8 CUs Announce Executive Hires, Promotions & Board Appointments

WEST

The $1.8 billion Westerra Credit Union in Denver appointed Anshanita Peace as diversity, equity and inclusion program director. In her new role, Peace will lead the program and work directly with employees who are part of Westerra’s internal DEI task force. In addition, she will further advance operational processes, membership relationships and employee programming. Peace has been with Westerra for her entire career spanning 25 years, beginning as a teller and eventually managing various departments including fraud, cards, loan servicing, quality assurance and quality control.

The $1.3 billion, Yuba City, Calif.-based Sierra Central Credit Union hired Gayle Gines as vice president of audit. Gines has over 16 years of experience with audit and compliance in both the credit union space and out of the industry. She joins Sierra Central from Houston Federal Credit Union ($899 million, Sugar Land, Texas), where she was vice president of internal audit. Before that, she was a senior internal auditor at Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union ($13.3 billion, Live Oak, Texas). She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified Information Systems Auditor.

EAST

Holy Rosary Credit Union ($381 million, Rochester, N.H.) appointed two new board members and one new supervisory committee member.

Anne Brown was appointed to the board of directors. Brown has spent the past 25 years in public relations, community relations, marketing and organizational communication, primarily in the business technology field. Currently, she is the director of communication for Daystar, a managed IT services provider in Newington, N.H. She also serves on the board of directors for Cornerstone VNA in Rochester.

Dawn M. Richardson, MD was appointed to the board of directors. Richardson completed medical school and an emergency medicine residency at Brown University before remaining on its clinical emergency medicine faculty until 2010. She became chair of Emergency Medicine at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester. She currently practices emergency medicine at Huggins and Portsmouth Regional Hospitals, and additionally practices medically assisted opiate addiction treatment at Groups Recover Together in Rochester.

Kathy Gordon was elected to the supervisory committee. Gordon, a long-time member of HRCU, started her career in HR with Liberty Mutual, spending 17 years there before moving on to Monster Worldwide, where she supported several large clients over her 10-year career there. She continues to work in HR consulting roles today.

The $2.1 billion, Littleton, Mass.-based Workers Credit Union announced two promotions.

Chris Santillo was promoted to vice president of wealth management. Santillo has been with the credit union for two years and previously served as vice president of relationship banking. Upon joining Workers, he brought nearly 15 years of experience from Citizens Bank, where he started as a sales and service representative and worked his way up to branch manager and assistant vice president. In his new role, he will lead the credit union’s relationship banking and investment division.

Johan Romero Luna was promoted to vice president of the Workers Way program, where he’ll ensure successful execution of the credit union’s commitment to financial wellness. Luna, a certified financial coach, has been with Workers for two years and previously served as an assistant vice president and area manager. Prior to joining Workers, he was manager of business development and operations at BCU ($4.9 billion, Vernon Hills, Ill.), a branch manager at Homefield Credit Union ($165 million, North Grafton, Mass.) and a personal banker at Sovereign Bank.

The $8.7 billion, Hauppauge, N.Y.-based Teachers Federal Credit Union hired Alex de la Cruz as chief growth and strategy officer. In his new role, de la Cruz will work cross-functionally across the enterprise to identify, plan and execute on strategic initiatives that differentiate membership and products, create seamless experiences for employees and members, drive increased efficiencies and promote sustainable growth. He will also lead all non-organic growth initiatives, including possible M&As and strategic partnerships. De la Cruz joins Teachers from TDECU ($4.3 billion, Lake Jackson, Texas), where he served as chief growth, strategy and marketing officer. Before that, he served at First Tech Federal Credit Union ($14.1 billion, San Jose, Calif.) and Bank of America.

MIDWEST

The $5.4 billion Veridian Credit Union in Waterloo, Iowa announced two promotions.

Adam Thilges was promoted to the position of electronic relations team leader. Thilges has worked at Veridian for 15 years and was previously the branch manager at the College Square Hy-Vee store in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Alma Hrustanovic was promoted to the position of branch manager at Veridian’s College Square Hy-Vee location. Hrustanovic has worked at Veridian for nine years and was previously a loan advisor II.

The $4.6 billion Community First Credit Union in Neenah, Wis., hired one new executive and promoted another.

Craig Gloudemans was promoted to vice president of finance. Gloudemans’ Community First career began in 2001 as one of the first student tellers at the in-school credit union branch at Appleton West High School during his senior year. He worked on the accounting support staff during college, was hired as a staff accountant in 2005, then promoted to accounting manager in 2012 and to assistant vice president of finance in 2019. In his new role, he will manage the day-to-day accounting and finance functions, financial reporting, budgeting, audits and finance projects.

Bill Gunckel was hired as vice president of information security. Gunckel has spent the last 23 years working with local companies in the Fox Valley to develop their IT/information security programs, most recently with Navitus Health Solutions. In his new role, he will lead the strategic enterprise-wide information security program while also providing management and development direction for security initiatives across the credit union environment.

SOUTH

The $555 million, San Antonio, Texas-based Air Force Federal Credit Union hired two new executives.

Kerry Graham was hired as vice president of marketing. Prior to joining AFFCU, Graham was the digital and creative marketing manager at the $1.7 billion Hughes Federal Credit Union in Tucson, Ariz. He is a Credit Union Certified Marketing Executive and Certified Agile Marketer.

Jessica Martinez was hired as vice president of human resources. Martinez previously led the HR teams at Gonzaba Medical Group. She specializes in talent management and holds a master’s degree in industrial organizational psychology from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.

VENDORS

LenderClose, a Des Moines, Iowa-based provider of a technology-focused home equity and real estate lending platform, announced one promotion and two new hires.

Trinh Le-Coulter, former director of operations, was promoted to vice president of people power. In this role, Le-Coulter is charged with advancing LenderClose’s people-powered culture that gives people ownership of their career success and the opportunity to grow, which is in alignment with the company’s organizational values. With nearly a decade of experience in client and team management, she also leads the operations department. Le-Coulter came to LenderClose from Businessolver, where she was director of shared services.

Bill Taha was hired as director of operations. In his new role, he will manage a team of operational specialists who focus on partner success through the delivery of the highest level of service to clients and vendors.

Sheena Lovan was hired as an operations specialist. In her new role, she is responsible for ensuring every client receives an exceptional experience through consistent and reliable service. Additionally, Lovan provides timely user support via chat, email and phone, and monitors progress and vendor turnaround times.

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