10 Credit Union Professionals Rise Into New Roles

EAST

First Harvest Credit Union ($462 million, Deptford, N.J.), hired Justin Hendrickson as EVP and chief member experience officer, effective Dec. 1, 2023. Hendrickson brings more than 20 years of credit union leadership experience, having most recently served as SVP at the New Jersey-based Member Support Services CUSO. In his new role, he will oversee the retail branch network, the lending department and the newly-created First Harvest Direct call center and internet banking functions, which the credit union recently organized into one Member Experience division. Hendrickson previously served as a leader at Municipal Credit Union ($4.2 billion, New York, N.Y.), where he was part of a team hired by NCUA conservators to remediate lending-related regulatory findings and overhaul the consumer lending operation. He also held leadership roles at McGraw Hill Credit Union in East Windsor, N.J., and Motion Federal Credit Union ($65 million, Linden, N.J.). Earlier in his career, Hendrickson served as a personal banker, teller, member representative and branch manager. He holds a master’s degree in jurisprudence from Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, N.J., and has previously held his FINRA Series 6, 63 and 65.

Mass Bay Credit Union ($333 million, South Boston, Mass.) hired Jasbir Sandhu as vice president of deposit operations. Jasbir most recently served as vice president, deposit operations at City of Boston Credit Union ($640 million, South Boston) and Envision Bank, where she oversaw projects, system upgrades and the merger of core systems. She is an Accredited ACH Professional.

The $2.8 billion, Virginia Beach, Va.-based Chartway Credit Union promoted Stephanie Harney to the newly-created position of vice president of member care. Harney, who joined Chartway in 2006 as a member of the retail team, has advanced into several roles including director of sales support in 2013, market director in 2017, director of member support services in 2019 and director of member experience in 2021.

In her new role, she will lead the member solutions center, alternative channels and member experience teams.

MIDWEST

The $2.4 billion, Muskego, Wis.-based Corporate Central Credit Union promoted Malisha Yang to compliance analyst. Yang rejoined Corporate Central as a member service representative in 2017 and was promoted to member services specialist in April 2023. In her new role, she will oversee the BSA/AML monitoring program and provide support for the daily auditing functions of user administration and setup. She will also assist with member compliance requests and provide backup support for member services as needed. Yang brings several years of credit union experience, including positions in member services, as a teller, and in new accounts, ACH, accounting and collections. She has served on the WACHA Planning Committee and Cream City Chapter board. She also holds an ACH Certificate through MACHA and a Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor designation.

Telco Triad Community Credit Union ($142 million, Sioux City, Iowa) hired Olivia Benjamin as marketing director. Benjamin was previously the marketing director and VITA program coordinator at Center For Siouxland from 2021-2023.

SOUTH

The $997 million, Miramar, Fla.-based Tropical Financial Credit Union promoted Erick Padron to vice president of lending. He previously served as member solutions director. In his new role, Padron is responsible for leading the strategic direction of lending operations and growing a loan portfolio of over $750 million. In addition, he is now part of the senior management team and joins the Asset Liability and Business Loan committees. Padron joined Tropical Financial as a branch representative in 1999, and over the next two decades, he was promoted several times to positions in the areas of sales, lending, branch operations and member service.

The $2.1 billion, Richardson, Texas-based Texans Credit Union hired Jessie Swendig as SVP of marketing and business development. In her new role, she will be responsible for overseeing all marketing initiatives for the credit union. Swendig most recently held the position of SVP of marketing and community impact at Neighborhood Credit Union ($1 billion, Dallas). She previously served as a board member for the Cornerstone League.

CUSOS

SwitchThink Solutions, a Phoenix-based IT services CUSO formed in partnership with Corelation, hired Talene Shuck, to its Client Relations organization. In her new role, she will help credit unions get more from their Corelation core processing investment with cloud hosting services and other transformational solutions from KeyStone domain experts at SwitchThink. Based in Pensacola, Fla., Talene brings 25 years of banking and fintech experience to SwitchThink that includes working with banks and credit unions – including numerous Corelation clients – on their digital banking strategies. Talene earned a Certified Financial Marketing Professional certification from American Bankers Association.

LEAGUES

The American Association of Credit Union Leagues honored Tom Kane, president/CEO of the Illinois Credit Union League and Envisant, with its highest accolade, the Eagle Award. As president/CEO of the ICUL, Kane’s achievements have included establishing the ICUL “Commit to Change” committee, an internal initiative that tackles systemic barriers and fosters a more inclusive credit union system; successfully lobbying for legislation to improve the operating environment for credit unions in Illinois; and developing the CUSO Envisant, a subsidiary of ICUL that provides credit unions with access to competitive card programs and cutting-edge technology and resources.

VENDORS

The Dallas, Texas-based financial advisory services provider ALM First hired Bart Miller as director, sales and client relations. Miller brings more than 20 years of experience in relationship management, as well as a wealth of industry and secondary mortgage market knowledge. He most recently served as enterprise account executive at Polly, an end-to-end capital markets ecosystem. He previously served at Optimal Blue, JPMorgan Chase and Dun & Bradstreet in various capacities.

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