Longtime CUNA Executive Vice President Susan Newton will leave the national trade organization over the next few months, according to a CUNA communiqué emailed to league presidents Tuesday.

“As we looked at the future needs of the association, we've made a decision we must redesign the roles of the engagement division,” the CUNA email read. “We've met with Susan Newton and she will stay at CUNA, redirecting her focus to several initiatives for the next few months, and then will leave CUNA to pursue other opportunities within the credit union system. Susan has played an important role in our evolution and our success and she has been a critical contributor to the success of CUNA; most notably with our league partners as their executive director of AACUL.”

The email did not mention what initiatives Newton will be responsible for, nor did it give an exact date of her departure from CUNA.

“Credit unions and CUNA are dear to my heart,” Newton said in a separate statement. “While I will be departing CUNA, I will remain a steadfast believer in and supporter of the credit union movement going forward.”

The ACCUL executive director's position, Newton's job, was posted on CUNA's website on Dec. 29, 2015.

Since 1997, Newton served as ACCUL's executive director, though her title was changed last year to chief engagement officer.  

Newton could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

“Our member engagement has been evolving over the past year. There is no doubt we will continue to have evolution of what engagement means and how we interact with and define the CUNA value proposition to credit unions.” CUNA's communiqué read. “We will be optimizing channels and extending our outreach to serve and engage with all members and prospective members more than ever before. Through this evolution, we've recognized the need to optimize our team structure and continue to transform our membership and engagement processes.”

According to CUNA's 2014 IRA 990 filing, Newton's total compensation package was $444,506.  That included base salary, bonus, nontaxable benefits, retirement or deferred compensation and other compensation from CUNA or related organizations.

Before joining CUNA 19 years ago, she served as senior vice president for the Texas Credit Union League, now the Cornerstone Credit Union League. In Texas, she also worked as vice president of planning and research and was instrumental in launching the league's small credit union development department.

In November, CUNA named New Jersey Credit Union League President/CEO Greg Michlig its new deputy chief engagement officer.