Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union President and CEO Elected to National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions Board of Directors
SEATTLE - Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union (SMCU) announced that Richard Romero, president and CEO, has been elected to the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (the Federation) Board of Directors.
Romero was elected by member credit unions at the Federation’s yearly business meeting, held during the multi-day Annual Conference on Serving the Underserved.
The announcement in the Federation’s newsletter read that Richard Romero embodies the Federation’s values and our mission of helping low- and moderate-income people and communities achieve financial independence. It also stated that his presence on the board of directors will bring 27 years of financial services leadership as well as a strong commitment to reach these underserved markets.
“The Federation’s initiatives are a true embodiment of the Seven Co-operative Principles of credit unions,” said Romero. “I am honored to join this group of leaders working to support the growth and service to low-income communities and promote financial inclusion.”
Recent Federation initiatives include the development of CU Impact, a new core platform to scale up the delivery of innovative products and services to better serve low-income communities. The Federation also introduced Secondary Capital II Loans that recently received a funding commitment of $10 million from the Bank of America.
Other initiatives include a newly expanded CDCU (community development credit union) Mortgage Center that enables member credit unions to offer non-conforming mortgages to low-wealth borrowers, the national expansion of the Juntos Avanzamos program to empower Hispanic consumers, and Pathways to Financial Empowerment, a financial counseling model that tracks client and institutional outcomes.
Since joining SMCU in 2012, Romero has succeeded in raising SMCU’s overall net worth and recently oversaw the credit union’s merger with Northwest Baptist Federal Credit Union (NWBFCU), raising total assets to $674 million and serving 45,000 members with a total of 7 branches throughout the Greater Seattle area.
Before SMCU, Romero was chief operations officer at the billion dollar Firefighter’s First Credit Union for eight years. He is also active with Year-Up Puget Sound, where he is a guest speaker and mentor to young adults, and is a board member for Leadership Eastside, an inclusive organization that promotes connections, develops and enriches leaders.