LYNCHBURG, Va. – A drive by Virginia credit unions to enhance marketing expertise has helped foster creation of a new Marketing Council for the Virginia Credit Union League, and one of its first events was a workshop on youth marketing held last month in Charlottesville. "We had a nice turnout for our first workshop March 8 and now we are planning two more in June and November plus proceeding with a partnering arrangement with the North Carolina League for a September marketing conference," declared Tina Gibson, spokesman for the fledgling group. The idea for forming a specialized Marketing Council, according to Virginia League officials, arose last June in a survey taken by the League and later spurred on when marketers attended a workshop last fall sponsored by the North Carolina League. Gibson, who also is vice president of marketing and business development at DuPont Fibers FCU in Richmond, said the North Carolina League, which has operated its own marketing council for eight years was helpful in guiding the Virginia contingent. More recently, the Virginia group agreed to jointly sponsor with the North Carolina League a wider East Coast regional conference Sept. 28-29 in Asheville at which League marketing members in the Southeast and along the Eastern seaboard are invited. "When you're in marketing, you really love trading ideas and helping each other out which is why we decided to formalize a Marketing Council," said Gibson adding that since the group got started, "we've really witnessed lots of excitement and energy." Dawn C. Lindley, marketing and financial literacy specialist for the Virginia League, said the Council's June and November workshops will focus on such areas as marketing tools, sales and branch services. "It had been mentioned at some of our meetings that the council might eventually like to champion a statewide credit union promotional campaign, and/or provide scholarship opportunities to those in smaller credit unions," said Lindley. However, she explained "because we are just starting up, it was agreed that we should focus on our workshops" for the time. But "who knows where we can go from here? All I know is that with this group, things are going to happen," she forecast. In addition to Gibson, other members of the Council include: Janine Williams, UVA Community CU; Jacqueline Connor, Fort Belvoir FCU; Pam Vaughan, Bronco FCU; Diane Reed, Arlington VA FCU; Kim Wilkerson, Central VA FCU; Laurissa Grubb and Karen Boothe, both of Roanoke Postal Employees FCU and Melissa Miesnik, Fort Lee FCU. [email protected]