With the exodus of credit union executives over the last year -- and continuing today, succession planning for this industry is vitally important as a new generation of leaders emerges to pilot our industry well into the future. This credit union executive evolution was one of many topics discussed with CUES President/CEO Chuck Fagan, as we primarily chatted about the organization's upcoming CEO/ Executive Team Network Conference in San Diego -- November 3-6, 2013. We also touched on industry technology topics that will be covered at the show, along with the highly anticipated Next Top Credit Union Execfinals where the 2013 winner will be chosen. Lots of exciting and informative content and many practical takeaways in this episode with CUES' Chuck Fagan. Check it out!

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cues.org
CUES CEO/Executive Team Network Conference

While conducting numerous interviews at the recent NAFCU Congressional Caucus, one of my questions to credit union attendees was: "What keeps you up at night? What do you wrestle with every day?" Every single CU executive I interviewed said: "Regulations." This onslaught of rules keeps them from properly serving their members, keeps them from really innovating, and keeps them running in 40 different directions simply to maintain. "Enough already!" was their cry.

Well, we may have a few answers for you on today's show with Compass 4 CU's President Gaye DeCesare. A very timely discussion with Gaye as she explains how credit unions can manage the current deluge, why mortgage regs are the most troublesome for today's CUs, and what exactly are all these regulations trying to accomplish -- especially since credit unions weren't the root of the problem? Is it paranoia or proactive thinking?

There's a lot more helpful content in this episode -- along with a comedy gem at the beginning portraying how I believe credit unions are feeling about the rampant regulation conveyer belt they are experiencing right now. Enjoy!

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compass4cus.com

As the most recent recipient of the 2014 Herb Wegner Memorial Award for Individual Achievement, a well-deserved congratulations goes out to CO-OP Shared Branching's President Sarah Canepa Bang. It's also safe to say that Sarah has had a part in creating, developing, promoting, leading, or organizing numerous credit union initiatives over the years. One that she has had an integral part is the tremendous growth of the shared branching model within the industry. When she first arrived at FSCC in 1999, she merely helped quadruple the number of credit unions, branches, and states involved with shared branching leading up to her company's merger with CO-OP in early 2012.

Aside from being an obvious shared branching advocate, Sarah has worked for CUNA,WOCCU, Oregon and Connecticut credit union leagues, and a key founder of Credit Unions for Kids -- along with driving the organization's ties with Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. I wouldn't be surprised if she's flown the Space Shuttle blindfolded, split the atom in her spare time, and won Fox's MasterChef competition, as well. What has she not accomplished?

Well, we invited her on the show and asked her -- as well as getting many of the backstories of her career moves and mergers that have done nothing but help bolster the credit union industry. We hope you enjoy this refreshingly candid conversation with Sarah Canepa Bang -- a mighty fine asset to our industry and, once again, a well-deserved recipient of the Herb Wegner Memorial Award. Check it out!

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co-opfs.org
NCUF's Herb Wegner Memorial Awards

* What successes – and challenges – are credit unions facing with alternative delivery channels like Internet banking, call center and ATM?
* How many credit union employees should we have in this function and what type of performance benchmarks should we use to measure success?
* What percentage of credit unions has deployed a particular new technology?
* How much are peer credit unions spending on training?
* Where are they concentrating their investment?
* What are peer credit unions outsourcing and how much are they spending?

The answers to these questions and more are in Cornerstone Advisors' 6th annual Cornerstone Report: Benchmarks and Best Practices for Credit Unions. To discover this info first-hand, we corralled Cornerstone's (a.k.a. GonzoBanker) always informative and entertaining dynamic duo Scott Hodgins and Terence Roche, reviewing their latest report's credit union findings: surprises, successes, failures, and lessons learned. You'll be quite surprised at many of their answers -- which are, based their findings, from you the credit union. So if you're looking for direct peer info, check out this episode when you get a chance. Lots of practical takeaways. Enjoy!

Visit:
crnrstone.com
gonzobanker.com
Cornerstone Report for Credit Unions