Mid-Size CU Roundtable Idea Spreading, NAFCU Officials Say

RICHMOND, Va.-Since NAFCU and Duke University Federal Credit Union officials put their heads together to create roundtables specifically for mid-sized credit unions in the Carolinas, more credit unions want in on the action. NAFCU Director of Membership Lauren Corbin and Duke University Federal Credit Union CEO Lee Fogle initiated twice-a-year roundtables to share the common concerns of credit unions from about $20 to $110 million. “As interest grows, we’re happy to do more,” Corbin said. (Interested credit unions should contact her at [email protected].) For the fifth roundtable, held at the end of August, the site moved to Richmond as some of the Virginia credit unions expressed interest in the group. Another group is holding its inaugural mid-sized credit union roundtable in October for credit unions in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky after Rick Parker, CEO of Miami University (Ohio) Community Federal Credit Union heard about the Carolina group. NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker will keynote the event planned for Oct. 19-20 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Now, Corbin has heard a credit union in New Jersey is interested in the idea. Attendees meet to discuss timely issues for the group and a white paper is created in the end. At this most recent meeting, everyone was supposed to come with three marketing ideas that helped their bottom lines, and topics of discussion ranged from employee training to member segmentation to courtesy pay and overdraft programs. Because the original group has been able to secure sponsors, such as NAFCU, Richmond FCU, CUNA Mutual and VACORP for the most recent one, the 13-15 CEOs that attend typically only pay for a night in the hotel. The meetings are also held from noon to noon during the week so the CEOs do not have to spend an entire day out of the office. The Raddon Financial Group also addressed the group with statistics about what online services can do for a credit union’s bottom line and how it helps members “stick.” [email protected]