Nearly eight months after the NCUA and Sperry Associates Federal Credit Union entered into a letter of understanding and agreement, the cooperative has named James Duffett as its new president/CEO.

Duffett had served as interim co-president since September 2010 after Sperry's board of directors voted Sept. 14 to cease using the services of Dan Capece, who served as interim president.

Duffett joined the $325 million Sperry in Garden City Park, N.Y., 16 years ago as a branch operations manager. In 2004, he was promoted to vice president overseeing business development, e-commerce, information technology and marketing. Duffett also served as chairman of the product development committee.

"We will continue to focus on meeting our members' daily financial needs and rebuilding capital," Duffett said. "This institution is already showing many positive results, including a profitable fourth quarter in 2010 and an anticipated return to overall profitability this year."

Duffett said Sperry is aiming to improve personal service, particularly with electronic banking capabilities.

A June 2010 NCUA LUA cited several corrections actions to address Sperry's credit, strategic, interest rate, liquidity, transaction and compliance risks.