Billion-Dollar Credit Unions Name New CEOs
Ken Senus moves into the corner office at St. Mary’s Bank and Girardo Smith takes over the helm at Educational Systems FCU.
Billion-dollar credit unions in New Hampshire and Maryland have named new CEOs.
Ken Senus is president/CEO of St. Mary’s Bank in Manchester, N.H., the nation’s first credit union, announced Tuesday. Additionally, Girado Smith is president/CEO of Educational Systems Federal Credit Union, the Greenbelt, Md.-based financial cooperative said on Wednesday.
Senus takes over from Ron Covey, who retired at the end of last year after serving for 14 years as CEO.
During Covey’s tenure, assets grew from $655 million to $1.4 billion, while loans increased from $432 million to $1.2 billion and membership expanded from 69,549 to more than 115,000, according to NCUA Call Reports.
Senus joined St. Mary’s Bank in 2017 an served as its COO. He previously worked as chief information officer for the $3.3 billion Navigant Credit Union in Smithfield, R.I. He also worked as the operations and IT director for the Bank of Rhode Island and as an audit supervisor for Fleet Bank, according to Senus’ LinkedIn professional profile page.
“I am thrilled and honored by this opportunity to continue to build on the solid foundation Ron has helped establish,” Senus said. “I look forward to continuing to leverage technology and innovation to enhance our member and employee experiences, while embracing the credit union philosophy to give back to the community that Ron exemplified for years.”
The 279 employees of New Hampshire’s third largest credit union by assets operate 10 locations.
At Educational Systems, Girado Smith succeeds Chris Conway, who served as CEO for 16 years before he retired.
During Conway’s tenure, the credit union grew assets from $224 million to $1.2 billion, while loans increased from $133 million to $782 million and membership expanded from 30,624 to 86,550, according to NCUA Call Reports.
Smith, who is a CPA, joined Educational Systems in 1998 as its accounting manager and has served as the CFO since 2004.
“Mr. Smith’s extensive leadership experience and focus on strategic growth will position our credit union to be the premier provider of financial solutions for the education community,” Educational Systems Board Chair Alonia Sharps said.
The 196 employees at the ninth largest credit union by assets in Maryland operate 13 branches.