CEO Creates New Vision for New Mexico Credit Unions

An English high school teacher made positive differences in the life of Juan Fernández Ceballos, launching his career in financial services nearly two decades ago and leading him to become the industry’s first Latino-American to lead a state credit union trade organization. On June 1, the 38-year-old Ceballos will become president/CEO of the Credit Union Association of New Mexico, succeeding retiring industry veteran Paul Stull.

Ceballos recently spent some time with CU Times to provide his perspectives on his career and what his appointment means to him, CUANM, and future challenges and opportunities for the 41 credit unions in New Mexico – and for credit unions industry-wide – to meet the needs of America’s changing population.

Ceballos is the first generation American in his family. His parents immigrated to the United States in 1970 from the Dominican Republic. They lived in New York for a few years before moving to Puerto Rico, where he was born.

Even though he was an American citizen, he was fully immersed in the Latino culture and spoke Spanish while growing up on the Island of Enchantment. In fact, Ceballos said, he didn’t begin to learn how to speak fluent English until his teenage years thanks to his high school English teacher.

It turned out that the teacher’s husband worked at a bank, where Juan became an intern and worked through his senior year in high school. During a break in his freshman year in college, he returned to work at the bank, where he ran into the former branch manager, who took a position at a credit union.

“He started chatting with me and said things are so much better at the credit union and told me I would love it, so I applied at [Advantage Federal Credit Union in Rochester, N.Y.,] and became a teller,” Ceballos said. “I was 19.”

From there, he worked as a sales and service representative at the $5.2 billion Visions Federal Credit Union in Endwell, N.Y., and then as a legislative aid in the New York Assembly. Those experiences led him to the New York Credit Union Association as its community development coordinator, where he built cooperation plans connecting New York and Puerto Rico credit unions.

In 2007, he was hired as a vice president at CUANM, where he focused on building relationships with credit unions across the state to identify their needs and craft new legislation and services to advance their interests. These efforts grew CUANM’s membership affiliation rate from 76% to more than 90%. In 2015, he founded Leverage Point, a subsidiary of CUANM, where he turned the association’s advocacy and communications from cost centers into revenue generators for New Mexico’s credit unions.

In August 2020, he joined the $194 million Canopy Credit Union in Spokane, Wash., as its community development officer.

CU Times: What does being chosen as the first Latino credit union professional to lead a state credit union association mean for you, and what do you think it means for the credit union industry?

Ceballos: I think it means times are changing. I think it’s important for credit unions to reflect the communities that they’re serving. And that means not just checking off the box and feeling like we’re done. It’s very important to me that I personally lay the groundwork for more professionals of color to be able to find their home and thrive in our movement. And that means that we need to be intentional. That means we need to create the development opportunities to identify and really foster and develop that talent in credit unions, and it also means identifying that talent early, because unfortunately, if you look at where people of color work in credit unions, often times they’re the tellers. I was very fortunate to have great mentors early on who saw my potential and worked with me to develop it. That’s what we need to do going forward to identify the next generation of leaders. In order to remain relevant, we need to have more youth in our movement, we need to have more people of color in our movement and we need to continue to develop more women in our movement. That’s a long-term strategy that starts with identifying talent early to develop them.

CU Times: Do you think credit unions are doing enough to attract Latinos and what do you think credit unions can do to get more Latinos to become credit union members?

Ceballos: Generally speaking? No, I don’t think they’re doing enough now. I think the first steps credit unions need to take is to better understand the Latino community, to know who they are and what characteristics they have. This can’t just be a side project. Credit unions need to bring people from the Latino community into their staff and really develop a strategy and programs where the credit union becomes part of that community, giving back to it and earning its trust. And there are credit unions in New Mexico and outside of New Mexico that have done very well. The other thing that I also will mention is that I think boards of directors have to reflect the demographic that you’re trying to serve. Who is your field of membership? And does your board reflect that? In New Mexico, most credit unions have a pretty high percentage of Latinos on their boards. And I think that’s really important and that’s been key to their success in attracting Latino talent and building relationships with Latino communities.

CU Times: What do you think are the primary challenges facing New Mexico’s credit unions?

Ceballos: New Mexico has a lot of challenges. We’re the third poorest state in the country. We have huge income disparities. So, one of the things we need to do is find innovative ways to create public-private partnerships with credit unions, bring resources and tackle these issues, and credit unions need to be at the table as these conversations take place. And I think for our credit unions that is one of the biggest opportunities we have – finding ways to leverage our resources to help those members thrive and change those lives. We have an opportunity in a state like New Mexico to certify more credit unions as Community Development Financial Institutions, which will help them get the resources they need to continue the work that they’re doing in their communities. There are going to be billions of dollars allocated by the federal government to CDFIs. About five years ago, the New Mexico legislature created a CDFI fund, but the previous governor vetoed it. I think now the reality is that all governors are going to be looking for ways to help their economy post-COVID, and credit unions need to be at the table. So, I look forward to having New Mexico’s credit unions re-introduce legislation to create a state CDFI fund so that we can leverage those dollars not only from the federal government but also from the state government to create more opportunities for credit unions.

CU Times: What do you think credit unions can do to improve or enhance their efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion?

Ceballos: As I mentioned earlier, we need to reflect the community that we’re trying to serve. And I think it begins with understanding why this is so important. The tragic killing of George Floyd brought this issue to the spotlight. It really shined a light on something that’s been there for a long time. Social justice is obviously a huge keystone reason for credit unions to better understand the importance of DEI. The other aspect is that not only is DEI the right thing to do, but credit unions are uniquely positioned to help underserved communities and communities of color. But it’s not just that. DEI just makes good business sense for credit unions because diverse teams are much more productive, and diverse teams are much more agile and bring different perspectives to the table. One of the biggest challenges that credit unions have is that we’re not evolving quickly enough. We’re not getting young people. We’re not getting people of color and building a diverse workforce, a diverse leadership team, a diverse board of directors, which is of paramount importance for us to tackle those opportunities. In New Mexico, when you look at the demographics, it’s about 50% Latino and about 10% Native American. But if you look at the younger demographics, those numbers are even more skewed. I mean, the great majority of youth are people of color. So, with those changes happening in New Mexico and other states, credit unions really need to bring in people who understand the needs of those communities so credit unions can remain relevant and thrive.

CU Times: What will be on your list of highest priorities when you start as the new president/CEO at CUANM?

Ceballos: One of my highest priorities is going to be increasing the value proposition that is relevant to our largest credit unions and our smallest credit unions. I think for the smallest credit unions, we need to really increase their development opportunities and their succession planning process so that those credit unions can continue into the future without having to merge or bring someone in who doesn’t get the credit union culture. We also need to increase the value proposition for our largest credit unions by implementing a proactive advocacy strategy. Beyond that, there’s great talent within our movement and one of the things that I want to do is create leadership opportunities and development opportunities for credit unions to come together and learn from one another. I really believe in the power of collaboration. I think that we do have an opportunity to create an environment where credit unions, no matter what their size, are able to thrive. And that is going to be my number one priority to develop programs, products and services to accomplish that goal.