He told CU Times on Tuesday that he hopes to share his specific plans later this year.

Long active in the CUNA Technology Council and other networking and mentoring circles, Leonardson's accomplishments include leading a revamp a decade ago of his credit union's technology infrastructure, tying most of the systems together in a commitment to third-party integration not yet common in the industry.

That included being one of the first big credit unions to commit to the Open Solutions core processing platform.

“I worked with Butch on a variety of projects over the years,” former Open Solutions Chairman/CEO Louis Hernandez told CU Times, “including one of the first large-scale enterprise installations of DNA core processing in the credit union space. At the time, it was the largest of its kind. Butch was the first to understand the power of collaborative technologies that allow people to connect in more powerful ways while delivering greater operational efficiencies. “

Steve Williams, co-founder and principal at Cornerstone Advisors, an Arizona-based strategic planning consultancy for credit unions and community banks, shared that take on Leonardson.

“Butch was one of the early symbols of professionalizing IT in the credit union industry,” Williams said. “I loved how he brought a feeling of optimism and growth to IT instead of the typical embattlement and resource constraints that unfortunately can take over a culture.”