SAVANNAH, Ga.–Shannon Cahoon, community outreach coordinator with the $967-million Fibre Federal Credit Union in Longview, Wash., has been named the 2016 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec.
Cahoon’s project to track the return on investment of financial education was chosen from a group of international applicants, all age 35 or under, who had been selected by a team of judges as finalists in CUES’ Next Top CU Exec competition in September. As one of five Finalists, Cahoon had been providing blog and video updates over the past few months that offered insights into the project’s progress, and culminated with a final presentation Monday at CUES’ CEO/Executive Team Network here.
Cahoon emerged the winner after a four-part scoring process that included judging panel results, a measurement of her social media engagement, plus audience and online voting.
CUES noted Cahoon recognized the importance of providing value in financial education, and being able to prove that value through a comprehensive system.
“The credit union community in North America will benefit from Cahoon’s turnkey system, allowing them to track, measure and prove the profitability of their financial education efforts,” CUES said in a statement.
In her presentation, Cahoon provided suggestions for how credit unions of any size could implement similar programs of their own.
“Attendees at our CEO/Executive Team Network conference were excited that Shannon Cahoon and the rest of this year’s NTCUE Finalists continue to demonstrate that the future of the credit union movement is strong and the plans and ideas coming from this next generation of leaders are both smart and achievable,” said CUES CEO John Pembroke.
The other four Finalists were:
- Ali Fett of the $760-million Verve, a Credit Union, Oshkosh, Wis.
- Colleen Tilton of the $440-million Blackhawk Community Credit Union in Janesville, Wis.
- Michael Murdoch of the $236-million NW Priority Credit Union in Portland, Ore.
- Nicole Haverly of the $1.8-billion Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union in Saint Paul, Minn.
Cahoon wins a $20,000 educational prize package that includes registration, accommodation and economy airfare to any two of CUES’ coveted CEO Institutes – one in 2017 and one in 2018 – and two remote coaching sessions from CUES Supplier member, strategic partner and challenge sponsor DDJ Myers Ltd.