Liberty's founder, Copham, reassumes CEO duties

MOUNDS VIEW, Minn. – Five years ago, as part of Liberty Enterprises’ strategic planning, company founder and primary owner David Copham gave up his president/CEO seat to Robert Anderson and became Liberty’s chairman of the board. Now Copham has reassumed the CEO responsibilities for the company. He’ll continue as chairman of Liberty as well. Anderson left Liberty September 27. “Liberty’s founder Dave Copham and president/CEO Robert Anderson dedicated an extended period of time working through leadership style and philosophy differences,” said company spokesman Rick Foy, reading from a prepared statement. “Following extensive review and thoughtful consideration, it was determined that Dave Copham would step back into the role of CEO and president.” Foy emphasized that the direction of Liberty remains intact. “The ultimate decision did not pertain to differences in the development and execution of Liberty’s four-year strategic plan, its focus on credit unions, or its commitment to the strengths of being an independent, family and employee-owned company, remain the same,” he said. Working with Liberty since 1992, first as vice president of marketing and then since 1996 as president when Copham became chairman of the board, Anderson helped steer Liberty’s growth and expansion from being solely a leading check printing company for credit unions, to being a provider of database and direct marketing services, card services and e-commerce solutions. Last year, Liberty became a data processing player when it acquired CU data processor FiTECH Systems, Atlanta. Earlier this year, Anderson was behind the negotiations and eventual acquisition by Liberty of Cavion. Anderson’s appointment as president/CEO of Liberty was an offshoot of the company’s strategic plan at the time. During his tenure, Copham said his role as chairman didn’t diminish his level of activity with the company as being the strategic leader and visionary for Liberty. The company is on pace, he said, to record its best financial performance in its history. An interim meeting of the Liberty Board of Directors is scheduled for sometime in November, and the next official meeting of board will be held December 13. One of the items on the agenda to be discussed at the meetings will be the different roles of Liberty’s executive team. Copham does not foresee there being other executive changes for Liberty. Liberty is a privately-owned, S-Corporation and ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) company. It has 950 full and part-time employees. [email protected]