Directors Seeking Compensation Not Necessarily Greedy

While I generally find that I agree with Mike Welch’s viewpoints, I’m not so sure that is the case when it comes to his column on Lake Michigan CU’s (LMCU) conversion efforts (CU Times, Nov. 3). Apparently LMCU is a well-managed financial institution with impressive numbers that just happens to have a credit union charter. I’d guess that it might be safe to presume it will continue to be well managed should it one day have a bank charter. Often times we are all guilty of going through a very subjective process as we attempt to establish if members could ever be better off being bank customers instead of credit union members. An objective thought process would ultimately lead us to conclude that, in fact, some banks do provide more value to their customers than some credit unions provide to their members. Lest I appear biased, I also point out we can conclude that the opposite is also true. Welch mentioned that LMCU’s directors might, and indeed do, have a vested interest in wanting to see a charter change. Specifically that they have the ability to be compensated for their time via director’s fees and perhaps someday with stock options. What is so wrong about a director believing that their time is valuable and they should compensated? Rick Stout Senior Vice President Charter Oak FCU Groton, Conn.