Downtown St. Louis, Mo. (Credit/Shutterstock)
MIDWEST
Bridget Petersen Bridget Petersen, assistant vice president of strategic partnerships for the $4.2 billion, Falcon Heights, Minn.-based Blaze Credit Union, was appointed to the Cooperative Network's Board of Directors. The Cooperative Network is the only organization solely focused on advocating for cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The nine-person board of directors helps guide future activities and priorities of the organization as representatives of the cooperative members throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. In her role at Blaze, Petersen is instrumental in all mergers and is currently working with the full integration team on the final stages of the merger of Hiway and SPIRE Credit Unions, now rebranded as Blaze. Her career has included 20 years in human resources and training, marketing and operations. Petersen was previously honored with the 2019 Credit Union Builder Award by the Minnesota Credit Union Network.
Kathy O'Neill The $5.3 billion, Lenexa, Kan.-based CommunityAmerica Credit Union hired Kathy O'Neill as president of its St. Louis, Mo., region. In her new role, O'Neill will lead the credit union's ongoing expansion in the market, including oversight of retail banking operations in St. Louis, as well as local civic, community engagement and philanthropic endeavors. Most recently, she served as COO at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She also served as a national leader of the Federal Reserve's Treasury Business Line and took on the role of interim president from July 2023 until April 2024. O'Neill spent a total of over 35 years in various leadership roles with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Fed System. In addition, she is an executive member of the St. Louis Anchor Action Network, serves on the Chairman's Executive Council of Greater St. Louis, Inc. and serves on the Board of Trustees for Webster University. She also was recently named one of St. Louis' Most Influential Business Women by the St. Louis Business Journal.
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
