PHOENIX—When it comes to turning around the fortunes of a struggling credit union, if the CEO is not paying close attention to the organization’s culture, all the strategies and tactics in the world won’t make any difference, according to Jane Dobbs.
It’s a lesson she’s learned in a career helping to turn around several credit unions and one when will be sharing with the CUTomorrow Conference (cutomorrow.info), set for Sept. 9-11 in Austin, Texas.
Dobbs, who is now CEO at the $201-million Canyon State Credit Union, will speak to attendees on what credit unions need to do to right the ship if it is faltering.
The CUTomorrow Conference (cutomorrow.info) features some of the best success stories featured in CUToday.info. It will be held at the Omni Hotel in downtown Austin and is priced at just $499. The meeting was put together in response to feedback to CUToday.info and is for credit unions that are not seeking to merge, but instead want to be a part of an old-fashioned credit unions-helping-credit unions collaboration. Sessions are focused on practical, pragmatic real-life examples of successful programs from peer-group leading CUs.
Turnaround At Canyon State
Canyon State had suffered through a number of unprofitable years prior to Dobbs’ arrival. But in her first three full years the credit union has posted net income gains of $969,666 in 2014, $587,330 in 2015 and $545,774 in 2016. She is also a former consultant who worked on NCUA conservatorship teams to turn around CAMEL 4 credit unions,
“There is a saying, culture eats strategy all day long,” said Dobbs. “What that means is that I can implement as much strategy as I want, but if no one in the organization is following me, if the culture stinks, you will not be successful in turning things around. If you are not investing your time in understanding the current culture and making sure the culture is right for the credit union, you are wasting your time.”
The low registration fee is being made possible due to the support of sponsors that include Catalyst Corporate, Volcorp, Harland Clarke, CU*Answers, Emery Financial Group, CUNA Mutual AdvantEdge Analytics, and Your Marketing Co.
James L. This & Associates is also co-sponsoring the meeting.
What’s On Tap
The meeting will kick off on the evening of Sept. 9 with a special session led by Filene’s Joel Hartzler offering insights on how attendees can make the most of what they will learn over the next day and a half, along with sharing other practical lessons Filene has learned about implementing change. That will be bookended with a closing session led by D
r. James This on how to take home all of the information and strategies shared and effectively implement them.
Also on the agenda of the meeting, which is designed to tap the old-fashioned concept of credit union collaboration, are:
- Jim McCarthy, CEO of Trailhead Credit Union in Portland, Ore., who will share his credit union’s unique and effective approach to onboarding new employees.
- Bobby Michael, CEO of Army Aviation Center FCU and who has led both a $90-million CU and a billion-dollar credit union, who will share insights on building walletshare among current members.
- Shari Storm, CEO of Category 6 and a former CU exec, talking about “The Mom Market & How Credit Unions Have Built Marketshare Among Women.”
- Phillip Buell, CEO of Superior Credit Union, who will detail how his credit union has repeatedly delivered peer-leading results and growth.
- Bill Burke, CEO of Day Air Credit Union, will share his credit union’s “secret sauce” for success.
- Sandy Cloutier of Infinity FCU and Jeff Owen of Rochdale Group talking about how Infinity Federal has adjusted its approach to risk in order to drive greater growth.
- Lori Ho and Stacey Collins of BECU in Seattle, who discuss the lessons learned by the credit union in successfully onboarding new members and capturing relationships, and how it has changed its approach to doing so.
- Jane Dobbs, CEO of Canyon State Credit Union, who previously was brought in by NCUA to turn troubled credit unions around, will discuss the changes implemented at CSCU to drive its growth.
- The ‘Big First Day Q&A’ will put an exclamation point on day one, with all of the day one speakers returning to the podium for an hour of Q&A and discussion with attendees.
- Dave Klavitter of Dupaco Credit Union will discuss “Rethinking Rewards,” and how Dupaco has developed a “Thank Use” campaign to generate more relationships per member.
- Brad Smith of Cornerstone Advisors will address common issues in expense management, cost control and vendor management and how to successfully resolve them.
- John Sahagian of BCU and Anne Legg of CUNA Mutual AdvantEdge Analytics, will share how BCU has been able to drive greater revenues and improve member relationships thanks to analytics.
Special Bonus Session
There will also be a very special session on day two during which attendees will be able to share some challenges and issues they are facing at their credit unions and then have other attendees “crowdsource” ideas and experiences for overcoming those challenges.
“CUTomorrow is the result of feedback from the credit union community and readers of CUToday.info,” said Diekmann. “There won’t be a golf tournament or any 30,000-foot-views or TED Talks. What there will be are two days of ROI and collaboration.”
Registration information is available here.