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Members of the $33 million State Highway Credit Union (SHCU), located in Union Gap, Wash., voted to merge with the $4.9 billion Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU), almost 200 miles away in Olympia, Wash.
The merger became effective April 1 and WSECU officials said the nearly 1,600 SHCU members will be fully integrated into WSECU on May 15. Once completed, WSECU's 297,253-member footprint will expand to 23 branches with the newest location in Union Gap.
According to WSECU, SHCU employees will remain "throughout and after the transition" to WSECU has finished. "This was important to provide continuity and familiarity to the members and to retain institutional knowledge and expertise," WSECU stated.
"We have been working for months to welcome SHCU members and make the transition easy for them," Gary Swindler, WSECU's president/CEO, said. "SHCU has built strong, meaningful relationships with members and we are committed to doing the same going forward."
According to SHCU, the planned retirement of its CEO Karen Woodall gave its board of directors a chance to seek a "friendly merger partner" as they discussed the future of the small credit union and "what was in the best interest of members for the long term."
"It's a new chapter for the former SHCU and WSECU is taking great care of us," Woodall said. "I'm excited for members to experience our new credit union's exceptional service for themselves."
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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.
