USA Funds Staff Profile: Helping Education Lenders Attain Their Goals

Elaine Yednak is on a mission to ensure that lenders’ work with USA Funds^® — and with their school-customers — is as smooth as possible. From contracts, to setups, to system enhancements, USA Funds’ lender-operations manager says she focuses on one main goal.

“I spend my time thinking of ways to make sure the USA Funds guarantee is working smoothly for our lender-partners,” says Yednak. “You can always make things better.”

In her current position since early this year, Yednak assists lenders ranging from those that are longtime USA Funds lender-customers to those that are new to the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

“It’s very rewarding when I work with a lender to obtain a desired goal, and it is implemented successfully,” she says.

Before becoming lender-operations manager in January, Yednak was USA Funds’ lender-relations manager. Her previous position focused on customer-relations work in addition to operational assistance. Yednak’s current position was created to allow an even greater focus on both needs — customer relations and operational assistance. To complement the new lender-operations position, Brent Dove became USA Funds’ lender-relations manager.

Yednak’s current position draws on her many years of education-loan-industry experience in operational areas, including work with system conversions and contracts. She began her work in financial services 25 years ago, with jobs as teller and trust-department supervisor at an Indianapolis bank.

“I’ve always been interested in finance,” Yednak says. “And I’m a people person, so I enjoy working with all the different lender partners.”

Her background in student loans dates back to 1984, when Yednak joined USA Funds as a clerk who checked the loan-program eligibility of schools, lenders and collection agencies. She later held positions as senior processor and compliance specialist. In 1993 she became assistant vice president of compliance for PNC Bank, returning to USA Funds to become lender-relations manager in 2002.

Yednak holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Indiana Wesleyan University.

She spends most of her free time with her 10-year-old son — serving as his Cub Scouts troop’s Cubmaster, performing with him in their church’s bell choir, and watching him play basketball.