In the not-so-distant past, credit union board members faced, for the most part, limited options when they found themselves looking for a new CEO. Sticking an ad in the local newspaper—or in one of the industry’s trade publications—was one option, as was good old word of mouth. (Hiring a worthy internal candidate was another option, of course.)
CUES Director member Yvonne Condell, who has been on the board of $1.2 billion Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union in St. Paul, Minn., since 1996, isn’t a fan of the first option.
“My experience is that if you advertise [such positions], you’ll find yourself faced with a group of people who have nothing you’re looking for—yet they’ll feel they have everything you’re looking for,” says the retired professor, who learned that lesson first hand while serving as a university faculty member for 40 years.
Even worse, she adds, is that “if you open it up, everybody and his or her cousin applies—and, well, you don’t want everybody and his or her cousin applying for a president/CEO position because, for starters, you don’t want to have to go through all of that paperwork. Also, when you get 40 or 50 candidates in front of you, after about 25 or 30 they all start to look alike, and you certainly don’t want that.”
Of course, Condell wouldn’t be a fan of the “sticking an ad in the newspaper” option even if the aforementioned issues didn’t exist. “In the university world, you have time to sit around and pontificate (about candidates), but in the business world you don’t have that luxury. Nor should you—you’re wasting your members’ money if you do.”
A Firm Option
That’s not to suggest Condell isn’t a fan of any of the options available to soon-to-be-CEO-less credit unions. In fact, following an experience that occurred shortly after she joined the Affinity Plus FCU Board 14 years ago, she’s a big fan of hiring search/recruiting firms to help hunt down candidates.
What happened 14 years ago? Well, Condell’s colleagues made the tough decision to replace the long-time CEO of the credit union.
“The board members felt that the credit union needed to go in a new direction,” Condell says. Specifically, they wanted to change the credit union’s name, which previously referred to the state capitol, and expand its membership base.
“There was a mistaken idea at the time that only people who lived and worked in St. Paul were eligible to join the credit union,” Condell shares. “We really had to clarify and define who we were.” The CU’s field of membership is open to anyone who receives funding, compensation or expense reimbursements from state-controlled funds; alumni from the state universities and colleges; and employees of some non-profits and about 150 other select employee groups.
The CEO in question, she adds, “had done a really good job but we needed to look outside to find someone who could bring fresh, new ideas into the credit union.”
So, Condell and her cohorts on the board hired a recruiting company, Williams Executive Search, Minneapolis, and set up a three-person search committee, composed entirely of board members.
The recruiting company did much of the heavy lifting and scoured the country for the best possible candidates, eight of whom were directed to the search committee. After looking over the applications of those eight candidates, Condell and her committee colleagues decided to bring all of them in for a first round of interviews. Three of the eight candidates were asked to come back for a second round of interviews.
The credit union’s committee members weren’t completely on their own during said interviews—the recruitment company’s president was present for both rounds, for instance, while a select group of CU staffers—the chief financial officer as well as the vice presidents of administration, human resources, lending, marketing and operations—were present for the first.
