Dennis Devine Departs CEO Post at Illinois’ Largest Credit Union

After leading the largest credit union in Illinois for four years, Dennis Devine has left the CEO’s office of Alliant Credit Union in Chicago, according to an Oct. 30 prepared statement.

Alliant Chief Risk Officer Ken Schaafsma has been appointed interim CEO.

During Devine’s four-year tenure, the credit union’s assets increased from $13.5 billion in 2020 to $20.3 billion at the end of this year’s third quarter, while loans grew from $9.1 billion to $14.4 billion, and membership expanded from 550,400 to more than 889,000, according to NCUA Call Reports.

For the first nine months of this year ending Sept. 30, Alliant posted an ROA of 0.57% compared with 0.43% a year earlier. Originations were $2.7 billion, -28.9%. It held $221.7 million in credit cards (+1.2%) and $912 million in car loans (-27.3%), according to NCUA financial performance reports.

The credit union did not give any specific reason for Devine’s departure. Alliant and Devine did not respond to a CU Times request for comment on Tuesday morning.

“We are confident in Ken’s talent, experience and abilities to lead us through this period, and we look forward to the next phase of Alliant’s evolution,” Alliant Board Chair David Leib said in a prepared statement. “We are grateful for the expertise and focus on performance that Dennis has brought to Alliant during his time leading our organization. We thank Dennis for his dedication and hard work.”

Schaafsma holds 31 years of experience in the financial services industry.

He joined Alliant in 2017. He served as a chief operational risk officer for Northern Trust Corp. for five years. With that organization, he also served as its fraud prevention manager, head of risk management in India, privacy director and operations manager. Before Northern Trust, he was an operations manager for St. Paul Federal Bank.

“I am honored that the board has entrusted me with the opportunity to guide Alliant into our next exciting chapter,” Schaafsma said in a prepared statement. “I firmly believe in this business and our people, and I am energized by the opportunities I see for Alliant to continue delivering on our mission to do good for our employees, members and the communities we serve.”

In its prepared statement, Alliant did not say when it expects to launch a search for a new CEO.

Editor’s Note: Jim DuPlessis contributed to this reporting.