My Journey to Credit Union Leadership: Geoff Bullock of Harborstone Credit Union

Name: Geoff Bullock

Credit Union: Harborstone Credit Union ($1.8 billion, Lakewood, Wash.)

Title: President/CEO

Number of years at current credit union: One

Educational background: Fifth-year doctoral student at the University of Southern California

CU Times: What are your key responsibilities in your current role?

Bullock: Cast vision, create strategy, engage the board, coach the team, promote alignment and model the behaviors that we as an organization need to be successful.

CU Times: What drew you to the credit union industry?

Bullock: We as an industry have the ability to change the world one loan, one deposit and one interaction at a time. We have both money and mission.

CU Times: What unique skills, experience and attributes do you bring to the C-suite?

Bullock: I’ve held many different roles within credit unions. I love public speaking, casting vision and creating a strategy.

CU Times: Which person (or people) do you credit the most for helping and supporting you along your career journey?

Bullock: My top three credit union heros are John Pembroke, Deedee Myers and Brandon Riechers. John was a great friend and mentor who was always full of wisdom and a remarkable connecter of people. His passing was a massive loss to our industry but his legacy lives on. Deedee is a wonderful coach and strategist who has given me great coaching around the language of leadership and how to build effective teams. Brandon Riechers is a dynamic leader and according to many, myself included, is the best CEO in our industry. Brandon taught me a lot, but his ability to think broadly and focus on what’s important at the same time has been a masterclass in strategic CEO thought.

CU Times: What are some of the biggest differences between working in your current executive level role and your previous, non-executive roles?

Bullock: We had a saying growing up: “New level, new devil.” With each step into wider-influence leadership comes greater challenges and a more powerful magnifying glass on your strengths and weaknesses.

CU Times: What’s a challenge you faced when you first joined your executive team, and how did you overcome it?

Bullock: The challenge of being a member of an executive team is having one foot in the global leadership of the organization and one foot in your specific area of expertise. The challenge of leading an executive team as CEO is that you are the only person in the whole organization with your unique vantage point, and that can feel both lonely and frustrating at times.

CU Times: How would you describe your current leadership style?

Bullock: I am a strategic, leader of leaders who is relentlessly positive. My grandmother survived cancer twice after her husband succumbed to his cancer. As a single mom her house caught on fire and when she ran in to try to rescue one of the kids she was badly burned. After several months in the hospital recovering, she told us that she prayed: “God I’m not going to keep questioning you, instead I’m going to be grateful for everything I have and I’m going to praise you.” I bring that joyful resilience passed on to me from my grandmother with me to work every day.

CU Times: Do you approach your job any differently now compared to how you did pre-pandemic? If yes, how so?

Bullock: With so many remote meetings, I make it a point to try to find times to connect with the team in person, or just make a call here and there to check on team members.

CU Times: What’s next for you on your executive career journey? Do you have any specific career goals you’re working toward?

Bullock: I am so incredibly lucky that I get to wake up everyday and come to work here at my dream job.

CU Times: What big-picture impact do you hope to make within your credit union, as well as for your members and community?

Bullock: We can be a force for change in our communities. We build families through adoption loans, build careers through auto loans and build generational stability through mortgages, and our best days are ahead of us.

CU Times: What career advice would you give your younger self?

Bullock: Don’t focus on money or titles, but on how to learn new skills and grow as a person and leader. Money and titles come and go, but who you are inside is yours to keep forever.

Would you or someone you know like to share your journey to credit union leadership? Please reach out to Natasha Chilingerian at nchilingerian@cutimes.com. To qualify, you must have been placed or promoted into a new senior-level leadership role within the last three years at a credit union.