Rumors column hits close to home

Mike Welch’s publisher’s column in the June 12th edition of Credit Union Times hit home for me. I was a victim of the credit union rumor mill a couple of years ago. What is sad is that my board of directors at the time terminated me because of a rumor but giving as a reason that I had poor management skills. Actually our credit union was doing very well. We had all good numbers including a loan-to-share ratio of over 90% and capital over 17%. My personal integrity was brought into question when I was accused of a relationship with a member of the board. It became clear to me that they wanted me to leave so that an individual with a connection to a board member could be hired to replace me as CEO. In the process considerable damage was done to me personally and to my career. I naturally took it personal because the rumor was just that and because it involved my family. But also because I had put 12 years of my life into that credit union. I brought it from $2 million to $10.5 million during the eight years I was in charge. Fortunately I was very active with our local credit union chapter and I was a league director. Those who knew me understood what was being spread through the Tennessee credit union grapevine by my old credit union was not true. I eventually found a better CEO position within our state. The new job did require relocation and I did have to move my family, but we are all better off for it. Looking back over this very bad experience at my former credit union, fueled by nasty rumors, I was very disappointed to see how grown people can act when they don’t have all the facts. Anyway, it was a great column and maybe some people will benefit from it themselves after reading it. Renee Darnell President/CEO Parthenon Federal Credit Union Union City, Tenn.