Paula Stopero, president/CEO of the $1 billion CAP COM Federal Credit Union in Albany, N.Y., was honored last week at a gala event by the Seton Health Foundation at the Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs. Dubbed "Summer Evening in Saratoga," the event was held to recognize Stopero's charitable and volunteer work.

She was credited for being the driving force behind the formation of the CAP COM Cares Foundation in 2003 and its subsequent donations of more than $1.8 million to local community groups. The foundation has partnered with Seton Health on several initiatives including a prescription drug assistance program for low-income families in Rensselaer County, the foundation said.  

The event program read: "Paula's leadership and devotion have earned her many awards in the region, but it is her passion for assisting those in need that sets her apart."

EAST

United Teletech Financial Federal Credit Union, Tinton Falls, N.J., recently named Daryl Adams and Thomas Della Monica as UTF's first ever external lending officers. In this position, both Adams and Della Monica will be responsible for generating external business by reaching new members in the communities UTF serves and assisting these people with their lending needs. Adams joins the UTF team after previously working at Chase Bank as a relationship banker/small business banking specialist.  Before that, he was a sales manager for Bridge Point Mortgage Co. Della Monica will be using his experience as a personal banker and branch manager at Wells Fargo in this new position.  He also spent some time at Bank of America as a small business banker.  Adams holds a bachelor's degree in communications from Rutgers University, and Della Monica has an associate's degree in human services management from The University of Phoenix. 

TruMark Financial Credit Union, Trevose, Pa., announced multiple promotions in several key positions. The credit union promoted two senior vice presidents, Vince Market, chief financial officer, and David Obarowski, chief operating officer, to executive vice presidents. Gerard DeVita, controller/vice president, and Patrick O'Halloran, vice president of information technology, have been promoted to senior vice presidents. Market will continue to oversee the accounting, compliance, facilities and fraud departments. His expanded role includes managing the information technology department. Market, a La Salle University graduate, is also an adjunct professor at the university's School of Business. Obarowski is a certified public accountant, and has been TruMark Financial's controller and senior vice president for years. His new role will now include overseeing lending operations, product development, financial, electronic and card services. Obarowski is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania. DeVita has over 25 years of experience in the role of vice president/controller and senior vice president/chief financial officer in the financial services industry and has been a certified public accountant since 1985. His new responsibilities include overseeing the newly expanded financial analysis department and managing the credit union's investment portfolio, accounting department and the asset-liability modeling program. DeVita is a graduate of Widener University. O'Halloran will manage all areas of the credit union's information technology, including network services, infrastructure, software development, information security, business continuity planning, telecommunications and core operations. O'Halloran has been in a management role at TruMark Financial for 15 years. O'Halloran, a graduate of Rutgers University.

WEST

Credit Union West, Glendale, Ariz., announced the promotion of Karen Roch its senior vice president/ chief asset management to executive vice president. Roch joined the credit union in 1999 as the human resource manager and was promoted to assistant vice president, human resources and development in 2002. Roch was promoted to the vice president/human resources and development in 2004. She has overseen all aspects of human resources and training, including recruitment and hiring, personnel-related issues, payroll and benefits. In 2010, she was promoted to senior vice president/chief asset management where she oversees technology, lending, business services, marketing and finance. Roch is a graduate of Arizona State University, where she earned her bachelor's of arts degree in management with an emphasis in human resources.

OSU Federal Credit Union, Corvallis, Ore., announced that Rich Hollon, a 25-year veteran of Hewlett-Packard management, has accepted the position of assistant vice president for data processing services.Hollon will have the charge of the core financial system to include OSU Federal's online and mobile banking platforms. During his quarter century with Hewlett-Packard, he managed and directed several areas in its mobile computing division and personal computing business.

St. Helens Community Federal Credit Union, St. Helens, Ore., announced the hiring of Ron Winter as its new chief technology officer. As CTO, Winter will lead the strategic development and implementation of technology across the credit union's information and financial systems to ensure regulatory compliance, data security and disaster recovery preparedness. Winter brings to SCHU more than a decade of experience overseeing core financial systems, IT initiatives and disaster recovery programs for credit unions. He spent most of his career at Clackamas Federal Credit Union in Oregon and most recently served as vice president of information technology at the Credit Union of Georgia. Winter graduated from Pioneer Pacific College in 2001 and is a member of the Credit Union National Association's Technology Council. St. Helens FCU also announced the hiring of Erin Mulkins as director of lending. Mulkins will oversee SHCU's consumer lending programs as the credit union seeks to deepen financial relationships with current members and strengthen its presence in Columbia County. Mulkins brings nearly two decades of related experience to her position. She most recently served as vice president of lending and member services with Northwest Resource Federal Credit Union.

Security Service Federal Credit Union, San Antonio, announced the promotion of Jay Tkachuk to vice president of online services. In his new position, Tkachuk will be responsible for overseeing the credit union's digital channel operations which include content management, search engine optimization and digital analytics. Tkachuk holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and MBA from The University of Texas at Austin. He joined SSFCU in 2008 as a user experience architect and has since expanded the credit union's digital capabilities with the launch of SSFCU's online banking platform, myBranch, and myBranch mobile. His previous experience includes employment with Advanced Micro Devices where he served as a senior web strategist. The credit union has also named Lorena Allen as vice president of mortgage services. She previously was vice president of mortgage at Golden 1 Credit Union in Folsom, Calif., where she was responsible for strategic leadership and management for mortgage operations, including mortgage origination, secondary market activities and loss mitigation.

 With more than 25 years experience in mortgage lending, Allen formerly served as vice president of the Florida Credit Union Real Estate Network and as a member of the Advisory Board of the Florida State College School of Banking, Real Estate and Insurance. She holds a bachelor of science from the University of North Florida.

Unitus Community Credit Union,  Portland, Ore., has hired Greg Spear to serve as its chief financial officer.  As CFO, Spear will provide strategic leadership over Unitus' financial operations—including investments, risk management, long-term financial planning and accounting practices—and interact with regulatory bodies, the financial community and external auditors.  Spear brings to Unitus three decades of related banking experience, including 16 years as a CFO for financial institutions in the Pacific Northwest.  Most recently, he served as CFO at Pacific Valley Bank in California. Spear is a certified public accountant with degrees from the University of La Verne and California State University Chico.

University Federal Credit Union, Austin, Texas, announced that Heather McKissick joined the UFCU team as vice president of human resources and organizational development.  McKissick will be responsible for the overall organizational development focusing on nurturing and building a strong and effective human system to support strategic objectives, and to position UFCU as employer of choice.  Most recently, McKissick was CEO of Leadership Austin, a nonprofit organization focused on leadership development throughout Central Texas.  McKissick brings 18 years of experience across a variety of industry sectors, both for-profit and not-for-profit. 

MIDWEST

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, East Lansing, Mich., announced the promotion of Sarah Bohan to MSUFCU's newly created position of vice president of corporate relations. Bohan, has been with MSUFCU since November of 2004, and has held a variety of staff and management positions. Most recently she served as the internal and corporate communications manager where she helped to establish new employee and corporate communication functions for the credit union. A graduate of Michigan State University, Bohan holds a bachelor of fine arts degree with an emphasis in photography.

SOUTH

Champion Credit Union, Canton, N. C., announced that Jake Robinson has been promoted to vice president of operations. Robinson earned his bachelor of science in finance from Western Carolina University in 2010. He began his career with Champion Credit Union as a management associate in 2010 and was promoted to project manager in 2012. As vice president of operations, Robinson is responsible for the back office operations of Champion Credit Union. Robinson graduated from the Southeast CUNA Management School in Athens, Ga. Champion Credit Union also announced that Brittainy Crawford has joined the credit union as chief financial officer. She has a bachelor of science in business administration and a master of accountancy from UNC Chapel Hill.

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