Women in Technology: Movemint’s Samantha Ziesemer

In what is a recurring feature, Finopotamus spotlights innovative women who are positively impacting technology applications in the credit union industry, and beyond.

In the latest installment in our “Women in Technology” series, we visited with Movemint’s COO Samantha Ziesemer. The Madison, Wis.-fintech, formerly Digital Storefront, bills itself as driving growth for financial institutions through digital marketing and embedded finance solutions.

By W.B. King

While pursuing a degree in philosophy and political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Samantha Ziesemer wasn’t planning on a career in technology. She also hadn’t counted on a graduation date that coincided with the height of the Great Recession. “It wasn’t an intentional or carefully planned path into tech. At the time, the emphasis was on finding stable employment, and Epic was growing rapidly,” she told Finopotamus. “That first role ended up shaping my entire career trajectory in ways I never anticipated and remain deeply grateful.”

Samantha Ziesemer

The Verona, Wis.-based Epic codes, tests, and implements healthcare software that hundreds of millions of patients and doctors utilize. “I worked on implementing Epic’s electronic health record software across hospital systems, which meant managing large, complex technology programs in highly regulated environments,” she shared. “I also had the opportunity to be part of the first team that stood up Epic Middle East, helping launch a satellite office in Dubai.”

Ziesemer would later spend nearly 13 years working for TruStage, lastly serving as its director of digital storefront product management and client success. TruStage, previously known as CUNA Mutual Group, sold a business line that gave rise to Movemint. In October of 2025, she joined Movemint as its COO. “Those experiences exposed me early to the realities of enterprise technology: balancing client needs with long-term product vision, navigating complex organizational structures, and understanding how technology decisions ripple across operations, compliance, and end users,” she noted.

Delivering Cohesive, Sustainable Outcomes

From moving away from “waterfall to agile delivery models” and from “siloed functional teams to full-stack teams” to switching “on-premise infrastructure to cloud-based environments,” she has observed many changes in the tech space. And while she noted that these changes are all important, the most meaningful evolution, she believes, has been philosophical rather than technical.

“Over time, technology and business teams have increasingly recognized that their goals must be tightly aligned to deliver cohesive, sustainable outcomes. Technology can’t succeed in isolation, and neither can the business,” she continued. “That ongoing collaboration – shared planning, shared accountability, and shared tradeoffs – has become central to both company culture and the ability to hit strategic targets.”

First noticing these industry shifts while at TruStage, she said competing priorities in legacy platforms, technical debt, and growth initiatives began to emerge. “This required constant alignment and deliberate decision-making. Without that alignment, teams risk working at cross-purposes, even with the best intentions.”

Gained knowledge from these experiences informs her approach as COO at Movemint. To this end, her first months in the post have been focused on thoughtful planning across all products and technologies (client-facing and back office). “That discipline helps ensure we stay focused on agreed-upon priorities and deliver value intentionally, rather than reacting to the loudest or most immediate demands,” she told Finopotamus.

Important Allies to Female Leaders

While Ziesemer said the financial services tech space is still mainly male-dominated, she has been fortunate to work alongside female leaders throughout her career. “Today, it’s much more common to see women leading in product, technology, and digital transformation but representation at senior levels is still limited,” she noted.

With that stated, Ziesemer made a distinction about women working in technology in the credit unions space. “The industry has a consistent track record of fostering growth and advancing women into leadership roles. At Movemint, we benefit from team members coming from the credit union sector who bring not only skills and expertise, but also insights into creating a culture of sponsorship and inclusivity,” she continued. “They help shape our leadership team and model the kind of environment that encourages talent, particularly women, to thrive.”

When Finopotamus asked about Ziesemer’s mentors, she said there have been leaders who uniquely aided her in gaining knowledge, enhancing her skill set, and ultimately creating a space for her to become a leader. These noted male leaders, she added, were important allies to all female leaders, helping them develop a path forward.

She singled out Eric LeVin who at the time was the director of transformation at TruStage.

After an informal first meeting with LeVin, which was actually a job interview, she said Levin immediately reshaped her thinking and approach. “He set me on a pivot course of moving out of traditional technology management roles focused on primarily back-end administrative platforms to building new, innovative, software as a service (SaaS) solutions delivering direct value to credit unions,” she noted. “It was honestly life-changing. I felt purpose. I was solving problems, and I was seeing direct impact.”

Agentic Commerce

The most exciting trend in the credit union tech space for Ziesemer has been the adoption of data-driven personalization solutions, which Movemint remains focused on. “Credit unions are no longer limited to broad demographic segmentation models; they’re using analytics and member behavior data to tailor offers, communications, and experiences in ways that feel timely and relevant,” she continued. “This has improved conversion on loan promotions, deposit products, and strengthened member trust by reducing irrelevant outreach.”

Recently, Movement Board member Dr. Lamont Black, CEO and founder of Wide Open Ventures, gave a speech on agentic commerce at the company’s January client user group meeting. Black, a finance professor at DePaul University, is considered an industry leader on topics such as cryptocurrency, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and the metaverse.The Movemint team, she added, is also laser-focused on this topic as the fintech believes it will be extremely important for credit union outreach and connection points.

“He spoke about the rise of agentic commerce. Especially notable in terms of purchasing statistics over this last holiday season. And I think it's going to be so interesting, and exciting, to see what opportunities financial institutions have to serve their members in this channel,” she noted. “Agentic commerce moves beyond traditional digital channels by allowing AI-powered agents to act on a consumer’s behalf—researching options, comparing rates, making recommendations, and in some cases completing transactions.”

Keep Purpose Constant

When Finopotamus asked what separates credit unions from other financial institutions, Ziesemer shared one of her often-repeated phrases: “keep purpose constant.” She learned this adage while going through the Credit Union Foundation's Development Educator (CUDE) program in 2017.

“The mindset shows up clearly in how credit unions approach technology—with decisions anchored first in member impact and trust, not just efficiency or scale,” she said. “Technology relationships in the credit union space also tend to be more partnership and relationship-based than purely KPI-driven. That is a real strength, but it’s also an area where better balance can be found.”

To find that better balance, she said credit unions don’t necessarily have to work with “like-minded” fintechs, but rather fintechs that align with the credit union’s strategic mission. Fintechs, she added, should push credit union leaders out their comfort zone by offering creative problem-solving techniques for long-standing challenges.

“At a time when sustained growth is critical to the credit union industry’s long-term viability, fintech partnerships can help credit unions modernize faster and more intentionally,” she told Finopotamus. “That may require changes to processes, organizational structures, or ways of working, but when approached thoughtfully, those changes are about future-proofing the organization while staying true to its purpose