The 2022 LUMINARIES Judges: VIPs for a Groundbreaking Recognition Program
CU Times assembles a team of judges, whose careers encompass leadership excellence and innovation.
This year, CU Times has launched a new and innovative industry recognition program: The LUMINARIES. This special program honors credit unions, executives, programs and even third-party organizations that are driving the credit union industry forward.
To pick the standouts in our industry, we put together a panel of judges whose careers encompass leadership excellence in different corners of the credit union space.
We are very proud at CU Times to present this year’s judging panel, all of whom are working hard to help and guide the credit union and financial services industry as a whole to embrace change and excellence in the space we care about so much.
Charles Krawitz: SVP and Chief Capital Markets Officer with Alliant Credit Union
Charles Krawitz is a key member of the Chicago-based Alliant Credit Union’s ($15.4 billion in assets, 668,274 members) executive leadership team. He is a highly regarded innovator, creating long-term value for Alliant’s members through his commercial real estate, loan trading and fintech initiatives.
Krawitz has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry with highly regarded financial institutions including ABN AMRO, KeyBank and Fifth Third Bank. In addition to other honors, he was named to the Midwest Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame in 2020 and selected as a Manager of the Year finalist by Gallup in 2021.
Keena Pettijohn: CEO and Founder of Lifelogixs
Keena Pettijohn is an accomplished wealth-management executive with more than 25 years in financial services, private banking, financial planning and trust solutions in the bank, credit union and RIA distribution channels. She is a leader for the Bank, Insurance and Securities Association’s (BISA) Innovation Lab, and the BISA’s organization to highlight emerging fintech firms that support BISA’s membership.
She is also an active supporter and advocate for women’s development programs to attract female planners and advisors into the financial services industry.
Samantha Beeler: President of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions & Affiliates
Samantha Beeler became president of LSCU in March 2022. Before joining LSCU, she served as the vice president of advocacy at the NWCUA, representing credit unions in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
She brings extensive advocacy experience to the League and a background in international development in more than a dozen countries. Previously, she worked as a business development and communications at BakerHostetler LLP in Washington, D.C. At the law firm, she worked primarily with the government contracts practice.
Michael Reuter: Executive Director with the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions
Michael Reuter has been a nonprofit professional since 2005. He joined the World Council as the executive director of its Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions in 2018 and is tasked with scaling its fundraising capacity and deepening engagement between the U.S. and international credit union systems.
His goal: Transform lives by growing and strengthening credit unions.
Reuter travels to all corners of the U.S. and often the global credit union system to bring credit union people together, sharing the challenges and success of our movement worldwide with the aim of creating greater awareness and resources to growing credit unions internationally, or as he calls it, “Doing Global Good.”
Natasha Chilingerian: Executive Editor with CU Times
Natasha Chilingerian has worked in the credit union space for over a decade. She joined CU Times as managing editor in 2015 and was promoted to executive editor in 2019. Before that, she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union) in Los Angeles from 2013-2015, and as a CU Times freelancer from 2011-2013.
She has been a professional writer and editor for more than 17 years, specializing in news and lifestyle journalism as well as marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space.
Michael Ogden: Editor-in-Chief with CU Times
Michael Ogden has led the CU Times editorial team since 2016 and been deeply involved in the credit union industry for more than a decade. Prior to his work at CU Times, he was a credit union and cooperative consultant. Ogden also served as digital media manager at CUNA Mutual Group and then served in the same role in the music and entertainment industry’s Full Compass Systems.
His decades in journalism included years as a radio and television news anchor in Ohio and Wisconsin.