By Ray Birch
MADISON, Wis.—What are credit union executives focused on when it comes to professional education? Much of their attention has turned to “resiliency”—for the CU, its members and themselves—says new CUES CEO Heather McKissick.
As CUToday.info reported, in June, CUES named McKissick as its new CEO, succeeding John Pembroke, who died in November of 2022. McKissick has previously served as EVP-community impact, marketing and communication for the $4.6-billion University Federal Credit Union in Austin Texas.
Now in her new role McKissick has had the opportunity to review the organization and its membership expects.
“People are looking for solutions to resiliency as leaders that they can apply in a variety of different contexts,” McKissick said. “Leaders are asking for solutions to their own personal resiliency—how do I manage the load that I have both at home and at work and in my community, and still be effective in all of these contexts? How can I be a resilient leader?”
She added CUES is also seeing strong interest in how leaders can make sure their organization remains or becomes resilient.
“What are the tools and strategies that I as a leader need to be anticipating as it relates to talent, as it relates to cyber security, as it relates to recovery from natural disasters,” McKissick said. “I would say the third component to that is about how can we support our members in being more resilient, and specifically financially resilient? What are the things that we need to be doing for our membership related to their financial health and well-being, or related to supporting the communities where they live?”
Poised to Make ‘Impact’
McKissick told CUToday.info she is “excited” about the opportunity to be at CUES, for many reasons.
“One, is that I believe CUES is poised to make a significant impact on the credit union industry through its leadership,” she said. “I think now, more than ever, leadership matters for credit unions and for decades CUES has been convening and facilitating professional education for leaders across the movement about the issues and the skills and the relationships needed to succeed.”
Heather McKissick
And not just individually, but collectively, she said.
“One of the most exciting things about the opportunity to be at CUES at this moment in time is because I believe it can be a catalytic organization to support credit unions and system partners during times of prolonged uncertainty,” McKissick said. “And that's what gets me up every morning.”
How have the ways leadership matters changed in credit unions given a significant number of retirements, the war for talent and a new generation of leadership?
‘Variety of Angles’
“I think there's a variety of different angles on this idea of leadership mattering,” McKissick explained. “We hear concerns from credit unions all over the world, not just in the United States. The number of credit unions is getting smaller, which provides a different kind of leadership challenge for both the small credit unions who remain, as well as those newly consolidated or larger credit unions that continue to grow.”
McKissick said organizations are now faced with addressing the growing number of retirements brought on by the pandemic and the need for strong succession planning.
“There are (professional education) needs regarding helping boards navigate these retirements and succession planning efforts that are so critical to equipping the next generation of leaders that are coming in,” McKissick said. “A diverse array of emerging leaders needs to infuse the movement with what we need to remain viable.”
The New Focus
While still providing education for top-tier leaders with the C-suite, McKissick said this year CUES’ attention will be given to professionals involved with talent development, including chief human resources officers and those in organizational development.
“These are the people within credit unions who are responsible for talent development and leadership development and need to really have their fingers on the pulse of what their organizations need the most,” said McKissick. “We’ll have some special programming for these executives and leaders across the movement.”
As CUToday.info has reported, a few years ago, right before the pandemic, CUES pivoted to digital learning.
“That digital shift has happened. But post pandemic we are also seeing a real desire on the part of our members to reconnect face to face,” McKissick said. “We were fortunate that we were well poised to deploy our content and convene our members virtually during the time when they needed that virtual connection the most. Now, those digital strategies that have been most successful absolutely remain.
A Desire to Come Together
“But, we're also hearing from our members about wanting to be back together. So, things like our signature events coming up—the Directors Conference, the Symposium, these are keystone events for us and registrations for these in-person events are stronger than ever. That really demonstrates there's a time and place for digital connection and there's also a time to shake hands and break bread. At CUES, we're looking at striking the right balance for both.
“For example, on Oct. 19 we're having the big awards ceremony—the CUES Hall of Fame,” continued McKissick. “That event remains digital so people from all over the country can convene and celebrate the leaders that are being lifted up and receiving accolades. People have provided great feedback about that award ceremony and like the fact it is a digital event. You can send the link to your friends and family and colleagues around the world and they can join in on the celebration.”
McKissick noted different events require different strategies, and CUES is still identifying what resonates the best with the membership.
What the Dashboard Shows
Turning to CUES professional education tools, McKissick said she is pleased with member reaction and results from the CUES Dashboard.
“This is an innovative solution we began under John's (former CUES CEO John Pembroke) leadership and continue to iterate this,” she said. “The CUES Dashboard recently won its second award from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. The Dashboard delivers more personalized content, which is what members of CUES—and consumers everywhere—are asking for.”
The Dashboard gives each CUES member a personalized benefits journey, McKissick said.
“It shows them the tools that we have available to them. It serves up content that is specific for them. It delivers learning modules that are most appropriate for whatever their specific career path is,” she explained. “The dashboard is a direct response from CUES to requests from members for more personalized content. So, if they have only a little bit of time to spend with CUES online, they want to make sure that time is directly relevant to their role as possible.”
Returning to Maui
Finally, McKissick said CUES is “proud” to be returning to Maui after the wildfires on the island, with its annual Directors Conference.
“We are being welcomed. We have had a multi-year relationship with Maui, bringing credit union leaders to that island,” she said. “And we are proud to go back and support that local economy and to bring CUES members back to the island so they can see how well it is recovering.”