Credit unions across the U.S. announced numerous new hires and promotions this week, and in addition, a Michigan credit union's employees mourned the passing of one of the cooperative's founders.

EAST

The $1.2 billion Workers' Credit Union in Fitchburg, Mass. promoted Jeff Turcotte (pictured) to vice president, commercial lending. Turcotte joined the credit union as an assistant vice president in 2011. In addition, Workers' CU named Sandra S. Sagehorn-Elliott chief operating officer and executive vice president. She previously served as senior vice president and chief operating officer for the $2.8 billion Bellco Credit Union in Greenwood Village, Colo.

St. Mary's Bank hired Damian Gunther as branch sales and service manager for its Milford, N.H. office. Gunther has more than 15 years of management experience and most recently worked at Bank of America as a banking center manager in Keene and Manchester, N.H. St. Mary's Bank was founded in Manchester, N.H. as the first credit union in the nation.

The $441 million, North Haven, Conn.-based Connex Credit Union hired Suzanne Mink (pictured) as assistant vice president of consumer lending. Mink brings more than 20 years of financial expertise to Connex CU, and previously served as a senior vice president at RBS Citizens Financial Group in Smithfield, R.I.

The $1.1 billion Greylock Federal Credit Union in Pittsfield, Mass. promoted Jane Curtin to manager of Greylock FCU's soon-to-open Lenox branch. Curtin has served as the credit union's Great Barrington Branch Manager since 2013 and previously spent more than 24 years with another local bank. Greylock FCU also promoted Stephanie Carlson to branch manager for the credit union's Great Barrington branch. Carlson joined Greylock FCU in 2003 as a member service officer and has served as the assistant branch manager at the Great Barrington branch for two years.

MIDWEST

The $2.7 billion Veridian Credit Union in Waterloo, Iowa promoted Kara Law (pictured) to internal auditor II. Law has been employed at Veridian CU for 12 years, most recently as a senior loan officer.

The $1.9 billion United Federal Credit Union in St. Joseph, Mich. reported the passing of John Herbert Marean, founder of Reno Teacher's Federal Credit Union. Marean was a teacher at Reno High School in 1949 when he and handful of fellow educators formed the credit union, which became Clear Star Credit Union before joining UFCU in 2009.

MSU Federal Credit Union hired Whitney M. Anderson-Harrell (pictured) as vice president of sales and financial education. Anderson-Harrell previously spent 13 years working for Kraft Foods. MSU FCU is based in East Lansing, Mich. and has $2.9 billion in assets.

The $628 million Honor Credit Union in St. Joseph, Mich. promoted Amanda Craig to vice president of enterprise risk management. Craig joined Honor CU seven years ago and her previous roles included director of risk management.

WEST

The $864 million CoastHills Credit Union in Lompoc, Calif. hired Suzanne Leedale as its vice president of branch operations. She spent the past seven years as president/CEO of the $34 million SLO Credit Union in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Leedale started her financial career in the U.S. Army's Finance Corps, and upon leaving the Army, she was hired by a credit union in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she worked her way up from financial service representative to information technology manager.

The $553 million Greater Nevada Credit Union in Carson City, Nev. hired Nicole Andazola (pictured) as its new vice president, people. Andazola brings more than 15 years of human resources experience in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Greater Nevada CU, she held leadership roles for the Nevada Housing Division and the State of Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

The Santa Ana, Calif.-based, $1.2 billion Orange County's Credit Union promoted Jeff Harper to senior vice president, chief lending officer; Carmen Cabico to member service center manager and Rebecca Martinez to accounting manager. Harper joined Orange County's CU in 1997 as a lending manager and has served as vice president of lending since 2004. Cabico has more than 15 years of experience working at a variety of positions at financial institutions. Martinez has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, including 15 years of accounting experience with credit unions, beginning with the $126 million Coastline Community Credit Union in Jacksonville, Fla. Martinez joined Orange County's CU in 2003, where she has served as an accounting assistant, senior accountant and accounting supervisor.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Natasha Chilingerian

Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.