MADISON, Wis. – It's been nearly 14 years since Robert “Bob”Davis left his post as director of CUNA's state government affairsdepartment and while the hub of regulatory action has since growninto a well-oiled, legislative tracking machine, the early days sawdoing more with less. “We had to campaign hard for certain things,it was our job to get the grassroots of the movement enthused,”Davis recalled. Davis, 76, worked for six years at the IllinoisCredit Union League before being recruited by CUNA's GeneralCounsel to set up the association's state affairs department. Whilethere, he countered anti-growth attacks by the American BankersAssociation on “vulnerable states” with a league campaign that“stirred up” credit union managers to fight back. He alsospearheaded the “Save our Share Draft” campaign when a SupremeCourt decision threatened to end that credit union staple. After heretired from CUNA in 1987, the Chicago native worked on consultingprojects including with CUNA, helping the Arizona Credit UnionLeague revise their credit union law and testifying in Ottawabefore banking officials on truth and lending regulations. He evenwrote the mayor of Madison to ask about job openings in his office.Davis didn't hear back right away but eventually the mayor did callhim asking if he would be interested in serving on the city'ssenior citizens advisory council. Appointed in 1995, he put back onhis campaign hat and drummed up funding for private agencies thatassisted the elderly and disabled. In 2001, Davis was elected vicechair of the council and a “complete role reversal” occurred withthe new position. “The acting chair told me the mayor has atelevision program and she wanted me to appear on a segment withthe mayor,” Davis said. “I was the one asking questions. This,coming from someone who once wrote sat in the background takingminutes.” While the role has allowed him to relive his campaigningdays, Davis said he will not seek reappointment and has in fact,“urged them to elect someone else in 2004.” “There's always a needfor new blood in any organization,” he explained. He also serves onthe board of a local foundation that raises money for “civilaction” causes, doing double duty as the foundation's newslettereditor and interviewing people that often go unheard such asstruggling artists and homeless teens, Davis said. Building CreditUnions Worldwide After a stint with the U.S. Census Bureau, Davisgot an invitation from the World Council of Credit Unions to join afact-finding team on a mission to Poland to determine thefeasibility of building credit unions there. The 13-memberdelegation spent a month there meeting with workers cooperatives,labor unions, bankers and farmers. “We went to Warsaw to visit theParliament and somehow, some area farmers heard we were theretrying to build credit unions,” Davis recalled. “They wereconcerned that we would overlook the agricultural co-ops.” As thelegislative regulatory expert, Davis recommended to credit unionsupporters to look at the existing regulations, input necessarychanges and go back to Parliament in three years to try to get lawspassed to develop credit unions. Davis went back to Madison, wrotea report on the trip and got news a few years later that some ofthe proposed credit union legislation were indeed passed into law.“Poland has a flourishing movement today,” Davis said. In 1991,WOCCU called on Davis again to pen a model legislation program thatwould be used in Hong Kong and such African countries as Ethiopia,Ghana, Kenya and Liberia. Tragically, six months after a visit toLiberia to meet with officials who were eager to get a cooperativemovement underway, many of those officials were killed undercircumstances to this day that aren't clear, Davis said. The modellegislation program written by Davis was so applicable that WOCCUcommissioned him and an advisory team to write the InternationalDigest of Laws Governing Credit Unions, first published in 1993.The digest has since been updated every two years and as recent as2002, David Grace, WOCCU's financial and regulatory affairsmanager, called on Davis' expertise to contribute updates. “Thelevel of interest overseas is overwhelming,” Davis said. “Manycountries are in the midst of successful credit union movements.”Grassroots Builder to Archivist Of all his post-`retirement'pursuits by far, he considers his role as a semi-caregiver for theelderly most gratifying. Davis met Theodore Pierce, a 90-year oldAfrican-American man, at a local assisted-living home and the twobecame instant friends. Pierce's grandmother, who lived to the wiseold age of 115, was born into slavery and owned a home that hadbeen in the Pierce family for nearly 100 years. While a youngcouple would later purchase the home, Davis said the wife tookgreat pains to restore the entire house to the original timeperiod. Pierce had collected a number of pivotal letters andmementos over the century, many tied to his father who worked forfive Wisconsin governors. He asked Davis to help him archive theartifacts and Davis sprang into action. He first called a reporterat the local newspaper, who came out and interviewed Pierce. Then,Davis took on the careful task of archiving Pierce's memories.Those pieces of Madison's history are now housed at the WisconsinState Historical Society. A professor of Black studies at a localuniversity read the newspaper article on Pierce and immediatelyarranged an interview. In the midst of writing a book on therestrictions placed on African-American musicians and singers whoperformed in Madison during the 1920s and 1930s, she knew Piercewould be an ideal source, Davis said. Pierce died in 1999, but thememory of their friendship lives on. “He taught me that life isfour things – a game, a battle, a search and a dream,” Davisexplained. “Life can be a combination of any of these things at onetime depending on the direction you turn.” Davis' compass led himfresh out of Loyola University to work in the personnel departmentfor a federal agency. A coworker told him that the Illinois CreditUnion League had an advertisement for someone to head up the publicrelations and education programs. As a reporter for the Armynewspaper while stationed in Manila, Davis had a number of clips toshow for. So, with articles in hand, he met with the league's CEO.Turns out that the CEO was a former editor and needless to say,Davis got the job in 1955. While at the league, he did publicrelations and set up education and training workshops for Illinois'1,000 credit unions. “The big issue at the time was the start ofthe share insurance fund,” Davis said. “The league was instrumentalin providing support in getting the backing from the government toget it up and running.” Six years later he would head CUNA's stateaffairs department. Besides coordinating hearings with leaguesacross the nation to shore up muscle for the then pending revisionof the federal credit union law in the 1970s, Davis created arecord of the hearings' minutes (“my secretary transcribed all ofthem”) for distribution to CUNA staff to discern what the mostpressing legislative needs were. That federal law would eventuallybe recodified, a first for legislation that up until then, only sawpiecemeal changes. Davis also read through piles of bills,summarized them and published the digest in the State LegislativeReport, an insider newsletter for state leagues. His departmentassisted states with smaller leagues that didn't have the staff tofend off bankers. “We would step in and help them, testified ontheir behalf if they asked for that,” Davis said. The decision toretire from CUNA came on strong footing. An avid cyclist – he ridesfor 6 miles every other day – Davis likes the pace his life hastaken. “I wanted to retire at a time when I could still hit thehigh notes,” he said. “Things were going so well at that point. The(state government affairs) function had moved to D.C. It was time.”Friends wanting to get in touch with Bob Davis, can reach him inMadison, Wis. at (608) 244-3351. -

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