OK I figured it out. When the app user selected a directory contact from the collection choice I realized I could write the value of the directory e-mail (rather than the directory contact name) into a basic email column in my User table and also continue to display the directory name in the collection choice.
Now my user table is based on the e-mail address rather than the name.
Here is where I WAS passing the wrong value, and now it shows i’m writing the correct directory email address to the User table.
This was really just novice user error.