Tara Graff
Tara Graff serves as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Hiway Credit Union. She has a deep love for and nearly 20 years of professional experience in marketing and communications, and feels fortunate that her vocation and avocation are one and the same. At Hiway, she oversaw a complete rebranding, and has led two de novo branch builds, ITM implementations, and market entries into Twin Cities metro communities.
In previous lives, Tara has held leadership roles at other large credit unions, including SPIRE Credit Union (yes, the truck) and Royal Credit Union, overseeing rebrandings, website overhauls, digital channel experiences, M & A communications, and, of course, the day-to-day world of marcomm. Tara also brings extensive experience on the agency side, spending several years as a creative at a Duluth-based advertising firm, and she still enjoys getting her hands dirty in copywriting and broadcast production. Tara’s marketing work, both in and out of financial services, has won numerous awards, and her branch designs have been recognized with multiple honors, including a Future Branches 2021 Design Award and a Finance & Commerce Top Project designation.
Tara is a graduate of the Credit Union Executive Society CEO Institute, completing her three-year experience at Cornell University, the Wharton School of Business, and the University of Virginia in 2019. In 2021, she was spotlighted as a Notable Executive in Marketing by Twin Cities Business. In 2014, she was named a CUNA Credit Union Rock Star. She holds a UX certification from the Nielsen-Norman group, a B.A. in communication and psychology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and an M.A. and an MBA from The College of St. Scholastica (CSS).
When the workday is done, Tara pursues a second deeply held passion: wellness. She is a certified yoga instructor, an American Council on Exercise-certified group fitness instructor and a passionate runner and skier; most importantly, though, she is Mom to 10-year-old Nate.
Tara K. Graff 