4 Credit Unions Name New Executive-Level Leaders

WEST

Hawaii Central Federal Credit Union ($325 million, Honolulu) promoted Gary Nakata to EVP. He most recently served as controller and legal counsel for Hawaii Central. Nakata previously served as an examiner for the NCUA, as SVP of finance for Hickam Federal Credit Union ($672 million, Pearl City, Hawaii), as vice president and CFO for Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union ($1.2 billon, Honolulu) and has been a practicing attorney for nearly three decades. As an attorney, he headed the Enlisted Advisory Council for his unit in the Hawaii Air National Guard, and practiced privately with the Kobayashi, Sugita and Goda law firm before his appointment with the City and County of Honolulu as a deputy corporation counsel and later as director of the Department of Community Services. He holds a Juris Doctor from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, graduated from the American Bankers Association’s Compliance School, earned his Credit Union Compliance Expert designation and holds certifications as a Certified Management Accountant, as a Certified Credit Union Executive and in Certified Financial Management. Nakata also serves on the Government Affairs Committee with the Hawaii Credit Union League.

The $2.4 billion, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based Arrowhead Credit Union hired Bruce Pearson into the newly-created position of EVP/chief legal counsel. Pearson has been serving the legal needs of credit unions across the country for more than 30 years. He joined Styskal, Wiese and Melchione (SWM) as an associate in 1992, and in 1997 was named a firm partner. Most recently, he served as SWM’s senior counsel, leading the firm’s corporate governance, insurance and class action litigation as well as advising its commercial lending practice group. Pearson is licensed to practice law in California, Arizona, New York, Oregon, Utah and Washington and holds a law degree from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles.

The $2.1 billion Oregon State Credit Union in Corvallis, Ore., hired Kim Sather as EVP/chief information officer. In her new role, Sather will be responsible for network services, financial software, cybersecurity and facilities management. She will lead, organize, plan and control the Information Services Division and the Facilities Department, which includes the management of online banking services, network infrastructure, communication systems, business continuity planning, and the physical maintenance and security of branch locations. Sather most recently served as vice president of IS applications and operations for Samaritan Health Services. Before that, she worked at HP, Inc. in Corvallis as an e-commerce engineering manager and IT program manager. Sather holds a master’s degree from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, Utah.

EAST

The $35.3 billion, McLean, Va.-based PenFed Credit Union hired Sarah Heintzman to its executive management team as chief finance officer and EVP. In her new role, Heintzman is responsible for leading comprehensive financial programs and initiatives across all businesses and products at an enterprise level. She brings decades of experience in financial management, commercial lending and credit risk management at Fortune 100 financial institutions. Prior to joining PenFed, Heintzman held several CFO roles spanning the card, commercial and retail businesses of Capital One. She previously held positions at CapitalSource Bank and Goldman Sachs. Heintzman is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

The $1.4 billion CFCU Community Credit Union in Ithaca, N.Y., announced two hires and six promotions.

Bill Crane was promoted to chief production officer. In his new role, Crane serves on the executive leadership team and is responsible for the development, implementation and oversight of a formal business development plan to ensure effective growth and expansion of the credit union. He also manages the territorial activities and productivity of the sales force, strategically assesses the charter of the credit union to identify growth and expansion opportunities, and strategically manages the field of membership. In addition, he oversees marketing, service excellence, wealth management, project management and continuous improvement, and has a dotted line/administrative responsibility for internal audit. Crane will also continue serving in his current role of chief information security officer as well as on the board of managers for CFCU Technology Partners CUSO. Outside of CFCU, he volunteers on the board and audit and property committees of Kendal at Ithaca, and serves as a member of the NYCUA Government Affairs Committee.

Mallorie David was promoted to chief people officer. In her new role, David is responsible for overseeing the human capital and administrative functions of the credit union, serving on and collaborating with the executive leadership team while planning, developing and executing business strategies that support the credit union’s mission, vision, strategic pillars, values and goals. She also provides oversight to CFCU’s CUSOs while serving as executive sponsor for the credit union’s Employee Engagement and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committees. In addition, she represents the credit union at various community functions and networking events to develop business and member relationships, as well as supports the credit union’s efforts toward community involvement, such as board service, volunteering and participating in fundraising events. Outside of CFCU, David is a board member, secretary and bylaws committee member for the Cortland Convention and Visitor Bureau in New York’s Courtland County.

Cortney Lowie was promoted to executive manager. In her new role, Lowie serves on the executive leadership team, controlling and managing administrative, board of directors-related and strategic functions for the president/CEO and COO/CFO. She also serves in the role of office manager for CFCU’s administrative headquarters, and works in conjunction with the vice president of information technology to directly supervise the records management team. In addition, Lowie serves as board secretary of the Cortland Main Street Music Series.

Mike D’Angelo was hired as vice president, member experience. In his new role, D’Angelo serves as a champion of the credit union’s mission and culture, and is responsible for monitoring branch operations and achievement of branch goals. He oversees 12 full-service branch offices as well as two school branches, provides effective leadership to branch teams and promotes excellent service to CFCU’s members. D’Angelo is a past board member of Tompkins Learning Partners in Ithaca, N.Y.

Bill Sweeney was promoted to vice president, member advocacy. In his new role, Sweeney integrates merged entities into CFCU and ensures a successful integration to achieve strategic rationale, value drivers and synergies. He also provides leadership for merged entities and internal cross-functional teams in developing, implementing and executing integration plans. In addition, Sweeney develops and modifies playbooks and applicable programs to enhance the overall merger integration process in accordance with established standards and legal requirements, and is responsible for managing advocacy initiatives in support of the industry and credit union’s goals and objectives. Sweeney has served for over 25 years on the credit union’s Loan Committee and is a past board member of the New York State nonprofit Home HeadQuarters, Inc. What’s more, he is a past president of the national Education Credit Union Council and North Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, serves on the North Syracuse Central School District Superintendent’s Community advisory board and is a certified lay minister at Blessed Sacrament Church in Syracuse, N.Y.

Derek Thompson was hired as vice president, consumer lending. In his new role, Thompson oversees and monitors the consumer lending activities of the credit union, including product development, application, processing, underwriting and settlement. He also monitors consumer and indirect activities, tracks loan growth and evaluates credit migration, retention and sales of credit union products. In addition, he serves on the financial administration committee and board of directors for the Community Foundation of Tompkins County.

Kyle Christopher was promoted to assistant vice president, Learning & Development. In his new role, Christopher is responsible for leading the design and execution of learning strategies to drive a culture of continuous development and growth. He also ensures that the Learning & Development plan aligns with the credit union’s strategic priorities, and oversees the assessment of learning efforts to measure effectiveness. Christopher previously served on the Young Professional Committee for the New York Credit Union Association.

Mark Kenjerska was promoted to assistant vice president, business origination. In his new role, Kenjerska manages and directs the activities of the business lending origination team, and contributes to the development and execution of the overall strategic initiatives of the credit union, with a focus on those initiatives directly impacting the origination of business lending and business account activities. Kenjerska is a board member of the SPCA of Tompkins County, and serves on CFCU’s Finance Committee and Community Engagement Committee.

MIDWEST

Dave Boden, president/CEO for the $1.7 billion, St. Paul, Minn.-based Hiway Credit Union, was named one of the 2023 Most Admired CEOs by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Boden has been with Hiway for over 20 years, serving as the credit union’s president/CEO since 2013. He was recently named chair of the Minnesota Credit Union Network’s board of directors, serves on the boards of Spare Key and Servion, and serves as chair of St. Paul’s Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Steering Committee. Boden and the other honorees will be featured in a special Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal publication in September and honored at an awards ceremony on Sept. 20 at Quincy Hall in Minneapolis.

TRADES

CUNA promoted Alex Catanese to director of advocacy. In his new role, Catanese will help manage the association’s relationships with Democrats on a variety of key advocacy issues. He previously served as CUNA’s associate director for political outreach. Prior to joining CUNA, Catanese managed the political programs of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), and advocated on behalf of a variety of non-profit and higher education clients at The Normandy Group, a bipartisan government affairs firm.

LEAGUES

Utah’s Credit Union Association organized its new board executive committee following its annual business meeting in April.

Shane London, president of Deseret First Credit Union ($1 billion, West Valley City, Utah) was appointed as an executive committee member and will serve as chair. During the business meeting, London was also reelected as a board member by the general membership.

Tammy Phillips, president of Varex Credit Union ($19.3 million, Salt Lake City, Utah), was appointed as an executive committee member and will serve as vice chair.

Thayne Shaffer, president of America First Credit Union ($18.3 billion, Riverdale, Utah), was appointed as an executive committee member and will serve as secretary.

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