Nearly 20 years ago, Jennifer Kutcher got a job as an intern at the $1.4 billion Whatcom Educational Credit Union in Bellingham, Wash. This was the beginning of a journey that would lead her to the proverbial corner office of the credit union.

It all began when Kutcher got an internship at WECU during her senior year at Western Washington University, where she studied business and finance. The experience sparked her interest in credit unions so much that when the credit union reached out a few years later about a position as an account analyst, she jumped at the opportunity.

“I tell people that every opportunity is an opportunity to show your work ethic, what you're willing to do and how you're willing to serve, so I really helped out in whatever capacity I could any time I was asked,” Kutcher recalled.

Her work ethic paid off – within four months she was supervising the accounting department.

Her continued willingness to serve didn't go unnoticed. Kutcher ascended through multiple roles within the organization and eventually became CFO – her original career aspiration. As CFO, she was involved in presenting strategy options for the future, and one of the goals was to reach $1 billion in assets within 10 years. The credit union eventually achieved this goal and even surpassed it to its current size of $1.4 billion.

After becoming CFO, Kutcher was asked to be a part of the credit union's internal CEO succession plan. She was one of three internal candidates rotating in two-year positions as CFO, COO and chief lending officer.

“That was an amazing experience for myself and for my colleagues, for us to be able to transition and rotate through those roles – to not just study the work, but do it and ultimately be responsible for that work,” she recalled.

She said ultimately it allowed her to focus on collaboration within the organization.

“When you're rotating within a leadership role, you recognize that you don't have all the answers. You need to rely on expertise in those areas to work to support and move the organization forward. Plus as the three of us rotated, we had to help each other out as well,” she said.

In 2014, Kutcher was selected to become president/CEO. She said her ascent from interning to running the organization reminds her that every position in the credit union, no matter what you do, is extremely critical and important. “It doesn't matter how you're contributing – no one can do it alone,” she emphasized.

Kutcher celebrates and promotes a collaborative culture where employees are encouraged to speak up. “I encourage my leadership team to bring their leadership perspectives and celebrate when they come up with different perspectives. They don't always agree, but through that process of coming from different roles and angles, the end result and the final decision is going to be so much better for it,” she said.

Speaking up wasn't always easy for Kutcher. In college she avoided any and all classes that required public speaking. She even signed up for a communications class, but dropped it after learning she would have to deliver a speech in front of the class.

After taking a CEO boot camp, she recalled one of the speakers telling the class, “Do something that scares you.”

Kutcher decided to finally face her public speaking fears and was selected for a six-week group study exchange through Rotary International in New Zealand. “I had to give a speech every night for almost five weeks. It pushes you out there. You might think in your head, 'I can't do this, I can't do this.' Once you do it, you think, 'I've already done it once,'” she said.

Just last year, she gave the commencement speech at her alma mater, Western Washington University, where nearly 20 years prior she couldn't even get up in front of a class to deliver a speech.

Kutcher's fearless journey has come full circle, and it's with that same courage that she leads her organization and encourages others to do the same. Kenia Calderon

Client Relations Associate

Coopera

Kenia Calderon, a client relations associate with the Hispanic market solutions firm Coopera, often says she's a product of the mission of credit unions. Born in El Salvador, Calderon moved to the United States when she was 11 years old. As new immigrants to the country, her family faced many economic challenges.

The family's first financial relationship was with a bank, and Calderon said it went pretty bad. High fees, a lack of a language translator and a host of other issues soured the experience for her and her family. Eventually, her parents just gave up on the financial system altogether.

Several years later, Calderon joined a credit union and brought her parents with her. The credit union had bilingual staff and products tailored to the Hispanic community.

“I no longer had to go with them to interpret – they could just run their accounts and do all those things on their own, and that's what they liked best because they didn't like relying on me,” she recalled.

Over time, Calderon developed a friendly relationship with the staff at the $12 million Village Credit Union in Des Moines, Iowa. “I developed a great relationship with my credit union, and they knew how much, and how badly I wanted to go to college. When it came down to choosing and applying and going through that process, my credit union pointed me to resources that I wouldn't have known about otherwise,” she recalled.

She said it's so important for people, and women especially, to let people around them know about their goals. For her, that decision changed her life. Because her credit union knew her goals and shared otherwise unknown resources with her, she got into college.

“My credit union put humanity ahead of profit,” Calderon said. “By helping my family and me better our lives, it has impacted generations to come. It's a domino effect. In my family alone, we will have three college graduates leaving school debt-free thanks to the help of Village Credit Union.”

During college, Calderon served as an emerging markets intern and project assistant for Coopera. After graduating from Drake University in Des Moines with a degree in management and entrepreneurship, she joined the firm full-time as a client relations associate. In this role, Calderon works closely with Coopera's credit union clients to mobilize staff, evolve cultures and ready products and services for better service to Hispanic members. Calderon also helps develop custom, step-by-step plans for Hispanic membership growth strategies at credit unions around the country.

Calderon is passionate about credit unions and helping the Hispanic community. She said a lot of conversations she has with credit union partners is about the membership experience.

“If we invest in one member of a family or household, you'll be investing in all of them. You'll be attracting all members of the family … I've been on the other side as a member, so I have a better understanding of what credit unions need to be changing to better serve the Hispanic community,” Calderon said.

Calderon is one example of how credit unions are improving lives, one person at a time. Jill Gerschutz

Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Planning

Credit Union of Ohio

Jill Gerschutz, vice president of marketing and strategic planning at the $140 million Credit Union of Ohio in Hilliard, isn't afraid to take risks. In 2015, she approached her CEO and made a big request: To do a complete overhaul and update of the credit union's website.

Armed with website analytics and a convincing approach, she asked her CEO to get out his smartphone and pull up the credit union's website. Navigating it was difficult – it wasn't mobile-friendly, and it forced mobile visitors to expand and decrease windows to search the site. She then took her CEO to a different site that was more responsive. The difference was immediately noticeable.

Gerschutz also proposed that if the credit union was going to spend the money to update its website, it should also rebrand its logo and colors. The CEO agreed.

Gerschutz oversaw the updates. She interviewed and hired an ad agency, and created a focus group within the credit union to gather feedback on designs and ideas. To get a cross-section of employee buy-in, the focus group consisted of employees of a variety of ages and with a variety job titles.

When the credit union was preparing to launch the site, Gerschutz planned a credit union-wide party at which all the updates were revealed to employees.

She said employee reception was positive and the updates created a snowball effect across the organization – employees decided to update and refresh all the branch lobbies with brighter colors and new logos.

“So then that creates more excitement. From an internal perspective it was very positive … from there we added our mobile app and remote deposit, and different things,” she recalled.

Not only has Gerschutz improved the credit union's web presence, she's also improving and increasing its presence within the community.

She's played an integral role in improving the credit union's relations with the community and increasing its overall market share over the past 10 years. When the credit union moved its headquarters to Hilliard, Gerschutz got involved with the Hilliard Chamber of Commerce and immediately started volunteering.

“We knew that it was important for us to be involved. We needed to make sure we got ingrained in the community,” she said.

Her efforts didn't go unnoticed. In 2010 she was recognized as the most involved member by the Hilliard Chamber of Commerce, and in 2013, the chamber recognized the credit union as the established business of the year. Since its move to Hilliard in 2007, Credit Union of Ohio has been the presenting sponsor for Taste of Hilliard, one of the city's largest events. For the past two years it has been the exclusive sponsor of the concert series at Hilliard's Station Park, bringing free performances to the community on Thursday nights throughout the summer – all events Gerschutz has helped set up and coordinate.

For Gerschutz, it all comes down to giving back to the community and the current members she's serving.