Credit union officials included in robbery meeting

WASHINGTON – CUNA has announced that CUNA Mutual’s James O’Dell, Navy Federal’s Tom Lyons, and State Employees’ CU’s (North Carolina) Randy Partin have been invited to participate in a meeting bringing together industry and government officials to discuss robbery prevention. The conference is set for Aug. 20-21 at the Bank of America headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. The FBI announced the meeting in June after it became clear that the bureau’s enforcement priorities were going to shift in the wake of the security concerns raised by the September 11 attacks. O’Dell, who is Director of CUNA Mutual’s Risk Management Department, will be giving one of the first presentations of the conference. “It’s important that someone familiar with CU operations and CU robberies has a place at the table with other financial institutions in the U.S.,” O’Dell was quoted in a published report. “I welcome the opportunity to work with the FBI to find solutions to the increasing number of robberies of financial institutions.”