Arvest Bank has described reskilling as one part of a broader, multi-year modernization—not as a standalone training project. The bank connected employee skills assessments and tailored learning paths to the capabilities it expected to need as it refreshed its banking core and cloud infrastructure. Public accounts document an early product launch on the new core and a later goal for associates to begin learning journeys by 2026, but do not establish whether that goal was met or quantify the program’s results.
Why Arvest linked workforce development to a core refresh
Arvest announced in September 2021 that it would work with Thought Machine and Accenture on a next-generation core banking platform based on Thought Machine’s Vault. The multi-year transformation was intended to support more flexible product development and personalized, real-time banking services; those were stated aims, not independently demonstrated customer outcomes. Arvest’s 2021 announcement describes the platform selection and its objectives.
The technology program broadened in 2022. Arvest announced a five-year Google Cloud partnership that included data-center migration, wider IT architecture changes, and employee training and certification opportunities on Google Cloud tools and services. The announcement presented cloud work as part of the bank’s transformation, alongside ambitions involving digital banking, business agility, and sustainability. It did not report which employees completed training or certifications. The July 2022 announcement also quoted CEO Kevin Sabin on the technology demands created by changing customer needs and expectations for consistent engagement across channels.
How the skills effort was described
In a 2022 interview, Laura Merling, who joined Arvest to lead transformation, technology, and bank operations, said the bank assessed employee skills and used the results to develop reskilling and upskilling plans. The initial focus was the technology organization. She described tailored learning paths, including an example of an employee in architecture who wanted to move toward product management. That illustrates the approach she described; it is not evidence of a typical or measured career outcome. Merling’s interview with CIO also discusses readiness for change and how the bank communicated progress to employees.
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From IT reskilling to me@Arvest
Arvest says it launched me@Arvest in 2023 as a broader associate learning initiative. Its description combines an employee self-review of core competencies and skills with manager calibration, then connects the assessment to learning journeys shaped around interests and growth opportunities. The program’s resources include learning materials, certifications, and projects. In an October 2, 2024 article, Arvest said expanded access to LinkedIn Learning complemented the program and set a target for all associates to have started learning journeys by 2026. That is a published target, not confirmation that it was achieved. Arvest’s me@Arvest description explains the program and its stated rollout goal.
The same 2024 article cites LinkedIn’s 2023 Future of Work Report for the claim that 65% of workforce skills would need to be replaced or updated by 2030. That figure is reported through Arvest’s article; it should not be read as a measurement of Arvest employees or as an independently reviewed estimate here.
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What the first Vault product milestone shows
Arvest reported that its equipment-finance lending product launched on Vault in October 2022. In February 2023, the bank described it as the first product running on Thought Machine’s cloud-native core and said it had been built, tested, and delivered in less than nine months. The February 2023 release is evidence of a staged launch on the new platform. It does not establish that Arvest replaced its entire legacy core, nor does it measure the reskilling effort’s contribution to delivery.
What Arvest’s leaders say makes change stick
Merling’s advice in an August 2023 ProSight Financial Association feature was to pair training with immediate opportunities to use what employees learned: “Bring employees along. Thoroughly train them and let them immediately apply their new knowledge; otherwise, it evaporates.” She also cautioned that migration plans evolve as teams learn, and argued that cloud moves should begin with a business problem rather than technology for its own sake. The ProSight feature attributes those recommendations to Merling.
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What is—and is not—publicly established
Arvest’s public descriptions connect skills assessment, individualized learning, and technology change, while its announcements establish the core-platform and cloud initiatives and an early product milestone. The reviewed public accounts do not quantify participation, completed certifications, skills gained, internal role changes, retention effects, or cost savings. They also do not confirm whether the 2026 learning-journey target was met. The clearest supported conclusion is that Arvest framed workforce development as a capability-building workstream within a larger modernization, not that its eventual workforce outcomes have been publicly measured.
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