Alum finds a way to give back in banking

Mike Shockey is a man on the move. He joined The Richmond MBA while working night shifts as an executive team leader at Target with hopes of expanding his network and evolving his career. He did just that, using connections made while in the program to land a position at Argo, an underwriter of specialty insurance products.

“Based on my resume I would not have been brought in for an interview,” Shockey said. “It helped to have faculty who supported and championed me to make an introduction.”

While at Argo, Shockey worked as an internal consultant, partnering with various departments within the organization to establish and support a paperless environment that enabled digital document storage and workflow to help improve decision-making processes and regulatory requirements. He spent the next two and a half years traveling across the country training colleagues on the upgrade.

Through this experience Shockey realized he wanted to explore the world of consulting and left to gain experience at SingleStone and later CapTech Ventures, supporting clients in the financial services industry. He quickly moved up through the organization, relocating to Charlotte, N.C. in 2017 to help grow that office.  He was impacted in the summer of 2020.

“It was really unexpected, but a blessing during a scary time,” he said, “I was billing more than 2,000 hours a year with tough deadlines. It forced me to take time off and catch my breath.”

But he didn’t take long to reconnect with a former client who was with Wells Fargo and join that organization.  He spent a year building out a team that was focused on change management within the business banking group but ultimately realized that he missed the pace and flexibility of a smaller organization.  

“I took a chance leaving a comfortable position at a big bank,” he said. “But I knew long-term it was the right move for me. It is something I am good at but also something good for the world. I love the altruistic lens that is now part of my work.”

Varo’s mission is to bring financial inclusion and opportunity to all. “We provide resources and products that are accessible to people who need them most,” Shockey said.

Shockey started at Varo in September of 2021 and was brought on to lead process improvement and enablement for Varo’s Operations team. During his initial four months, he saw an opportunity and built a new role for himself, establishing the robotic process automation (RPA) team at Varo, which has been responsible for identifying areas ripe for automation, and helping to reduce administrative tasks and processes.

“Startups are lean, and there are a lot of people contributing to many tasks,” he said. “RPA allowed us to hone our focus and align resources to more critical tasks. The cost savings and quality and clarity of the process have a lot of benefits. I truly feel like we are making a difference for those that traditional banking has left behind.”

Shockey was recognized for his contribution during the company’s annual Varo Violet Awards with a Make it Better award. “These awards are peer-nominated and tie into Varo’s core values, so it is super humbling to be acknowledged by my colleagues,” he said. “This is a very mission-driven organization. To have the opportunity to make more of an impact both at the organizational level and beyond makes me proud.”

Colleagues are asked for a song that describes nominees and they overwhelmingly said “Eye of the Tiger” best fit Shockey’s mentality. He brings that focus when deciding on the next steps in his career and in his personal life. Shockey wants to visit 40 countries by the time he is 40 years old. Destinations have included Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Norway, and beyond.

With plans to visit Romania and Bulgaria this fall, Shockey only has three countries left and two years left to reach his goal. “I want to save something like Mt. Kilimanjaro or Patagonia for #40,” he said. “Then go somewhere to relax.”

With the many professional moves, he has made in recent years, Shockey mirrors the on-the-go mentality in his personal life. “I like traveling because it reminds me how very similar we all are,” he said. “It is always a nice exercise in grounding myself when the world keeps spinning.”