Dona Svehla served as GTE’s vice president Fraud/BSA and Member Resolution before being promoted to SVP and CLO. She has more than 29 years of experience in Consumer, Real Estate and Commercial Lending, Loss Prevention, and Collections. In 2023, Svehla was recognized as a Tampa Bay Business Journal Business Woman of the Year. She began her career in 1995 with Alliant Credit Union in Chicago, Illinois, where she established the financial institution’s fraud department and designed and implemented enhancements to their collection platform.
In 2007, Svehla brought her expertise and leadership skills to Grow Financial where she held the position of Senior Vice President of Retail, Lending and Loss Prevention, which won her the Credit Union Times Trailblazer Award - Lending Officer of the Year in 2013. She held positions on their Business Lending Committee, Loan Review Committee and contributed to monthly Board meetings.
Svehla earned her Bachelor of Arts in Social Behavioral Sciences from National Louis University in Chicago. She also received a Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from Saint Leo University. She earned the CUES Certified Chief Executive (CCE) designation in 2019. Svehla is a credit union activist, holding several board positions including service on the CUNA Lending Council as an executive committee member, she is a member of the Allied Risk Management Advisory Board committee and has been an active member of the Campo Family YMCA Advisory Board since 2017.
