8 Executives Hired, Honored & Promoted

WEST

The $180 million Santa Cruz Community Credit Union in Santa Cruz, Calif., hired Paul Barenfus to its senior team as chief lending officer. Barenfus brings over 20 years of experience in the financial industry to SCCCU, having most recently served as a commercial relationship manager at Fremont Bank. He has managed large loan portfolios and loan production, and holds expertise in regulatory compliance, depository services, cash management, wealth management and trust services.

EAST

Ron Belle, president/CEO for the $2.5 billion, Rome, N.Y.-based AmeriCU Credit Union, was named chairman of the 2023 Syracuse Heart Challenge by the American Heart Association. As chairman, Belle will lead organizational and recruitment efforts in New York’s Onondaga County, calling on survivors, walkers, local business leaders and community groups to get involved, bring awareness, and help to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke. Belle previously served on the Syracuse Heart Challenge executive committee since 2019, and in addition, he volunteers and holds leadership positions on several boards of directors including Mohawk Valley EDGE, the Onondaga Community College Foundation, CenterState CEO’s Investment Committee and Griffiss Park Landowners Association.

Ed Butler, EVP and COO for the $5.6 billion, Endwell, N.Y.-based Visions Federal Credit Union, retired on July 8 following 42 years of employment and leadership in the organization. Butler began his career with Visions in 1980 as a teller and worked his way through the ranks, primarily focused on lending, supervision and operations. He has served on the boards of several community organizations and committees including the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce, and earlier this year, the New York Credit Union Association recognized Butler as Professional of the Year.

MIDWEST

The $3.8 billion Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union hired Manuela Keeling to the newly-created role of vice president, branch services. Keeling brings 18 years of experience in all aspects of branch operations, having started her career in financial services as a teller and fulfilled a number of key leadership roles, most recently at Mill City Credit Union ($331 million, Minnetonka, Minn.) and Anoka Hennepin Credit Union ($285 million, Coon Rapids, Minn.). In her new role, she will oversee Affinity Plus’s 30-branch network, prioritizing the advancement of the credit union’s commitment to exemplary member service, and staying focused on innovation in order to help support member communities during uncertain and evolving financial times. Keeling holds a mini MBA from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., is a CUNA Management School graduate and serves as president of the Twin Cities chapter of the Minnesota Credit Union Network.

Royal Credit Union ($4.1 billion, Eau Claire, Wis.) promoted Carrie Diedrich to corporate risk manager. In her new role, Diedrich is responsible for setting strategy and leading the compliance-risk management team. Her responsibilities also include the research, recommendation, implementation, training, documentation, and maintenance of compliance and risk management programs. In addition, she will lead the development and implementation of the enterprise risk management process, enterprise disaster recovery, business continuity plan and vendor management. Diedrich joined Royal in 2020 as a senior compliance-risk management specialist and has served on multiple internal committees including the pandemic committee, risk committee and vendor review committee. She is also a Certified Regulatory Vendor Program Manager.

The $830 million, Indianapolis, Ind.-based Financial Center First Credit Union hired Jon Stonebraker as a business intelligence manager. In his new role, he is responsible for providing business insight to guide the organization’s business, financial and marketing strategies. Stonebraker previously served as a technical product manager for the $1.7 billion, Moon Township, Pa.-based Clearview Federal Credit Union. Stonebraker holds a master’s degree in information technology, graduate certificate in business data analytics and certificate in software development from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He also runs a rental property management company, Red Stone Property Management.

SOUTH

The $5.8 billion Vizo Financial Corporate Credit Union in Greensboro, N.C., appointed Derek A. Fuzzell, chief financial and strategy officer for PAHO/WHO Federal Credit Union ($290 million, Washington, D.C.), to its board of directors at its virtual annual meeting on June 15. No election was held for the board this year as the corporate received three nominations to fill three vacant board seats – Fuzzell; Jeff Chelius, CFO for Riverfront Federal Credit Union ($274 million, Wyomissing, Pa.); and Scott Woods, president/CEO for South Carolina Federal Credit Union ($2.4 billion, North Charleston, S.C.) – all of whom were approved and will serve three-year terms. Woods will serve as chair and Chelius as vice chair. In addition, Daniel Berry, CEO of Duke University Federal Credit Union ($205 million, Durham, N.C.) will serve as treasurer and Genice DeCorte, CEO of HealthShare Credit Union ($48 million, Greensboro, N.C.) as secretary.

The Vizo Financial board also appointed Sue DeStephano, president/CEO of First Capital Federal Credit Union ($320 million, York, Pa.) and Brian Hedgepeth, president/CEO of Bronco Federal Credit Union ($247 million, Franklin, Va.) to serve as non-voting associate directors as part of a new program to provide a greater opportunity for diverse representation at the governance level.

The $4.7 billion, Lake Jackson, Texas-based TDECU promoted Brandy Phillips to chief of staff. Phillips has more than 25 years of experience in mortgage lending and leadership combined with over a decade at TDECU, where she most recently served as vice president of mortgage. In her new role, she will be responsible for fostering organizational effectiveness, and managing the execution and implementation of TDECU’s corporate strategy and initiatives in close collaboration with the senior leadership team and board of directors. Phillips previously worked for Bank of America and Cornerstone Mortgage, and holds an MBA from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

VENDORS

LenderClose, a Des Moines, Iowa-based fintech lending platform provider for credit unions and banks, announced two new hires.

Jon Dlouhy was hired as vice president of marketing. In his new role, Dlouhy leads LenderClose’s product marketing and brand strategy, developing go-to-market strategies for product innovations, developing and executing digital acquisition strategies, and managing the LenderClose brand’s creative direction. He brings nearly 15 years of marketing experience to LenderClose, having led strategy and execution of integrated growth marketing plans for a variety of B2B and B2C firms. He was most recently director of marketing and communications for Kingland Systems. Before that, Dlouhy was a senior manager over marketing strategy and digital marketing for GuideOne Insurance.

Amanda Werts was also hired as a vice president of marketing. In her new role, she oversees LenderClose’s demand generation and sales enablement strategy, will evolve the marketing tech-stack and CRM strategy, and elevate capabilities across the organization to enable its fast-paced growth. Werts will also leverage customer insights combined with a data-driven approach to demonstrate the value of LenderClose. She joins LenderClose from NCMIC Group, where she was director of marketing, and adds more than 20 years of marketing expertise to the team. Prior to serving at NCMIC, she was director of campaign management for Symphony EYC and a marketing program manager for Wells Fargo.

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