Ascend President/CEO Caren Gabriel and Executive Vice President Matt Jernigan
(Photo credit: Ascend Federal Credit Union).
The $3.8 billion Ascend Federal Credit Union in Tullahoma, Tenn., is going to see a change in leadership this year as its President/CEO Caren Gabriel announced Monday that she will step down on April 7 to begin her retirement. Officials with Ascend also announced the credit union's EVP Matt Jernigan will take over the CEO role on April 8.
According to Ascend, Gabriel has been with the credit union since 1985 when she joined the Ascend family as staff attorney. Throughout the years, Gabriel rose through the ranks until eventually becoming president/CEO in January 2004.
In her time as leader, Gabriel has helped grow the credit union from $960 million in assets with 12 branches and 117,000 members to more than $3.8 billion in assets, 27 branches and more than 255,000 members.
"It has been a great honor to serve this credit union, its members and employees," Gabriel said. "I'm supremely confident the organization will continue to grow and thrive under Matt's leadership. He was one of my first hires after being named CEO and we have worked closely together for some time. He is well-prepared to lead Ascend into the promising future that lies ahead."
According to Monday's announcement, Gabriel and the credit union's board of directors worked diligently on a succession plan and "conducted a rigorous selection process to determine that Jernigan was the right fit for the position." Gabriel will be working closely with Jernigan during the next few months to ensure a smooth leadership transition.
"I would like to thank Caren for her direction in guiding this credit union to its current heights and being a career-long mentor for me," Jernigan said. "Ascend has risen to become one of Tennessee's top performing credit unions under her guidance. Our members and employees are grateful for her leadership, which has produced tremendous growth while never veering from our member focus. The entire Ascend organization looks forward to building on her many achievements."
Jernigan has been part of Ascend's executive team since joining the credit union in 2005 as an internal auditor. Since that time, he was promoted to vice president of operations, COO and eventually EVP.
Chairman of the Board Pat Eagan said, "We will truly miss Caren and owe her much gratitude for her years of service to Ascend. We are excited to have Matt take the helm April 8th. His 17 years working alongside Caren and his performance as a credit union leader gives us great confidence that he is extremely qualified and ready to assume the position as Ascend's new president and CEO."
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
