WASHINGTON – At CUNA's GAC, Credit Union Times sat down with the soon to be retired WesCorp President/CEO Dick Johnson to see where's he been and where's he headed.
The interview occurred the morning after the Wegner Awards dinner where Johnson was honored with the Wegner Lifetime Achievement Award. Johnson is known for his professionalism and attention to detail befitting of a Marine, but Johnson's speech at the Wegner Award dinner will be best remembered for its humor.
He had about 700 attendees rolling with some off-the-cuff comments. He drew a lot of laughs right off the bat for saying that when he retired from the Marines, he was under the impression that civilians didn't do much of anything valuable, but was quickly proven wrong by the credit union industry.
Johnson said he believes this is the right time to retire. "I've always said I don't want to be the last one to know I need to retire. We have a great board and a well-trained staff. I'll be so pleased to see someone come in and take us to new heights," said Johnson.
He said a decision on his replacement has not been made, and that it is in the hands of the board, though he has given them the names of a few people he thinks should be considered. Johnson said he plans on being very active in retirement.
He already has a trip to China planned with Ed Gallagly, CEO of Florida Central CU, and some other CU leaders to discuss CU issues with China's financial cooperatives.
"They do a very good job, particularly in the rural areas. Over there they make loans to a town for a tractor, not a loan to to a member to buy a car like we do," said Johnson.
For Johnson, the trip will be like going back in time. He was stationed in China for about three years as an attach. He speaks fluent Chinese and is well-versed in the country's history. As for corporate CU issues, Johnson touched on many of his favorites, including finding a way to get more of credit unions' investment dollars. Johnson believes credit unions are investing elsewhere because corporates haven't done a good enough job telling their story.
"The figures vary, but we think there's in the range of $100 million that credit unions are not investing in their corporates," he said.
Johnson also believes an outside study must be done to evaluate the three-tier system (natural person CUs, corporates and U.S. Central) to find out how corporates can best serve in this system.
He said it also needs to address the economies of scale issue and look at how many corporates may be needed to best serve CUs.
"It has to be done by somebody who doesn't have a dog in the fight, to find out what is best for the credit unions. Do we need the three tier system? What's the case for fewer corporates?," said Johnson.
He said he has raised this issue over the years, but would never have WesCorp commission a study on its own. He believes the Association for Corporate CUs and U.S. Central should lead the charge.
"The boards of directors should demand it," he said. NCUA's work in corporate issues of late has to be commended, said Johnson. "It used to be years ago that if they didn't know about something, it couldn't be any good. Now they're educating their examiners to learn about it.," he said.
WesCorp along with U.S. Central and Southwest Corporate FCU has an NCUA examiner in its offices. Johnson said it's a good idea given the sophistication on the investment side at these corporates. Johnson said that he will help any credit union in any way he can in retirement. "I'm no good at doing nothing. I'll help, but I'm not going to put out a shingle and become a consultant," he said.
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