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In 1991, Vice Admiral John Lockard, U.S. Navy (Ret.) was appointed to the Vienna, Va.-based Navy Federal Credit Union board as a volunteer official. In 1993, Lockard was elected to the board where he became secretary and, within a year, became chairman. Lockard held that position for 30 years until he announced his retirement on Friday.
According to the announcement from Navy Federal ($166 billion in assets), Lockard oversaw tremendous growth of the credit union as its membership went from 1.4 million in the early '90s to 12.7 million today. Throughout his leadership, Lockard successfully pushed the credit union's field of membership expansion to include all Department of Defense employees in 2008 and helped establish Navy Federal's Pensacola, Fla., campus in 2002, where more than 10,000 employees work.
According to Navy Federal, Lockard's history also includes leading the selection process of the past three Navy Federal President/CEOs: Brian McDonnell in 1996, Cutler Dawson in 2004 and Mary McDuffie in 2018.
Second Vice Chairman and Executive Committee Member Edward Cochrane, Jr. has been elected as Navy Federal's new chairman, according to a statement from Navy Federal. Cochrane has been a board member since 2011 and served on the credit union's Financial Strategy and Investment Committee since 2007.
"Chairman Lockard has been an inspiring leader throughout our history at Navy Federal. He retires after more than 30 years of service, leaving a legacy of passionate support for credit unions, Navy Federal's mission of member service and employee growth and development. He has been a role model of leadership for me and countless others throughout his decades of service," President/CEO Mary McDuffie said. "He will be greatly missed, but we know Chairman Cochrane will continue in his footsteps."
Of his retirement, Lockard said, "I am grateful for the opportunity to have served on and led the board. I have eternal admiration for the members and employees of Navy Federal Credit Union. There is not a day that the knowledge I have received in interacting with the members and employees has not exceeded the time I have invested. I leave with high confidence that the members of Navy Federal are in the best hands to receive the highest possible value from their credit union."
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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.
