GREENSBORO, N.C. – It's never easy succeeding someone who was with an organization or business for many years and left their mark. Sometimes the best tactic a successor can take is to do their own thing, and that's just what Sam Whitehurst, Summit CU's new president/CEO intends to do. The 40-year old Whitehurst, formerly president/CEO of Winston-Salem City Employees CU, succeeded 78-year old Elizabeth `Sis' Hamilton who worked at the $98 million credit union for 60 years and retired as its president/CEO on August 31. Whitehurst's first day at Summit was Sept. 2. “I know I've replaced a legend and I'm proud of Sis' legacy, but I'm not limited by it,” says Whitehurst. “The financial services arena is changing so rapidly, there's lots for me to do.” Hamilton continues to serve on Summit's Board, as its treasurer, but Whitehurst says she's not on-site at the credit union. When he spoke with Credit Union Times, Whitehurst had been on the job going on two weeks. He was still finding his way around cartons, both his and Hamilton's – she was an admitted packrat – as well as commuting to Summit from Winston-Salem. He plans to move to Greensboro with his wife April of seven years and their two sons, five-year old Quay and Chase, three-years old. For the time being he's acclimating to heading up a credit union that's twice as big and has more than three times as many members as Winston-Salem City ECU – $45 million in assets and 6,300 members. Whitehurst is undaunted. A big advocate of using technology to achieve operational efficiency, he's looking forward to increasing Summit's technology-based product offering with services like a debit card program and an Intranet. “Members are increasingly demanding multiple delivery channels and technology is a big part of that. We have to be able to give members what they want,” he says. Although Winston-Salem is smaller than Summit, Whitehurst says “the credit union is very advanced for its size.” For example, the credit union has an imaging and optical storage system, a “robust” Intranet, and an in-house MCIF system. “The credit union managed to do a lot of neat things on a shoe-string budget,” he says. “Summit has some technology, but it can still do more. I don't think they've used technology to its fullest capacity yet. There's a lot of off-the-shelf products out there that we can do amazing things with.” Whitehurst says one of his strengths is solving puzzles, and he wants to leverage that strength, combine it with technology and “create a service friendly environment for Summit's members.” After being in his new job at Summit for only a short time, Whitehurst wasn't the only one at the credit union who was going through an adjustment. The credit union's staff was also getting used to working with a new president. Whitehurst says “everyone at the credit union is comfortable with the transition.” “This isn't about me,” he says. “I'm more inclined to be here to help the staff, the credit union and its members.” -

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