6 CUs Including Jax FCU, SPIRE CU, LAFCU Hire & Promote Executives

WEST

The $7.5 billion, Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Redwood Credit Union announced one new hire and seven board appointments.

Eric Johnson was hired as vice president of consumer lending. Prior to joining RCU, Johnson worked for First Republic Bank as vice president of closing and funding operations, JP Morgan Chase as vice president lending manager and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch as vice president retail sales manager/vice president operations market manager. He is currently a board member for the Coastal Youth Little League in Gualala, Calif.

Judy Herrerias-James, Lisa Wittke Schaffner and Rod Dole were reelected to the board of directors.

Herrerias-James has served as an RCU volunteer official since 2013. She recently retired from her role as public affairs director for Kaiser Permanente’s Marin-Sonoma region. She’s also a board member for the Sonoma County Farm Bureau and the Redwood Credit Union Services Group. She will serve as board chair for RCU.

Wittke Schaffner has been an RCU volunteer official since 2012 and is on RCU’s audit committee. She’s CEO of the North Coast Builders Exchange, co-chair of Health Action Sonoma County, and vice president of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation and the Career Technical Education Foundation boards. She’s also on the boards of Santa Rosa Metro Chamber, Sonoma County Fair and the Upstream Investments Policy Committee. She will serve as board treasurer for RCU.

Dole has been an RCU volunteer official since 1978. He is the retired auditor/controller/treasurer/tax collector for Sonoma County. He formerly served as co-chair for Ygrene, trustee for CALTrust and on the president’s advisory board at Sonoma State University.

David Gouin, who has served as a volunteer since 2008, was elected to finish a one-year term on the board from 2022–2023. He has over 30 years of public service with the County of Sonoma, City of Vacaville and the City of Santa Rosa, including 11 years as director of the Department of Economic Development and Housing, and Housing and Community Services, from which he retired in 2020.

Jeri Hansen, who has been a volunteer official since 2020, was elected to finish a two-year term on the board from 2022–2024. She is principal at Jeri Hansen Company, specializing in community engagement, public policy and strategic planning. Prior to that, she was CEO of Sustainable Napa County and public affairs manager for the Napa Valley Vintners. She also serves as the board chair on the Workforce Alliance of the North Bay’s Regional Workforce Development board executive committee.

Robert Eyler was named RCU’s board vice chair.

Jim Olmsted was named RCU’s board secretary.

The $674 million, Livermore, Calif.-based UNCLE Credit Union hired Travis Anway to its executive leadership team as vice president of consumer lending. Anway brings over 20 years of experience in financial services, having most recently served as vice president of lending at the $142 million Mission City Federal Credit Union in Santa Clara, Calif. Prior to that, he started his career in Michigan as a personal banker, exceling his way to vice president. In his new role, Anway will focus on continuing to build a successful consumer lending team, strategic planning and execution, and with relationship building with UNCLE’s employees and members.

EAST

The $257 million Members First Credit Union in Manchester, N.H., promoted Cynthia McCormick to SVP, retail and deposit operations. In her new role, McCormick is responsible for the administration and development of in-person and remote member services, and oversees the retail offices, contact center and digital banking platform, as well as deposit services compliance and operations. She joined Members First 16 years ago as a teller, and in the years since, joined the credit union’s executive team and led the organization through several key strategic initiatives. She holds a master’s degree in British literature from the University of Nottingham, England, is a certified BSA/AML compliance professional and serves on the board of the NH Chapter of the CCUA.

MIDWEST

The $960 million LAFCU in Lansing, Mich., announced two promotions and one new hire.

Chrystal Murphy was promoted to vice president of operations. In her new role, Murphy oversees the daily activities of LAFCU’s 10 branches, the contact center and employees who staff them. She will continue to also serve as a loan officer. Murphy most recently was assistant vice president of operations with oversight of the West Lansing, Mich., branch. She has worked at LAFCU since 2008, first as a teller at the Charlotte, Mich., branch, then at the contact center where she advanced to a managerial role. Murphy has managed branches in DeWitt, St. Johns and Lansing, Mich., and supported LAFCU’s launch of Interactive Teller Machines (ITMs) in 2014. Prior to joining LAFCU, she worked for two banks in Mason and Eaton Rapids, Mich. Murphy holds a Certified Credit Union Executive designation and is a board member of the Local Development and Finance Authority in Eaton Rapids.

Melissa Whiteman was promoted to manager of the South Lansing, Mich., branch and the Collins Road branch in Lansing, where she is responsible for operations including member services, teller and lending functions, and staff supervision. Whiteman was previously senior member service representative at the West Lansing branch. She joined LAFCU in January 2021 with nearly 20 years of managerial experience. Most recently, she was with the YMCA of Metropolitan Lansing for 11 years, serving as membership director for five years. Whiteman also worked at several international catering service corporations as director of food service operations, where she was responsible for food services at the Department of Interior and three Indiana colleges.

Umar Tahir was hired as branch manager of the contact center, which includes the phone center and member service through ITMs located at branch drive-thrus and in the community. In his new role, he is responsible for operations including member services, teller and lending functions, and staff supervision. Tahir brings 15 years of experience in multifaceted leadership roles, including 10 years with banks in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and the Lansing area, in which he had marketing and supervisory responsibilities. He also worked for a technology company and FedEx, where he was project/operations manager for the office in Monroeville, Pa. He earned an MBA in marketing at Preston Institute of Management Sciences in Pakistan and the designation of Certified ScrumMaster, and is an executive committee member for the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing.

The $6.8 billion Corporate One Federal Credit Union in Columbus, Ohio appointed Lori Klumpp and Tasha Kostick to its supervisory committee. As supervisory committee members, Klumpp and Kostick will help ensure that the board of directors and management meet financial reporting objectives, and establish practices and procedures sufficient to safeguard members’ assets.

Klumpp, a CPA, is CFO for L&N Federal Credit Union ($1.9 billion, Louisville, Ky.), where she is responsible for directing, organizing and controlling all financial activities for the credit union and its members. She also manages asset liability, interest rate risk mitigation and the budget process for the organization. Klumpp has more than 21 years of experience in public accounting and previously provided audit and consulting services to credit unions and community banks. She is a board member of the Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Kostick, also a CPA, is SVP and CFO for 1st Northern California Credit Union ($907 million, Martinez, Calif.). She has more than 25 years of experience in the credit union and financial services industries, including serving as a partner and credit union practice leader at RSM US, LLP, where she advised and collaborated with credit unions to ensure they had strong internal controls and processes over accounting, finance, information technology and enterprise risk management.

SPIRE Credit Union ($2 billion, Falcon Heights, Minn.) hired Paul Zyla as SVP/chief information officer. In his new role, Zyla will ensure SPIRE’s information technology, information security and digital banking areas achieve outstanding levels of excellence in their day-to-day operations. He brings over 30 years of information technology expertise, including more than 20 years of progressive leadership roles in the health care, financial services, agricultural lending, government administration, recreational and airline industries.

SOUTH

The Florida Public Relations Association’s (FPRA) Orlando Area Chapter recognized Valerie Moses, senior relationship manager for the $2.6 billion, Lake Mary, Fla.-based Addition Financial Credit Union, with the Joe Curley Rising Leader Award nomination. The award honors up-and-coming individual FPRA members who demonstrate emerging leadership traits along with dedicated active involvement in FPRA chapter activities. Since 2013, Moses has served in the community engagement and partnerships department at Addition Financial, managing the credit union’s public relations efforts and relationship with the University of Central Florida (UCF). Moses currently serves as the FPRA chapter’s vice president of communications/social media, and was recently recognized as Member of the Year for the 2020-2021 term. She is also a graduate of the LeadershipFPRA Class VI, a leadership development program facilitated by FPRA for public relations practitioners in Florida. She holds an MBA from UCF and is co-chair of the Harbor House of Central Florida Young Professionals board.

The $576 million, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Jax Federal Credit Union promoted Joy Bing to SVP of lending. In her new role, Bing guides lending operations for members; leads management in the consumer and indirect lending, collections and mortgage operations departments; and ensures the development and implementation of effective policies and procedures for direct loan products and portfolio management, with a strategic focus on short- and long-term growth. Partnering with other internal departments within the organization, Bing’s objective is to increase opportunities for efficiencies and portfolio growth for credit union membership. She has been with Jax since 2008, most recently serving as vice president of consumer lending and mortgage. Prior to that, she was director of lending operations from 2015 to 2021.

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