7 Credit Unions Bring New Talent On Board

WEST

The $2 billion, Westminster, Calif.-based LBS Financial Credit Union rehired Courtney Higuchi as vice president/loan administration. Higuchi served as branch manager of LBS Financial’s Newport Mesa branch in Newport Beach, Calif., five years ago and most recently was EVP at the $167 million, Pasadena, Calif.-based Pasadena Service Federal Credit Union. Her previous experience includes serving in operational management roles at University of Southern California Credit Union ($767 million, Los Angeles) and Orange County’s Credit Union ($2.4 billion, Santa Ana, Calif.). She completed an executive master of leadership program through USC and is a graduate of Western CUNA Management School.

OnPoint Community Credit Union ($9.3 billion, Portland, Ore.) hired Cirith Anderson as SVP and chief risk officer. She brings more than 25 years of experience managing risk and compliance for regional and national financial institutions, having most recently served as SVP/chief compliance officer for Umpqua Bank. In her new role, Anderson will lead OnPoint’s enterprise risk management infrastructure; her responsibilities include identifying and mitigating current and future risks, monitoring and testing risk controls, and continuing to embed risk management as a primary component of OnPoint’s workplace culture. She will also serve as OnPoint’s chief regulatory and legislative liaison, as well as its expert on all related laws and regulations, and manager of regulatory examinations. She is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School, and serves as a small business and student mentor at Washington State University’s Carson College of Business and as vice president for the Cascade Whippet Club in Vancouver, Wash.

EAST

The $315 million, Fairhaven, Mass.-based Alltrust Credit Union hired Michael Simms as a residential lending officer. Simms brings 12 years of experience in lending and providing financial guidance. Most recently, he served as a loan officer at the $2.8 billion, Pawtucket, R.I.-based Coastal1 Credit Union (formerly Pawtucket Credit Union).

MIDWEST

The $5.1 billion, Neenah, Wis.-based Community First Credit Union hired Barbara Berken as SVP of branch and contact center operations. A 20-year credit union veteran, Berken assumes responsibility for Community First’s 25 full-service branches and member contact center in her new role. She most recently served for two years as COO for Prospera Credit Union ($354 million, Appleton, Wis.), and before that was vice president of operations for Prospera. She previously served eight years in the U.S. Army Reserves before beginning her financial career with Citibank in the Chicago area and later making her permanent move into the credit union industry. From 2002 to 2015, she was CEO of Educational Employees Credit Union. After its 2015 merger with Summit Credit Union ($4.9 billion, Cottage Grove, Wis.), Berken served as internal audit and compliance manager until joining Prospera in 2018.

SOUTH

The $2.4 billion, Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union announced two new hires and two promotions.

Chris Mulkey was hired as vice president of consumer lending. He succeeds Donna Myers, who retired after more than 43 years at TVFCU. In his new role, he will oversee central lending, indirect lending, consumer underwriting, processing and quality control. Mulkey previously worked as the assistant vice president of lending at 3Rivers Federal Credit Union ($1.9 billion, Fort Wayne, Ind.) for 17 years. Prior to that, he worked for three years at The State Bank and Trust Co. in Defiance, Ohio as assistant vice president of consumer lending. He has a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Shannon Amos was hired to the business and commercial lending team as a commercial lender. In his new role, Amos will help companies in TVFCU’s 13-county service area obtain funds to start or expand their business. In addition, he will assist with loan operations in all facets of business including equipment, expenses, business auto, commercial real estate and other offerings such as Idea Leap loans, which help entrepreneurs with early-stage businesses. Amos started his banking career in 2003 as a part-time teller for Dalton Whitfield Bank. He later worked in banking management with Wachovia and Bank of America before transitioning into commercial and business development at FirstBank. He serves on the board and as treasurer for the Dalton Civitan Club in Dalton, Ga., is a graduate of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Dalton-Whitfield program, and is a graduate and current co-chair of the chamber’s Emerging Leaders Institute.

Ryan Henn was promoted from business and commercial services manager to assistant vice president of business and commercial services. In his new role, he will support the vice president of business and commercial services and oversee TVFCU’s business and commercial lending team. Henn joined TVFCU in 2015 as a business lender. Prior to joining TVFCU, Henn served as a senior small business counselor with the Tennessee Small Business Development Center. He started his career at a community bank in his hometown of Winchester, Tenn. Henn is a graduate of the Tennessee Bankers Association’s Southeast School of Banking and Leadership Chattanooga, and currently serves as a chamber ambassador and member of the Chattanooga Downtown Rotary Club, and as chair elect of the board of directors of the YMCA’s YCAP Chattanooga.

Nick Townsend was promoted from director of information technology, networking and telecommunications to assistant vice president of information technology. In his new role, he will support the chief technology officer and oversee TVFCU’s network engineering, end-user support, telephony and cyber defense operations. Townsend joined TVFCU in 2016 as a virtualization engineer. Prior to working for TVFCU, he was the director of technology for Jackson Manufacturing in Cleveland, Tenn. He holds an MBA from Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., completed a postgraduate certificate in cyber defense operations from the SAN Technology Institute in Washington, D.C., is a graduate of Leadership Cleveland and holds several cybersecurity certifications including CISSP-ISSMP and CISM. Townsend has also served the Cleveland Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol as needed for the past decade, and as an Upward and YMCA basketball coach for the past eight years.

The $373 million, O’Fallon, Mo.-based West Community Credit Union hired Jamie Tappella to West Community Mortgage as a mortgage loan officer. West Community Mortgage is a division of the credit union and located in Rock Hill, Mo. In her new role, Tappella will be responsible for providing personalized loan guidance for borrowers purchasing a new home or refinancing their existing mortgage. She began her mortgage career five years ago.

The $1.8 billion, Arlington, Texas-based Texas Trust Credit Union hired Rebecca White as vice president of human resources. White is a 20-year HR veteran with experience working for international multi-site corporations, where she managed recruiting, training and development, staffing, payroll, benefits, compensation, labor, affirmative action, diversity and other human capital governance issues for varying regulatory bodies and different cultures. She holds a master’s degree in management from the University of Phoenix as well as a graduate-level HR management certificate.

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