President & CEO Cheryl DeBoer to Retire From Advia CU

DeBoer has led the Michigan-based credit union since 2004.

Cheryl DeBoer

On Thursday, Cheryl DeBoer, president/CEO of Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Advia Credit Union, announced her plans to retire after serving in the credit union industry for more than four decades.

According to a statement from the credit union, DeBoer will step down in early 2023.

Since taking the leadership role with Advia ($2.6 billion in assets, 188,772 members), DeBoer has grown the credit union’s footprint from serving only nine counties in Michigan in 2004 to all of the southern peninsula of Michigan, nine counties in Wisconsin and seven counties in Illinois.

As part of DeBoer’s growth strategy for the credit union, in 2020 Advia acquired Riverview Community Federal Credit Union in Saint Clair, Mich., near the Canadian border. At the time, it was Advia’s fourth merger in four years.

DeBoer contributed to significant expansion in Advia’s position as a commercial lender over the years, with the credit union now serving nearly 10,000 businesses, according to the credit union.

According Advia, DeBoer began her credit union career in high school when she served as a lobby greeter at a Co-Op Service Center.

“We will greatly miss Cheryl as Advia’s president and CEO and thank her for the incredible contributions she has made throughout her career to the credit union movement, and more importantly, the significant value for her membership and Advia employees,” Advia Board Chair Nicole Kalmbach said.

Kalmbach added, “Her dedication and passion in living out Advia’s core values and mission of providing financial advantages provides long-term benefits to those she’s worked with and members’ lives impacted during her leadership tenure.”

According to Tuesday’s statement, Advia’s board of directors is collaborating with executive recruiter Humanidei to conduct a comprehensive search for DeBoer’s replacement.