WASHINGTON—By early summer CUNA expects to be releasing an update on the extensive surveys it has conducted of credit unions as part of a self-examination of the three-tiered structure of the trade association.
That work is being overseen by the System Governance Task Force that was formed in 2014, and new CUNA Chair Susan Streifel said the group has yet to begin “dissecting” all of the feedback it has received.
“We’ve gone through a number of data gathering exercises,” said Streifel, who is CEO of the $85-million Woodstone Credit Union in Seattle. “There are no outcomes yet, no preconceived plans or designs. Right now we are just working through the data and when we meet in May we will have an update with more information in early summer.”
Traci Kenyon, president of the Montana CU Network and chair of the American Association of Credit Union Leagues, said the task force presents an opportunity to “take a look at the system and make sure it is the best system. Sometimes when you’re in something you really can’t see the forest for the trees. We have a responsibility to make sure that at every level we are adding value for their membership. We are open to taking a look at what the task force has to offer. In the end, it’s all about members.”
New CUNA CEO Jim Nussle, who moved into the job after the task force had been formed in response to some credit unions expressing a desire to directly join the national association rather than their state league, said from his perspective credit unions might not realize how good the current structure is.
“As a newcomer, one thing I observed, and it might be surprising, is that when you’re in the middle of the credit union movement you don’t know how good we have it,” said Nussle during a press conference as part of CUNA’s GAC. “There are a lot of organizations out there trying to build the kinds of problems we have. They are going out and buying it and renting it. We have it over them with volunteers and state leagues. Just about all associations, not just ours, are examining their organizations. Dues pressure is a fact of life in the kind of economy we just went through. The second part of this is value proposition. People are just joining because that’s what you do. My internal mantra is if we want people to choose credit unions as their best financial partner, we need to be their best organization.”