6 Credit Unions Reveal Hires, Promotions & Departures

WEST

The $237 million WyHy Federal Credit Union in Cheyenne, Wyo., selected Paul Yang as vice president/CFO. Yang brings nearly 20 years of leadership experience in the financial industry to the position. Prior to coming to WyHy, Yang served in a variety of roles including EVP, CEO and CFO at different credit unions. Yang replaces outgoing CFO Cyndi Patras, who announced earlier in 2019 her plans to retire at the end of August after 15 years at WyHy. Patras began her career at WyHy as controller and transitioned into the role of vice president/CFO when the position was created.

The $661 million Christian Community Credit Union in San Dimas, Calif., appointed Marji Hughes as interim CEO. For more than 27 years, Hughes has held leadership roles in various departments at Christian Community including operations, member services, loan administration and IT. Prior to her appointment as interim CEO, Hughes served as SVP/COO.

The $3 billion WSECU in Olympia, Wash., announced Gary Swindler was selected as president/CEO, effective Oct. 1.

Swindler will succeed Kevin Foster-Keddie, who has led the credit union for 20 years and will officially retire in early 2020 following a transition period. The CEO role is the last available promotion for Swindler, who has had an impressive 30-year career with WSECU. Starting two years out of college as a loan officer in 1989, his professional path exposed him to nearly every member-facing area of the credit union. During Foster-Keddie’s tenure, WSECU grew from $668 million in assets to now more than $3 billion. In 1999, the credit union had 105,000 members, a number that is now at 270,000.

Foster-Keddie helped to guide the credit union through several major initiatives during the past two decades.

MIDWEST

The $881 million Great Lakes Credit Union in Bannockburn, Ill., promoted three employees and hired another.

Fred Campobasso was promoted to chief lending officer. Since 2017, Campobasso served as vice president of consumer lending. Prior to joining Great Lakes, he spent more than 12 years in a variety of roles in consumer and mortgage lending, and call center sales and service. He has a history of employee development and has been consistently recognized for outstanding team sales performance throughout his career.

Christopher Visocnik was promoted to vice president of information technology where he will lead the information systems and information technology departments.

Visocnik has more than 22 years of experience in information technology with 15 years of experience in IT management in the financial services industry, including with Great Lakes. He has expertise in information security, enterprise architecture and data center infrastructure.

Jody Larabee was promoted to senior manager of organizational development. In this new role, she will lead the credit union’s efforts to enhance learning and development for all employee owners in order to provide exceptional member service.

Larabee has 25 years of dedicated service to Great Lakes, serving in many capacities during her tenure including leading the call center, operations, branch management, loan sales and member services.

Ralph Czechowski was hired as vice president of retail, a role in which he will develop the long-term retail strategy, executing the strategy and leading the retail delivery channel of the credit union. Czechowski joins Great Lakes from TCF National Bank, where he held numerous roles in retail banking, consumer lending and business development.

He was selected for TCF’s Emerging Leader Program, working closely with executive management on organizational change and branding deployment.

SOUTH

The $3.6 billion SECU in Linthicum Heights, Md., hired Christopher Cavallaro as senior manager, business development officer leader. A retail and small business banking veteran, Cavallaro will support SECU’s business development officers to strengthen member connections and cultivate new relationships with small businesses and consumers. He has 18 years of industry experience and most recently served as a business banking relationship manager at M&T Bank.

The $2.8 million Grow Financial Federal Credit Union in Tampa, Fla., announced the retirement of Robert Fisher, who has served as president/CEO since 1992. Thomas Feindt will assume the leadership role, effective January 2020. Established in 1955, Grow Financial was known as MacDill Federal Credit Union when Fisher first joined the senior management team in 1990 as CFO.

He was appointed president/CEO two years later. During his tenure, Fisher directed the steady expansion of a small, local credit union with a limited field of membership to one that today stands at $2.8 billion in assets and operates 25 stores in two states, with 570 employees serving approximately 205,000 members.

Please send your People news items to Tahira Hayes at thayes@cutimes.com.