Dennis “Chip” Nace Jr. was promoted from member service officer to branch manager. Nace Jr. has been in the customer service industry for more than a decade. Before joining First Capital as a member service officer in 2015, he was an insurance agent with Liberty Mutual.

The $2.9 billion Tower Federal Credit Union in Laurel, Md., hired Denise Pope as vice president of branch administration. Pope has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, primarily in the branch network. As Tower's head of branch administration, Pope will oversee the administration of Tower's 12 community and four secure-access branches, which span four Maryland counties. Pope is taking over for Peggy Stavely, who retired in January after more than 50 years at Tower.

MIDWEST

The $3.5 billion Veridian Credit Union in Waterloo, Iowa, promoted Amela Cejvanovic to assistant to the president. Cejvanovic, a resident of Waterloo, has worked at Veridian for 11 years. She was previously a product marketing strategist. Cejvanovic has a degree in communication studies from the University of Northern Iowa, and she is a volunteer with Young Leaders in Action.

The $545 million Crane Credit Union in Odon, Ind.,promoted Matt Nekola to centralized lending manager. Nekola has 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. He began his career as a small business specialist/licensed personal banker at Chase Bank. In October 2011, he became the branch manager at Crane's Bloomington location.

SOUTH

The $9.5 billion Security Service Federal Credit Union in San Antonio, Texas, promoted Greg Reed to SVP of member service. He will be responsible for branch operations, member experience and employee development in Texas, Colorado and Utah. Reed has served the credit union since 2011 in the roles of vice president of member service for the Mountain West Region. The $642 million Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union in Pensacola, Fla., hired Joanne Hyatt as SVP/chief lending officer. Hyatt has more than 30 years of experience working in consumer and mortgage lending. In her new role, Hyatt will lead efforts to serve member's lending needs at Gulf Winds. She will work with her team and the board of directors to develop strategies that align with the credit union's mission and vision to best serve their members.

The $2.1 billion Atlanta Postal Credit Union in Atlanta announced that Donald A. DeCinque was elected chairman of the board of directors. DeCinque began working at the credit union in 1981. He worked for APCU for 36 years before retiring as president/CEO in August 2017. DeCinque succeeds Moses M. Spence, who stepped down from the position in January 2018 after 17 years. Spence will continue to serve APCU on the board of directors. Spence began his distinguished career with APCU in September 1966. He worked his way up from sorting mail to president/CEO from 1966 until December 2000.

The $410 Education First Federal Credit Union in Beaumont, Texas, named Brandt Kuehne as its new CFO. Kuehne comes to Education First from the $269 million Jordan Credit Union in Sandy, Utah, where he served as CFO. He was responsible for overseeing accounting, finance and back-office operations at the credit union. Kuehne was also responsible for reconciliations, budgets, reporting, financials, ALM and CRM at the credit union.

CUSOs

PSCU in St. Petersburg, Fla., promoted three employees to join the CUSO's operational services leadership team.

Kimberly Barber was promoted to vice president of new business. In this role, Barber is responsible for onboarding new owners through conversions and startups, as well as onboarding existing owners with new credit and debit lines of business. Her background includes more than 20 years of experience in the payments industry, and success stories backed by the seamless transition of owners from the sales process into ongoing operational support.

Karen Postma was promoted to vice president of implementations. Her new responsibilities include project implementation for PSCU's strategic client base, along with oversight into all rewards, adaptive control, Payment Defender and statements implementations. Postma's background includes nearly two decades of first data processing experience, as well as fraud prevention and detection, card program parameter management and risk management expertise.

Eric Brown was promoted to implementation quality manager. He is now responsible for leading project managers and support functions to drive PSCU's mission of service excellence. Since coming on board at PSCU two years ago, Brown has worked extensively with operations services and PSCU's owners to execute strategic projects.

Please send your People news items to Tahira Hayes at [email protected].