A credit union advocacy group formed by women leaders is launching a training program to make sure its members are able to grow their organizations and avoid the need for consolidation.
The Credit Union Women’s Leadership Alliance was
The nonprofit organization seeks to distinguish itself from prior groups by serving as a sounding board solely for female member executives whose day-to-day tasks often extend beyond the C-suite, according to Lily Newfarmer, president and CEO of the $122 million-asset Tarrant County’s Credit Union in Fort Worth, Texas, and one of CUWLA’s key founding members.
“Women who run smaller credit unions actually wear multiple hats … there's just this sort of standard joke that one day, you may be asked to secure a loan for a member or settle up the corporate account and make sure that's in balance, then maybe plunge the toilet later on that afternoon,” Newfarmer said. “You need that safe space so you can talk about things that only someone that's in your same environment and experiences can understand and support.”
Despite the prevalence of credit union leagues and other advocacy groups that work to foster collaboration, Newfarmer said that she and the other female CEOs who established CUWLA felt as though their voices as leaders of small institutions and as women went unheard.
Tom Sakash, manager of small credit union initiatives at the Credit Union National Association, assisted Newfarmer with scouting for women CEOs who would be a best fit to help establish CUWLA and explained that CUNA has helped support the nonprofit group since its inception in 2019.
"CUNA — considered one of CUWLA’s founding donors along with CUNA Mutual Group — has attended all CUWLA board meetings and has provided sponsorship and administrative support, media training and additional staff time to help support the organization," as it continues to grow, Sakash said. "CUNA has invested a great deal of time and energy understanding and championing the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in the credit union movement ... it makes us a more dynamic and more effective industry as we serve credit union members across the country."
Experts from other trade groups such as the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions emphasized that organizations dedicated to supporting female credit union leaders and their institutions can not only further the progress of diversity, equity and inclusion, but also bolster future generations of women leaders.
“A coaching program for executives, especially female executives, could go a long way in helping to not only attract new talent and continue to promote [DEI], but also provide them with the resources needed to successfully grow their credit unions and strengthen the economic success of their communities,” said Ann Kossachev, vice president of regulatory affairs for NAFCU.
Now, the group is launching its free CUWLA Coaching program that will provide executives with a one-on-one mentor for 12 weeks to address and identify areas of weakness and expand required skill sets for growth. The program is slated to go live on June 1.
“[From the start of the Alliance] we immediately began working on how we could share this type of support to credit union women CEOs around the country,” and help give them a sense of hope beyond the prospect of a merger, said Teri Robinson, CEO of the $75 million-asset Ironworkers USA Federal Credit Union in Portland, Oregon, and one of the CUWLA's founding members. “We hope to help credit union CEOs see solutions and maybe help stop some mergers of smaller credit unions.”
With waiting lists for both coaches and mentees currently filling up, the organization will review the results of the inaugural
“We need to circle back on the importance of [the fact that] we are not little mom-and-pop shops anymore … for the most part, we're just as complex and we're held to the same [regulatory] standard or level” as credit unions much larger than $300 million of assets, Newfarmer said.
Before the organization began its campaign for executive tutelage, experts from CUNA Mutual who assisted in drafting the curriculum first extended the service to CUWLA’s founding class.
Gerry Singleton, who assisted in the launch of the women-led group and is currently vice president of credit union system relations for CUNA Mutual, laid the foundation for a peer mentorship regimen and then an executive coaching program during CUWLA’s first meeting when the group was discussing the greatest needs for female CEOs of small institutions.
“CUNA Mutual actually paid for an executive coach for all 13 of the founding members and in that experience, they went through certain group learning, they went through one-on-one individual training with an executive coach … none of them had really had an opportunity like that, at that level in their careers,” and since then have grown that experience into the coaching program, Singleton said.
Singleton emphasized that through the guided sessions, participants will be better equipped to approach succession planning and daily functions of a credit union executive, while also continuing CUWLA’s mission of
“Peer mentoring and executive coaching are so critical and leaders of small credit unions, they [handle] a lot of roles … and they don't always have the opportunities for coaching and mentoring and those kinds of things just because of the sheer nature of running a smaller credit union,” and the time commitment that comes with it, Singleton said.
For women leaders seeking to capitalize on the lessons learned after concluding their stint in the program, the next challenge is growing their credit unions while maintaining the level of familiarity often associated with small-town institutions.
Linda White, president and CEO of the $100 million-asset Upward Credit Union in Burlingame, California, and also one of CUWLA’s founding members, has been at the helm of her institution for 24 years and seen it grow from $3 million of assets.
“With your small credit unions, they're growing up with the members [and even now] I know my members, I want to make sure I know what their lives are like, and why we're doing what we're doing,” White said.
