Glatt to Join Portland Teachers Credit Union as Dias' Second in Command; Could be Dias' Successor

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Teachers CU may have just hired CEO Cliff Dias’ successor, but any speculation of that is way too early. The $1.9 billion CU, which has been in the news of late because of a called off merger with Oregon Community CU and some hoopla over Dias’ 2003 $1.6 million compensation, has hired longtime credit union consultant Thomas Glatt to the newly created position of Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, a position described by Dias as the number two spot. Glatt starts at PTCU on Nov. 15. Glatt has spent the past 15 years as president of Counterintelligence Associates, a credit union consulting firm started by his wife Diane Johnson. Johnson is CIA’s CEO; she founded the firm in 1977. The two have worked side by side for years, with one or both of them often traveling almost every week of the year. Glatt said this job will let him settle down a bit. Glatt has a strong financial background. He’s served as CFO for two credit unions – 66 FCU and First Financial FCU – as well as an audit manager for accounting firm Arthur Young. He is a certified public accountant. Johnson and Glatt met while he was CFO at 66 FCU and the CU hired Johnson as a consultant. Glatt said one fear he and his wife had was that the news of his new job would lead people to speculate there’s trouble in the marriage when there is none. “Hopefully now we’ll be able to spend more time together not being on the road all the time,” said Glatt, an admitted road warrior who said he doesn’t want to travel “300 days a year any more. The main reason I’m doing it though is what a great opportunity at a tremendous credit union,” said Glatt who has provided strategic planning consulting for PTCU for about the last seven years. Glatt, 54, said he has a lot of respect for Dias and this position was one of the few he would even consider in the industry. “He’s an incredible guy and has done a great job. Outside of my wife, he’s one of the only guys I would play behind for a while. He’s a good CEO, a good person,” said Glatt. Although this appointment is no guarantee that Glatt will succeed Dias, it does give him an inside track. “My goal from Nov. 15 on is to ensure the board doesn’t need to look outside for a CEO when Cliff retires. They’ve already hired him,” said Glatt. When Dias, 55, will retire isn’t known, but he’s already missed his first goal. “It has been well-known among my family and friends that my goal was to retire at 55. Due to the merger in play with Oregon Community I didn’t make it. Now that the merger has been called off I have reset my retirement goal. My immediate goal is to support the board and the implementation of its CEO succession plan, and that has several steps. The most important thing is to make the transition of leadership seamless to employees and leadership. I’m hopeful that the succession plan will reach completion sooner rather than later,” said Dias. Dias emphasized that his respect for PTCU’s staff and board is so high that he would do nothing to jeopardize the CU, meaning he will stay as long as it takes for the board to have new leadership in place. As far as the buzz surrounding Dias’ $1.6 million compensation, Glatt said many people are forgetting that when Dias took over, PTCU was on a negative net worth path. “They went from being in the hole to now having just great net worth,” said Glatt. In fact PTCU has roughly $150 million in net worth as of press time. Dias said with PTCU being in such great financial shape, now it’s time to take the credit union to a new level of growth. To do this the board has laid out a strategic plan that calls for a name change, possibly a charter change to a community charter, and exploring growth by mergers. Dias said it could be a series of strategic mergers, not necessarily one large merger like the Oregon Community deal, though the CU isn’t ruling out big mergers. “When you have $150 million in the cash register you have a lot of options,” said Dias. Glatt will be a key player in exploring the name change, charter change and merger options Dias said. Glatt has an advantage said Dias because having done the strategic plan consulting he knows PTCU very well and what issues it faces, such as a possible name change. “With only 25% of our member base being teachers, our name, while it has a lot of value and has been around a long time, does present some challenges. We hear constantly, `I thought I had to be a teacher to join,’” said Dias. While the fallout surrounding Dias’ $1.6 million 2003 compensation has died down, Dias pointed out that his $1.6 million compensation last year was an anomaly for him and much of the reason it was so high is because of catch-up retirement pay. Dias does not have a traditional non-profit retirement plan such as a 457. “Any reasonable consumer on the street would expect the CEO of a $2 billion company to go into retirement with some kind of a pension, and I will retire without any pension plan,” said Dias. He also stands by his track record. He notes that it took the CU 63 years to hit $630 million in assets, and just eight years under his leadership to gain $969 million. Also, this growth was done with no increase in staff. When its assets were $630 million in 1995, the CU employed 242 full-time employees – today at $1.9 billion it employs 241. Dias also noted that it’s a matter of public record now that the merger with Oregon Community was not called off because of his compensation. In a May 21 letter from the Oregon regulator to the boards of both CUs, the regulator states that the board has the right to pay Dias what it feels appropriate. It goes on to recommend disclosure of both CEOs’ compensation to the membership prior to the vote, but it was not required for the merger to close. As for how Counterintelligence Associates will operate without Glatt, Glatt himself believes the company won’t miss a beat. CIA has become a family affair over the years with not only Glatt and Johnson working at CIA, but also their children Tom Glatt Jr., Kirsten and Allisen. Glatt joked that his son told him no offense but he was looking forward to his father leaving the firm because it hasn’t been easy working in such a small industry with the same name. CIA, based in San Juan Capistrano, California, is a subsidiary of Community America CU, Lenexa, Kansas. The credit union purchased CIA in 2001. CIA has 14 employees. [email protected]