Member Profile - Melissa Peyton

Direction: Can you briefly describe your business background?

Melissa: I have 19 years experience in the Banking and Credit Card industry in various areas of Operational Risk Management. I began my career as an Internal Auditor, and then served in other areas of Operational Risk Management including Business Continuity Planning, Insurance Administration, Internal Control, and Policies and Procedures.

Direction: Tell us about your work - responsibilities, challenges.

Melissa: I am the Corporate Policy Manager for a financial institution and my department coordinates the development, documentation, approval, and retention of corporate and business line policies and procedures. I am responsible for managing the Corporate Change Management Program, which includes implementing the Policy and Procedure Development Methodology and the Policy and Procedure Documentation Standards throughout the corporation. My team partners with business line management and staff members to write and maintain their policy and procedure manuals. We publish our policy and procedure manuals on the designated corporate Intranet sites, issue policy and procedure update bulletins, facilitate Board of Directors approval for all policies, and manage the retention process. Our department is part of the Risk Management Division, so we also serve as project managers or participants on various corporate committees, including the Privacy and Information Security Committee, Risk Management Committee, Corporate Credit Committee, and various business process re-engineering committees.

Direction: Tell us about your audience.

Melissa: We primarily support the operational business lines, for example, Bank Operations, Mortgage Lending Operations, Consumer Lending Operations, and Merchant Card Services, so our primary audience is all of the associates in these areas; however, our corporate policies and procedures are issued to all associates throughout the corporation. Examples of these corporate policies and procedures include, Privacy and Information Security, Information Technology, Corporate Security, Regulatory Compliance, Project Management, and Vendor Management. For legal or contractual reasons, we cannot provide the same level of policy and procedure support to all of our affiliates and departments; however, we are responsible for ensuring that those affiliates and departments are adhering to the Corporate Change Management Program.

Direction: What do you like most about your job?

Melissa: There are many things I enjoy about my job, but what I enjoy most is working with associates in almost every area of the company, at various levels within the organization. Being able to interact with such a wide knowledge base helps me ensure that policy and procedure changes are appropriately coordinated within a business line, as well as across business lines. I also enjoy how excited our business partners are when they see the first draft of their policy and procedure manuals! They are so amazed at the way we take the bits and pieces of information they give us, and then turn those bits and pieces into a policy and procedure manual that they can actually use!

Direction: What advice can you give to someone who wants to get into P&P documentation?

Melissa: I think you have to enjoy writing in a somewhat structured manner. Procedures have to capture the logical progression of a task from its entry point through final disposition, and you have to effectively document that progression within a structure that your audience can use and understand. That doesn’t mean that there is no room for creativity, you just have to work creatively within a structure. It also helps to be able to identify and document logical paths, even when they do not appear to exist! Sometimes tasks are very straightforward and can be easily documented in a simple step/action table. However, tasks that are situational in nature and contain multiple entry and exit points can be somewhat challenging to document. If you have the ability to recognize order within chaos and can record that information in a structured format, you will do very well in Policy and Procedure documentation.

Direction: What’s the biggest P&P challenge that you face in your industry or specialty?

Melissa: Banking is a highly regulated industry, and one of our biggest challenges is maintaining an awareness of the regulatory environment and taking steps to react quickly to those changes. As a result, the Policy and Procedure Department works closely with our Legal and Compliance staff and our business partners to maintain an awareness of applicable regulatory changes. The Policy and Procedure Department facilitates meetings between the Legal and Compliance team and affected business partners to discuss potential operational changes and to begin drafting policy and procedure changes as necessary.

Direction: Tell us a bit of personal information about you - e.g., hobbies, where you live, your family, or other information to help us get to know you.

Melissa: I live in Alpharetta, Georgia with my husband, two collies, and our cat. I enjoy being outdoors whenever possible. My husband and I enjoy doing our own landscaping and we usually have several projects in process or in the planning stages. I also enjoy sports, reading, and cooking for my family.

Melissa Peyton can be reached by email: Contact Melissa Peyton.