Credit Union Professionals Dive Into New Roles

WEST

The $25.6 billion, Tukwila, Wash.-based BECU hired Jackie Martinez-Vasquez as its first vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion. In her new role, Martinez-Vasquez is responsible for leading BECU-wide equity strategy, tools and processes, including its focus on “Belonging, Inclusion and Leveraging Differences” (BILD). Prior to joining BECU, Jackie served as the chief civil rights, equity and inclusion officer at Sound Transit, where she was responsible for equity and inclusion strategy, internal culture strategy and civil rights programs. Before that, she spent eight years in community engagement, equity and social responsibility senior leadership roles at the YMCA of Greater Seattle. She has expertise in areas including social and racial justice, immigrant advocacy, civil rights, transit equity, educational access and women’s rights.

MIDWEST

The $4.8 billion, Waterloo, Iowa-based Veridian Credit Union promoted two employees and hired another.

Liz Seres was promoted to manager of core systems. Seres has worked at Veridian for 19 years and was previously the manager of card services. She is a member of the Hudson Educational Fund Board in Hudson, Iowa.

Amanda Freet was promoted to manager of card services. Freet has worked at Veridian for 19 years and was previously a project manager. She is the owner of TNT Cheer, a competitive cheerleading studio in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Laurie Cox was hired as mortgage lending closing supervisor. She was previously a mortgage loan processor at Farmers State Bank.

The $675.5 million, Flint, Mich.-based Financial Plus Credit Union hired Heidi Zuniga as a mortgage loan originator. She is responsible for generating leads and providing exemplary member service, while also building relationships with internal sales teams to garner referrals.

Zuniga joins Financial Plus with over 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry. Most recently, she was a mortgage loan originator for another local credit union, and has held a variety of roles including senior mortgage loan originator, real estate loan originator and underwriter.

Royal Credit Union ($3.3 billion, Eau Claire, Wis.) hired Jodi Berg as its new organizational relations and recruiting manager.

She is responsible for leading the Talent Services team to ensure all processes align with Royal’s organizational values and strategic focus of attracting and retaining high impact talent, and will work closely with the vice president of organizational talent services to help Royal achieve its strategic goals. Berg is assuming this role in advance of long-time Royal Team Member Betty Laskowski’s retirement in April 2021. Berg spent the past 11 years in various HR roles at Midwest Dental in Mondovi, Wis.

SOUTH

The $1.69 billion MAX Credit Union in Montgomery, Ala., hired Wendy Anderson as its new chief lending officer. Anderson brings nearly 27 years of experience in the financial services industry to MAX. She has served as acting chief lending officer since early March, filling the vacancy created by former chief lending officer Martin Head, who was selected as MAX’s president/CEO in October 2019. Anderson began her tenure at MAX in 1994 in a part-time member service role and rose through the ranks over the years. She has worked in lending since 2008 and serves on the executive board of the Central Alabama Crimestoppers.

The $3 billion Ascend Federal Credit Union in Tullahoma, Tenn., promoted Josiah Leverich to SVP, deposits and payments. In his new role, Leverich is responsible for Ascend’s strategic vision and direction for the retail and business deposit and credit card portfolios, as well as retail investments, card operations, payments and digital banking. With 20 years of experience in business and technology development, Leverich most recently served as vice president of information technology for Ascend. Before that, he was director of product management at USAA, where he was responsible for the acquisition and engagement processes for credit card, consumer lending and deposit portfolios. In 2011, he founded a start-up company that went on to be acquired. Leverich is an active aerospace officer with the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, where he works with youth to teach aerospace education. He also serves as a volunteer pilot with the Tullahoma Composite Squadron.

CUSOS

Emergifi, a wholly-owned CUSO of the $3.3 billion, Muskego, Wis.-based Corporate Central Credit Union, hired Jonathon Weber as a business development executive. Weber will work to assess the needs of credit unions, and market Emergifi’s products and services. He will also assist leadership with marketing strategies, business plans and sales objectives. Weber has 13 years of selling experience and three years of experience selling to credit unions, mostly in the HRIS space.

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