8 Professionals Move Into New Credit Union Roles

WEST

Tom Graves, president/CEO of SafeAmerica Credit Union in Pleasanton, Calif., retired effective Jan. 5. Graves joined SafeAmerica as CEO in 2017, and during his tenure, the credit union grew from $419 million in assets and 35,000 members to $545 million in assets and 37,000 members. He has served in the credit union industry for over 40 years in various locations throughout the U.S., including the U.S. Island Territory of Guam.

The $678 million CommonWealth Central Credit Union in San Jose, Calif., hired Sundeep Jain as chief lending officer. He brings extensive experience in mortgage, consumer and commercial lending, and his background consists of leading lending operations for over two decades and consulting for various credit unions as well as the NCUA. Jain holds a doctorate and has taught strategy, economics and finance at the university level. In his new role, he will serve as a strong steward of CommonWealth’s brand and take responsibility for all lending departments and performance. He will also serve as a key member of the leadership team, providing energy, creativity and meaningful insights to help drive strategic business decisions and results.

EAST

The $2.9 billion, Fort Washington, Pa.-based TruMark Financial Credit Union promoted Marianne Drumm to SVP/chief risk officer. She most recently served as vice president of internal audit for TruMark Financial. In her new role, Drumm will further develop the credit union’s enterprise risk management program to support the strategic initiatives of the organization, ensuring the credit union is managing decisions in accordance with its values of integrity, service and soundness. She brings decades of banking experience and expertise in risk management to the role. Prior to serving as vice president of internal audit, she managed the strategic direction and execution of risk management priorities for the credit union in various roles.

MIDWEST

The $2.6 billion, Muskego, Wis.-based Corporate Central Credit Union announced one new hire and one promotion.

Bonnie Kwitek was hired as an office assistant. In her new role, Kwitek will provide organizational and clerical support including data entry, preparing and maintaining files and other documentation in addition to providing back-office and phone support, assisting with the preparation and maintenance of various reports, procedures and correspondence, and providing assistance in scheduling and planning meetings as well as other essential duties to support members and the investment department. She brings over 10 years of experience providing administrative and executive level support to management and their teams, and has worked in the accounting, construction, financial and supermarket industries.

Will Valadez was promoted to human resources business partner. In his new role, Valadez will partner with business leaders to strengthen company culture and the employee work experience through effective strategic planning and competitive business strategy. He will also identify, develop and implement proactive business and talent initiatives to assist the employer of choice objective. In addition, he will collaborate with the HR department to align the HR function to organizational goals and objectives while overseeing and maintaining optimal function of the organization’s human resources information system. Valadez joined Corporate Central in 2018 as an accounting assistant. In 2019, he extended his role to accounting and compensation coordinator, and was later promoted to HR generalist. Prior to joining Corporate Central, Valadez held a position as an accounting specialist for another credit union.

SOUTH

The $4.6 billion, Raleigh, N.C.-based Coastal Credit Union hired Odene James as vice president of risk management. She brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and expertise that spans both the private and public sectors, where she has served in various roles at several financial institutions. In her new role, James will use her leadership and management skills to build a highly engaged team that develops and maintains optimum enterprise risk management programs across all departments and critical functions for integrated risk mitigation. James is trained in handling financial crisis and business continuity, and has contributed to guidance papers and policy development on liquidity recovery management at the national level.

The $214 million H-E-B Federal Credit Union in San Antonio, Texas announced one new hire and one promotion.

Natalie Wood Jones was hired as COO. She succeeds Don R. Ford, who moved into the position of CEO. Jones holds a graduate degree from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and served most recently as Seguin market president and president of insurance for First Commercial Bank in Seguin, Texas. She brings more than 15 years of financial industry and management experience to her new role.

Dolores M. Huerta was promoted to chief administrative officer. Huerta has been with HEBFCU for more than 28 years and most recently served as vice president of member service support.

The $3.9 billion, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Truliant Federal Credit Union promoted Jeremy Cline to vice president of member success and loyalty. In his new role, Cline will be responsible for organizing, planning and directing the activities of the member satisfaction, member relationship management, product strategy and development areas. Additionally, he will oversee the build, launch and management of Truliant’s customer relationship management platform. Cline, who most recently served as senior director of member success and loyalty, joined Truliant in 2006. He has held roles throughout the credit union in areas including member service, investments, consumer underwriting and risk management. In 2018, he became Truliant’s first product manager and led its first insight and analytics team. Cline is a graduate of the MBA program at the McColl School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte, N.C.

CUSOS

The Lakewood, Colo.-based back-office support CUSO Aux announced three leadership changes as well as six promotions.

Gaye DeCesare, former vice president of compliance for Aux, was appointed chief compliance officer effective Jan. 1. DeCesare joined Aux in 2017 following Aux’s acquisition of the CUSO Compass 4 CUs, where she had served as vice president of compliance services.

Alan Bergstrom, former vice president of marketing and business development for Aux, was appointed chief marketing officer effective Jan. 1. Bergstrom joined Aux in 2021 after having served as CEO of Exclamation Services CUSO.

Holla Walker, who is currently serving as a CFO consultant for Aux, will become CFO on April 1. She will succeed Diane Parham, who will step into the CEO role on April 1.

Aux also announced the following promotions: Patty Simons and Michael Giacalone to vice president of accounting, Oscar Dixon to controller, Jason Clarke to senior compliance officer, Imani Najee-Ullah to compliance specialist I and Monica Williams to manager of learning and development.

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