Olan Jones to Retire as Leader of Eastman CU

Olan O. Jones, Jr. on Wednesday announced he will retire at year’s end after 22 years as president/CEO of Eastman Credit Union in northeast Tennessee.

The board also announced that it has chosen Kelly Price, ECU EVP, to become president/CEO effective Jan. 1. She has been at ECU almost 25 years, most recently responsible for the lending, member services, operations and information technology areas of the Kingsport-based credit union ($4.8 billion, $232,747 members).

ECU Chair Fielding Rolston said credit unions were beginning to be recognized as serious alternatives for financial services when Jones took the helm of ECU in the late 1990s.

“Olan came to ECU at an inflection point for the credit union industry and for ECU. He is a natural visionary and has always seemed to know what was just around the bend,” Rolston said. “He was always striving to ensure that ECU was positioned to do the right things for all the stakeholders—members, staff, and communities.”

For years, the credit union’s membership was tied solely to Eastman Chemical Company, a major employer in the areas. During Jones’ tenure, ECU expanded to regional membership, and its assets increased nearly eight-fold from $631 million in 1997 and it won recognition for exceptional services.

During his tenure as CEO, ECU returned more than $118 million to members through extraordinary dividends, created more than 650 new full-time jobs, added 200,000 new members, and donated more than $8.9 million to support the improvement in the community.