Professionals Celebrate Career Moves at 8 CUs, One CUSO

WEST

The $9.8 billion, Anchorage-based Alaska USA Federal Credit Union announced three hires and five promotions.

Patrick Cosgrove, who brings more than 25 years of credit union experience, was hired as chief lending officer.

Peter Caldwell was hired as vice president, accounting. Caldwell joins the credit union with more than 25 years of accounting experience as a CPA in the financial services industry and has overseen accounting and reporting functions for multiple investment entities totaling more than $1 billion in revenue.

Katie Schwab was hired as vice president, personnel. Schwab rejoins Alaska USA with a wealth of experience in the human resources field, including previous experience as manager, personnel for Alaska USA.

June Gardner was promoted to the newly-created role of vice president, consumer compliance. Gardner has more than 19 years of industry experience and has worked for Alaska USA for the last five years. She was a recipient of the Alaska Journal’s Top Forty Under 40 award for demonstrating professional excellence.

Roland Pilapil was promoted to the newly-created position of vice president, branch administration, Southwest region, a role that will support branches in Arizona and the High Desert region of California. Pilapil has been with Alaska USA since 2005.

Elizabeth Rense Pavlas was promoted to COO. Pavlas has more than 10 years of experience with Alaska USA and most recently served as executive director, retail financial services.

Shannon Conley was promoted to executive director, retail financial services. Conley has worked for Alaska USA for more than 15 years and most recently held the position of SVP, branch administration.

Doug Horner was promoted to SVP, IM operations. Horner has been with Alaska USA performing information management duties for more than eight years, most recently as vice president, IM operations.

The $300 million, Yuma, Ariz.-based AEA Federal Credit Union hired Cory Deter as SVP of business services. Deter joins AEA with over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, most of which was within commercial banking and management. In his new role, Deter will oversee business lending and manage business member relationships.

The $4 billion, Olympia, Wash.-based WSECU hired Judith Henderson as vice president of information technology. In her new role, she will oversee digital infrastructure, digital development and IT solutions. Henderson brings 37 years of experience in financial services, the last 11 of which were in senior technology executive roles. Most recently, she served as head of enterprise operations and information technology for Farmers Life Insurance.

The $1.78 billion, Westminster, Calif.-based LBS Financial Credit Union hired Thomas Bette to the LBS Financial Services Investment Services team as a financial advisor. Bette brings 19 years of experience and spent most of his career as a branch manager at Scottrade, where he educated people about various investments and developed other investment advisors. He will be based out of the credit union’s Long Beach/Los Altos branch.

MIDWEST

The $4.2 billion, Neenah, Wis.-based Community First Credit Union promoted Joe Harvey to SVP of facilities. Harvey, who holds over 20 years of construction, safety and facilities management experience, joined Community First in January 2019 as vice president of maintenance and building operations. In his new role, he joins the senior leadership team, overseeing the operations and maintenance for all of Community First’s 26 branch locations. Prior to joining Community First, he was with a local school district as director of facilities and safety management for nine years. During his career, Harvey has managed multiple large construction projects across the Midwest incorporating energy efficiency, sustainability and green-building initiatives.

The $1 billion Cobalt Credit Union in Papillion, Neb., promoted Keli Wragge to COO. Wragge will lead all retail banking operations, including the credit union’s 24 branch locations, contact center, and video and digital banking channels. She has more than 21 years of experience in the banking industry, the last 12 at Cobalt, where she has served in various roles including branch manager and vice president of operations. Wragge currently serves on the SAC Foundation’s board of directors in Papillion.

The $3.3 billion Corporate Central Credit Union in Muskego, Wis., promoted Chad Ullenberg to senior investment analyst. In this role, he will provide analytical expertise while taking the lead on enhancing Corporate Central’s analytics and risk management tools, processes and reporting. Ullenberg joined Corporate Central in October 2016 as an investment analyst, and recently earned the CFA Institute Investment Foundations Program certificate and Certified Credit Union Investments Professional (CCUIP) designation.

SOUTH

The $3.8 billion, Austin, Texas-based UFCU named Dave Wagner vice president of information technology and chief information officer. Wagner spent the last 18 months working with the UFCU IT team to develop a business-aligned IT strategy. Prior to that, he served as a principal with WGroup, a Wavestone company and IT consulting firm. He also was the owner of DHW IT Consulting, and served as vice president of global IT infrastructure for CareFusion and 10 years as chief information officer for ON Semiconductor. Early in his career he held IT roles with Pepsi Bottling Group and Dell.

CUSOS

The Troy, Mich.-based Commercial Alliance, LLC appointed Laura Szpont as EVP and COO. Szpont, who was part of the group that founded Commercial Alliance in 2004, has been working informally for the last few years in the capacity of COO while maintaining her role as chief risk officer and vice president of credit, loan review, documentation, collateral risk, construction and information technology.

AGENCIES

NCUA Chairman Todd Harper selected Catherine Galicia to serve as his chief of staff. Galicia is one of the highest-ranking Latinas in a Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act agency. Prior to being named chief of staff, she served as then-Board Member Harper’s senior policy counsel since July 2019. During her 15 years on Capitol Hill, Galicia worked for Chairmen Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) as counsel on the Senate Banking Committee; Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) as staff director of the International Trade and Finance Subcommittee and Banking Committee Counsel; Congressman Jim Maloney (D-Conn.) as legislative director and financial service policy aide; and Congresswoman Nydia M. Velazquez (D-N.Y.) as legislative director and financial service policy aide. Before joining the NCUA, Galicia was the head of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the CFPB. She also worked for Banco Popular as vice president for government affairs, where she led the bank’s Washington office.

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