"[My boss] allows me to learn a lot of new things in this position and I learn something new every day," she said.

She's also willing to take risks with her own team.

"Since I got here, we've made great strides in aligning our team members with the positions they want to be in, where their skill set fits best or where they're the happiest," she emphasized. "It may sound simple, but it takes time to identify where people want to be and make that happen." Because of this, new positions were created, some people were promoted and others moved into new roles.

Now that it has a strong lending team in place, Y-12 is taking on new endeavors such as implementing two lending organization systems – consumer and mortgage – which will both go live later this summer. The credit union is also creating new and improved products, and developing new online and virtual lending opportunities, Zuleger said.

"It really goes back to having people in the right spot, if you don't have that, I don't think you can take on new endeavors like this," she said.

As a lender, Zuleger said it's important to look beyond just the black and white, adding that learning how to say "yes" is a risk worth taking.

"If a credit union is just looking at loans in black and white, they might as well have robots working for them," she said. "The grey is really important in lending. People have lives and their lives happen to them and we have to remember that when we're considering different decisions."

Seeing the grey worked for Y-12, as 2015 was the best lending year it ever had. Y-12 experienced 24.1% loan growth, even after selling more than $40 million in loan participations, Zuleger said. The credit union had a consistent loan pipeline three times the size of 2014, and an increased average loan amount. She said the success was also due in part to identifying system and process inefficiencies and reviewing the current talent on all the lending teams and whether the positions and talent were in alignment.

In another sign that the improvements and changes were working, in 2015, Y-12′s mortgage department received the CUNA Mutual Award for Excellence in Lending for credit unions with $250 million or more in assets.

The growth has yet to be dimmed, as the credit union is on track for another successful lending year. Thus far, Y-12 is at 22% loan growth.

All of this couldn't have happened without motivated employees. Under Zuleger's leadership, the FIRE team – which stands for fun at work, impacting our communities, reaching our goals and employee appreciation – was created. The team's purpose is to increase morale and show employee appreciation in big and small ways. Last year the FIRE team helped organize the credit union's first-ever holiday party. Zuleger said the feedback on the party was extremely positive.

"I think there's a natural correlation – when your people are happy, your members are happy too," she said.

Her path to the credit union industry started when she was working at a bank and a customer told her that her caring personality would be better suited for a credit union. So she applied for a job at the $7.4 billion San Diego County Credit Union in San Diego and got it.

Although she didn't end up becoming a medical doctor, this past May, Zuleger in fact added the title of doctor to her name when she graduated with a doctorate of education in organizational leadership from Pepperdine University. There, she focused her research on identifying impediments to succession planning in credit unions.

As part of her study, she interviewed CEOs at eight large credit unions. Her study revealed leadership is at the root of how credit unions will thrive in the highly competitive financial industry. She said she hopes to bring an increased focus on the importance of building strong leadership pipelines, to support not only one's current credit union but all credit unions.

"Leaders should be held accountable for developing other leaders in the organization, and I think we really need to stop making excuses while we're not investing more in our people," Zuleger said. "I think we need to invest more in our people from a development standpoint."

Sometimes credit unions can take more risk in the hiring process, Zuleger said. Credit unions list very specific job descriptions, but she says it may be more beneficial to hire for leadership qualities and train the job knowledge.

"I think if people are strong leaders and they're intelligent and driven, they can learn the rest of the job," she recalled. "I'm in my position now because my leader allowed me to do it."