By Ray Birch
LANSING, Mich.—As Dave Adams prepares to step down in July after leading the Michigan Credit Union League and now its service organization for nearly three decades, and after more than four decades overall in credit unions, he finds himself reflecting on what one corporate exec once told him.
“When Mark LaNeve, who was the head of marketing for General Motors, left his post at GM years ago, he said to me, ‘I just want to say to thank you for believing in us when no one else would.’ I will never forget that,” said Adams. “To have a Fortune 100 company like General Motors see the value of what our industry could do for them as they were filing for bankruptcy protection, it was pretty phenomenal.”
LaNeve was thanking the league and credit unions for the “Invest in America” auto-buying discount program, which played a role in keeping GM afloat during the difficult times brought on by the recession, as the automakers restructured and received assistance from the government. The program also boosted credit union loans during the difficult period, as GM provided special discounts to credit union members.
“With the Great Recession and the implosion of the domestic auto companies—General Motors, Chrysler and Ford—and with them being headquartered in our backyard in southeast Michigan, we reached out to them in their time of need. We created this incredible program that had an eight-year run that led to over a million cars and trucks being sold—40% of it being financed by credit unions,” Adams said. “Invest in America was born during the credit crisis in the fall of 2008 when U.S automakers could not sell vehicles, in part due to a lack of consumer credit. Credit unions stepped in to help fill the void and Invest in America partnerships helped GM and Chrysler weather the storm. And credit unions, too, gained market share in new vehicle financing for GM and Chrysler products.”
‘I’ve Been Blessed’
Adams stepped aside as president and CEO of the Michigan league in 2021 after 24 years in the role, succeeded by current president Patty Corkery. He remained on as president of CU Solutions Group (CUSG). Effective July 1, the organizations will again be under one CEO.
While he was helming the league it was known for numerous innovations beyond the Invest in America program, including developing additional discount programs for cell phone service, tax preparation services and more.
“I've been blessed to have spent most of my career in the credit union space, and more specifically, in the credit union association space—27 years in Michigan, six in Washington State, eight in Utah. So, for 41 years…,” Adams said. “I was CEO of the Utah League, then the Washington League and then about 26 years here in Michigan.”
Not Part of the Plan
A lifetime in credit unions was not part of the plan when he was younger.
“Like so many others, I stumbled into the credit union movement—and I barely knew what a credit union was when I was first hired on at the Utah Credit Union League at 25 years old as a field representative,” he recalled. “Just being able to benefit, personally, from the feeling of purpose that has come with being a part of this industry and being able to make small contributions along the way--it's been very gratifying.”
Building Out the Business
Adams recalled that when he arrived at the Michigan League in August of 1997, its CUcorp subsidiary (now CU Solutions Group) was losing a little money.
“Our league affiliation was under 90% and it was a really fine trade association with a legacy of many accomplishments,” he said. “But what I'm most proud of is, since those days we have built a business side, first with CUcorp and then with other acquisitions that ultimately became CU Solutions Group. I'm proud of the structure that I've helped to build that has led to us going from $17 million in capital to more than $80 million today.”
The league accomplished that growth even as it charged dues that Adams said were about the lowest in the nation among leagues.
“We have had 100% affiliation for at least the past five years. Our dues are maybe 20% of what they were many years ago. And we haven't compromised the value we deliver,” he said. “We created an association with capital strength, a successful subsidiary and developed a much stronger value proposition for member credit unions.”
Driving Value Back to Credit Unions
Adams said the credit member discount offerings, such as through Sprint, provided a great deal of opportunity for the entire credit union movement. Invest in America eventually transitioned into what is now known as the “Love My Credit Union Rewards” program.
“We earned a lot of money from the growth of that program,” he said. “The amount of money that we put back into the credit system was staggering from the Sprint program alone. I believe we brought $90 million back to credit unions over those 15 years. That program became a very meaningful thing for credit unions—to help support the state league infrastructure and credit unions themselves. This led to some great programs for members of credit unions and we shared some income with credit unions, as well.”
Investments in Companies
As a credit union service organization, CUSG has invested in HR software businesses, marketing automation companies, and other firms, and continues to do so, Adams said.
The Michigan league and CUSG were founding partners of two multi-state compliance services companies, League InfoSight and CU Risk Intelligence. Adams served as president/CEO of League Infosight from its founding in 2004 until July, 2017, and was president/CEO of CU Risk Intelligence from its founding until October 2022.
“Our model is we buy things, we invest in things, we build them and we make them better,” he said.
Pride in Advocacy
Another point of pride for Adams has been the league’s advocacy efforts.
“In the past 25 years we have succeeded in getting significant updates to the Michigan Credit Union Act that have broken down the barriers on field of membership, that expanded investment authority…Most of our federally chartered credit unions of any size have converted a state charter to take advantage of our state charter,” he said.
Adams said he fondly remembers the efforts of the league and its CUSO to promote cooperative advertising within credit unions. The league’s cooperative ads have been purchased by other leagues, as well, including the Dakota Credit Union Association.
“We committed to promoting credit unions through cooperative advertising before it was cool to have cooperative advertising,” he said.
The ‘Tough Issues’
Adams believes the league has also been effective in taking on “tough issues,” such as by credit unions that attempted to convert to bank charters.
“We were at the epicenter of the credit-union-to-bank charter conversion movement, and two of our largest credit unions attempted unsuccessfully to convert,” he said. “I'll just say they were well-intentioned moves by those boards and leadership, but as the state’s trade association we wanted to make sure that the rules were right, and we worked with NCUA. As I said, we were at the epicenter of that at a time when those rules had to be rewritten—which included new rules for complete disclosures to be made to the members so that members understood what was in it for them, and if there was insider enrichment in those deals. I'm very proud of the fact that we took a principled and very challenging position on that issue.”
Looking Forward
After July 1, Adams will stay on at the league until March 8, 2025, in an advisory role as league President Patty Corkery also takes over leadership of CUSG.
“I'm focused on the important work as part of this transition, but I'm sure I'll probably take a short amount of time off with Evelyn, my wife, to learn to relax and slow down and enjoy life in a more relaxed way,” Adams said. “But in short order I'll be looking for the next thing, or things, where I can make contributions to our community.”