Credit Unions, CUSOs & Vendors Welcome New Employees

WEST

The $4.7 billion Redwood Credit Union in Santa Rosa, Calif., welcomed back Andy Ramos as SVP of member engagement. In his new role, Ramos will help ensure that RCU maintains its long-standing reputation for personalized service, partnership and passion for helping members succeed. Ramos formerly worked for RCU for many years, serving as regional branch manager, assistant vice president of sales and service, and SVP of member experience. He left the position to work for the $1.2 billion KeyPoint Credit Union in Santa Clara, Calif., as its EVP and chief retail officer.

MIDWEST

The $563 million Financial Plus Credit Union in Flint, Mich., selected Brad Bergmooser as CEO. Bergmooser comes to Financial Plus from the $3.6 billion Baxter Credit Union in Vernon Hills, Ill., where he served as general counsel and vice president of fraud. Bergmooser boasts an impressive legal background with a focus on the credit union movement, having held senior legal roles with the Illinois Credit Union System, and having worked as both inside and outside counsel for credit unions.

SOUTH

The $2 billion GTE Financial in Tampa, Fla., hired two employees.

Manuel Aguilar was hired as vice president of business services. Aguilar is a business professional with an extensive financial background and exceptional leadership and strategic skills. He most recently spent 18 years at Regions Bank, where he developed successful training programs for their branch business strategy. Aguilar brings to GTE Financial an outstanding passion for banking that will enhance the credit union’s business products and services platform.

Tedd Doucette was hired as vice president of administration. Doucette joins the team from JLL/BMO Harris Bank. In his most current role, he managed the BMO Harris Bank Facilities portfolio for the Florida and Midwest Regions – 70 sites across Florida, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. Doucette’s skillset includes analytical corporate real estate management with demonstrated expertise in facilities management, design and space planning, construction and project management.

HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation, the $300 million Hope Credit Union in Jackson, Miss., and Hope Policy Institute) promoted Ralph Brown to vice president of small business lending. He most recently served as a commercial credit analyst for the commercial lending division. In his new role, Brown will oversee small business loan production and portfolio performance, which includes underwriting, approval, closing and servicing as HOPE expands financial access to entrepreneurs across its Deep South footprint that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. One of Brown’s primary responsibilities will be expanding access to capital for entrepreneurs of color.

CUSOS

CO-OP Financial Services hired Shaun Gehman as vice president, solutions design, bringing with him more than 15 years of executive-level experience in delivering financial technology to credit unions. Gehman joins CO-OP after spending 12 years with Fiserv. He joined the company in 2007 as vice president, product and portfolio management. He most previously served as delivery executive, professional services, where he led the Fiserv Credit Union Solutions Delivery team.

Extensia Financial hired four business development officers.

Phil Nieset is based in Ohio and brings 11 years of experience in the lending industry to his new role at Extensia. Most recently he served as vice president, commercial loan officer at Croghan Colonial Bank, where he was primarily responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities for the firm, in addition to broadening the bank’s reach into new markets. Nieset also held several leadership positions at The Fahey Banking Company.

Monte Guest is based in Arizona and brings a diverse resume with more than 20 years of experience of business leadership and relationship management to the position. Guest previously served as principal at Sage Realty Capital, where he led all business operations and consistently increased the firm’s year-over-year revenue growth rate while providing debt and equity financing for commercial real estate portfolios.

Chris Hurst is based in Texas and brings experience in capital markets, brokerage and asset management to the position.

He is the former vice president of sales and marketing at educational startup Matchedu.com, where he built the company’s strategic marketing plan from the ground up and achieved 75% sales growth within the company’s first year.

Jason Fobbs is based in North Carolina and has more than 12 years of experience in commercial banking and relationship management. Most recently he was director at Verus Capital Corp, where he developed and implemented the firm’s strategic plans and leveraged his leadership experience to recruit, mentor and develop a team of senior leaders to manage the firm’s critical functions.

He has also held leadership roles at several leading banking and lending institutions.

VENDORS

CUCollaborate hired Chris Tissue as COO. In his new role, Tissue will help improve CUCollaborate’s consulting capabilities and practice to provide better service to clients. He will be an integral team member focused on helping CUCollaborate grow efficiently. He has more than 11 years of experience in consulting with a focus on data analytics, managerial cost accounting, workload modeling, performance and financial management. Before joining CUCollaborate, Tissue helped clients develop and mature analytical capabilities to inform strategic business decisions at Grant Thornton, Deloitte and Callahan & Associates.

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