Members Vote to Make Minnesota’s Newest Billion-Dollar Credit Union

Members of the $284 million Anoka Hennepin Credit Union in Coon Rapids voted last week to approve its merger with the $836 million Topline Financial Credit Union in Maple Grove.

Of the eligible members who cast a ballot, 65% voted in favor of the consolidation, according to Nicole Hesley, AHCU’s vice president of marketing and business development. The credit union, however, did not release the total number of eligible members who voted.

The combined financial cooperative will manage $1,121,649,326 in assets, making it the ninth largest credit union in Minnesota. The credit union’s 181 employees will operate 10 branches and serve nearly 70,000 members in 15 counties across the metro and northern suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Under the merger agreement, Anoka Hennepin will continue to operate as a division of TopLine Financial for one year from the effective July 1 merger date. After that, Anoka Hennepin would roll into the TopLine Financial brand.

Jeff Claussen will continue to serve as Anoka Hennepin’s president/CEO until his retirement. After that time, Mick Olson will continue to serve as president/CEO of Topline Financial.

Under the merger-related financial arrangements that Anoka Hennepin filed with the NCUA, Claussen is guaranteed 18 months’ salary (which is the equivalent of $427,250) and benefits after the effective date of the merger to be paid over time as well as benefits commensurate with his current employment contract. He also would retain a vehicle currently being provided by the credit union for his personal use.

In 2022, Claussen’s total compensation amounted to $354,434, according to the credit union’s IRS 990 filing. Total compensation included base wage, ($262,859), bonus and incentive compensation, ($33,918), other reportable compensation, ($5,411) retirement and deferred compensation ($21,604), and nontaxable benefits ($30,642).

Anoka Hennepin Chief Information Officer Rick Gonnerman, CFO Martin Waligora and General Counsel Theresa Tostengard would each receive a $75,000 retention bonus while Vice President of Lending Chris Olsen would receive a retention bonus of $35,000, the merger-related financial arrangements showed.

According to the 2022 IRS 990 filing, Gonnerman received total compensation of $234,271, Waligora, $199,700, Tostengard, $193,136 and Olsen, $169,983.

What’s more, Anoka Hennepin manages a self-insured short term disability policy “Extended Sick Leave” (ESL) policy, which permits employees who have met certain criteria to “cash out” their ESL benefit upon voluntary or involuntary termination or retirement. Topline Financial will have a third-party short-term disability program that will cancel the Anoka Hennepin ESL upon consummation of the proposed merger. As a result, there are nine employees who would be paid out per the Anoka Hennepin ESL policy, four of which the NCUA requires to be disclosed – Jeff Claussen ($23,042), Theresa Tostengard ($17,669), Martin Waligora ($14,623) and Rick Gonnerman ($14,134).