external constituencies. Mr. Braithwait has extensive experience working with financial institutions. Prior to joining U.S. Central, he spent five years managing wholesale payment operations at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Additionally, he held the position of senior consultant within IBM’s Business Banking Center of Competency, which was responsible for implementing payment solutions within the top 20 U.S. banks. Mr. Braithwait has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Benedictine College.