7 Credit Unions, CO-OP & CUNA Announce People Moves

WEST

The $87 million Tongass Federal Credit Union in Ketchikan, Alaska hired Gracia O’Connell as assistant vice president of consumer lending. O’Connell comes to Tongass with nearly 20 years of experience in the credit union industry, most recently at Denali Federal Credit Union ($661 million, Anchorage, Alaska) where she served as vice president of contact center operations and eServices. Prior to joining Denali, Gracia was with Alaska USA Federal Credit Union ($8.5 billion, Anchorage) for 15 years, where she held a variety of roles such as consumer lending compliance officer, extra credit manager, and consumer loan officer and processor roles.

The $4.3 billion, San Diego-based Mission Federal Credit Union appointed Eric Larson as vice president – finance and treasury. Larson most recently held roles as CFO for CalPrivate Bank and its holding company, Private Bancorp of America, Inc., from 2010 to 2019. Prior to his tenure at CalPrivate, Larson was employed at San Diego National Bank from 1985 to 2009, the last 12 years as CFO.

The $6.38 billion Ent Credit Union in Colorado Springs, Colo., hired Katie Mohr as a mortgage loan officer serving the Denver metro area.

Mohr has 15 years’ experience in the finance and real estate industries, including eight years as an MLO. She most recently served as a home lending advisor for Chase Bank private clients. In addition to her career as an MLO, her extensive lending background includes mortgage loan servicing and training mortgage loan officers.

MIDWEST

Corporate Central Credit Union ($2.66 billion, Muskego, Wis.) and its balance sheet optimization CUSO, QuantyPhi, welcomed back returning employee Adam Stone as vice president, ALM and investments. His primary responsibilities will include managing investment accounting, consulting and ALM programs for member credit unions. Stone spent eight years as an investment analyst and senior investment analyst for Corporate Central before moving to New York City, where he spent six years as a consultant and manager for a large audit and advisory firm specializing in treasury and liquidity risk management for large, global financial institutions.

The $2.87 billion Royal Credit Union in Eau Claire, Wis., promoted Jeff Marty to regional director of branch operations. In this role, he is responsible for leading and supporting Royal branch managers in the Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls and Rice Lake communities. Marty began working for Royal in 2005 as a teller supervisor and progressed to assistant branch manager, branch manager and most recently branch manager II. He is currently working toward completing his bachelor’s degree in business management.

The $1.3 billion Consumers Credit Union in Kalamazoo, Mich., hired David Pendley as vice president of mortgage lending. Pendley brings more than 35 years of mortgage experience to Consumers, having started his journey as a mortgage loan officer before founding his own mortgage banking firm in Illinois, which he ran for over 23 years. He sold the business and joined the credit union space in 2018. Pendley replaces long-time mortgage leader John Murphy, who is retiring from Consumers with plans to do independent consulting work.

EAST

The $326 million First New York Federal Credit Union in Albany, N.Y., hired Kevin Bailey as director of mortgage lending. Bailey is responsible for all aspects of mortgage operations within the credit union’s loan department including origination, processing, funding, sale and quality control of conventional mortgages and home equity loans. In addition, he is responsible for managing the mortgage sales team and pipeline to ensure efficient use of technology and delivery of products and services. He previously worked as a retail lending officer, mortgage originator, branch manager, underwriter and processor. Prior to his banking career, he was a sous chef.

CUSOS

The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based CO-OP Financial Services announced the retirement of Jim Hanisch, president, CO-OP Network after 19 years with the CUSO. Hanisch was named president, CO-OP Network, in April 2018 and will remain in the position until June 2. He has been involved with credit unions since the late 1970s and CO-OP since 1986. Hanisch led product development for the Connex platform while at Deluxe Data Systems (now FIS). Beyond CO-OP, Hanisch has been a key industry leader, serving on the board and as past chairman of the Electronic Funds Transfer Association. He was also a member of the Federal Reserve Faster Payments Task Force, and has served on the Boards of RewardsNOW, Early Warning Systems, ResolverGroup, CUATM Services and Everlink.

TRADES

CUNA appointed Barbra Lowman as president of CUNA Strategic Services, Inc. Lowman brings more than two decades of dedicated credit union experience to CSS. Most recently, she served as EVP and chief growth officer for the Cornerstone Credit Union League, and prior to that, she was vice president of professional services at Fiserv. She is a certified Credit Union Development Educator, and earlier in her career, she had leading information technology and client services roles at CRI Solutions, Credit Union On-Line, Liberty FiTECH Systems and SSA Baltimore FCU. She will officially join CSS on June 22.

Please send your People news items to Natasha Chilingerian at nchilingerian@cutimes.com.