LITTLETON, Mass.–Several credit unions have announced changes at the CEO level.
In Arizona, Workers Credit Union has named Jay Champion to serve as Interim President/CEO, succeeding Doug Petersen, who has served Workers CU since 1995 and who is retiring.
During his tenure, Petersen oversaw growth to $2.6 billion in total assets and more than 124,000 members. Earlier in his career, Petersen also served as SVP-finance for St. Mary’s Bank in Manchester, N.H.
Workers CU said Champion will guide the credit union during this transitional period as it searches for a permanent replacement.
Champion has more than 30 years of experience “developing high performing, engaged teams,” WCU said, and most recently served as president/CEO of the $2.2B Westerra Credit Union in Denver. Prior to that, he served as COO for the $3.5 billion Elevations Credit Union in Boulder, Colo.
‘Excited to Lead’
“I’m excited to lead an organization with a 114-year legacy of service and a core purpose of improving the daily lives of our members,” said Champion. “This purpose truly resonates with me, and I believe we can make an even bigger impact on the communities Workers serves.”
Champion obtained his Master of Business Administration with management and finance concentrations from Texas A&M University – Commerce and his Bachelor of Science in economics from East Texas State University. He also graduated from the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University.
DDJ Myers, An ALM First company, is handling the search.
Villarreal to Retire
Meanwhile, in Brownsville, Texas, after 45 years, Olga Villarreal is retiring as president and CEO of Valley Federal Credit Union. She began at the credit union in 1978 as a part-time teller, and was named CEO in 1999.
The Brownsville Herald reported that when Villarreal took over she set out to create a family-type environment and a place where employees had a future, and where it was possible to advance regardless of educational background as long as one was willing to put in some work hard, she said. Villarreal told the Herald that she herself rose to the top job with just a high-school degree.
Has Seen a Lot of Change
Plenty of changes have taken place over 45 years, Villarreal acknowledged, especially when it comes to technology.
According to the Herald, VFCU has served multiple generations of the same families, she said, describing it "the Vermillion" of credit unions, referring to the landmark Brownsville restaurant that opened the year before VFCU.
"I've got the grandmother, the parent, the son, the grandchild," Villarreal said. "Me, my children and my grandchildren are all members."
Prefer to be in Person
Despite the rise of mobile banking, many members still prefer to do their business in person, she told the Herald.
"They want to talk to their loan officer if they've been there a long time," Villarreal said. "They'd rather come in than being on the phone. They still want to come in and talk."
It’s Called Fresh for a Reason. And We Offer Home Delivery. For Free!
The biggest, best and freshest news reporting in credit unions remains free in ’23! Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more.
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?
Please note and/or make your IT department or email administrator aware the emails will be coming from the domains CUTodayinfo.com and CUTodayinfoReply.com