Professionals Join, Advance at and Retire From 9 Credit Unions

WEST

The $673 million Christian Community Credit Union in San Dimas, Calif., named Jason Thomas CFO. Thomas has more than 21 years’ experience in the financial industry. He started out as an investment consultant and later transitioned into the credit union industry. Thomas succeeds Stan Wahl who will retire in January 2020 after 14 years of service.

EAST

The $615 million Align Credit Union in Lowell, Mass., hired Lydia Vazquez as vice president of lending compliance. She is responsible for compliance and support relating to all lending services and oversees the administration of lending-related technology. Lydia comes to Align with more than 20 years of experience in the lending industry at both banks and credit unions. Prior to joining Align, she was assistant vice president of residential lending operations and originations and fair lending officer at the $700 million Leominster Credit Union in Leominster, Mass.

The $700 million Leominster Credit Union in Leominster, Mass., promoted Kelli J. Rooney to SPV, community engagement and marketing. For the last year and a half, Rooney has served as vice president of marketing. In this newly-created role, Rooney will lead Leominster’s strategic relationship development, community engagement, advocacy and marketing. She will focus on strengthening the credit union’s brand and establishing collaborative opportunities while continuing to manage its marketing programs.

MIDWEST

The $630 million Notre Dame Federal Credit Union in Notre Dame, Ind., named Brian Boilek senior commercial loan officer in Lake County. Boilek earned a bachelor’s of arts in business/managerial economics and a master’s of business administration in finance and management, both from Indiana University. Boilek has more than 25 years of experience building and managing commercial banking portfolios. In his most recent senior role, Boilek built and managed a commercial banking team.

The $2 billion Corporate Central Credit Union in Muskego, Wis., hired one employee and promoted another.

Jevon Cliffgard was hired as a systems developer. Cliffgard will deliver business process improvements and automation by managing, analyzing, designing, developing and integrating efficient business intelligence and database systems. Cliffgard brings more than 20 years of IT experience in many areas including software engineering, systems administration, data analytics, business analysis and project management. He has worked to design and deliver solutions in desktop, web and integration service platforms utilizing many technology stacks.

Shannon Cate was promoted to member services specialist. In her new role, Cate will provide operational support to facilitate delivery of superior member service and proactive relationship development. She will serve as the primary support for all currency services and account user authority updates. She will also assist with assigned product and service implementations. Cate joined Corporate Central in September 2014 as a member services representative. Prior to that, she held a Teller II position at a full-service credit union for five years.

SOUTH

The $1.8 billion South Carolina Federal Credit Union in North Charleston, S.C., hired Michael Dart as an advisor to Investment Solutions, through CUSO Financial Services, L.P. (CFS)*. Dart has five years of experience as a financial advisor. Previously, he worked for Bank of America and Edward Jones Investment in Charleston, S.C. He has his Series 7 License and Series 66 License. Dart will work out of the credit union’s East Cooper financial center at 910 Houston Northcutt Blvd. in Mount Pleasant, S.C.

The $1.4 billion LGE Community Credit Union in Marietta, Ga., hired Ryan Napier as vice president of human resources. Napier has more than 10 years of experience in human resources and specializes in innovative talent recruitment, employee relations, human resource information systems and organizational development. Most recently, he led the human resources and recruitment efforts at the $2 billion, Brighton, Mich.-based Lake Trust Credit Union.

The $413 million Kinetic Credit Union in Columbus, Ga., announced EVP Doug Putnam is retiring on Dec. 31, 2019, concluding a 35-year career at the credit union. Putnam has worked as the EVP of Kinetic since 1991. Putnam has spent 38 years in the banking industry, including the last 35 years at Kinetic. He started as a loan officer in 1984 and quickly ascended to other roles in the credit union. J.J. Seman will succeed Putnam. A native of Columbus, Seman has worked at Kinetic for the last 14 years and served as the chief strategy and lending officer for the last six years. Under his leadership, the credit union has experienced strong growth in business, consumer and residential lending. He will add the EVP title to his current responsibilities

The $3.3 billion Coastal Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C., promoted Jonathon Striley to vice president, information security. Striley brings 18 years of IT experience to the role, including more than seven years of financial institution cybersecurity expertise. For the past two years he served as Coastal’s IT security manager, where he led the credit union’s efforts to boost cybersecurity assurance capabilities while also leading the project to overhaul the organization’s IT security policies.

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