When Chuck Adcock joined FSU Credit Union in Tallahassee, Fla., as a part-time teller 23 years ago, he was a poor college student struggling to make ends meet.

Today, Adcock is executive vice president at the $200 million asset credit union, an accomplished lender, and a passionate advocate for improving consumers’ financial acumen.

Early on in his career, he realized people didn’t talk much about finances, and there was precious little financial education, even in the schools.

“There was no high school course work back in those days, and even at the collegiate level people didn’t talk about FICO scores and the importance of them,” Adcock says. “You just had what your parents shared with you about taking care of your credit and being careful with credit cards.”

That led the credit union to launch a “crusade” of sorts in the late ‘90s to teach consumers about the wise use of credit and to dispel common myths about finances.

“The internet was becoming big then, and there was a lot of misinformation,” Adcock says. “It was an opportunity to clear up some of the finer points of financial information, and allow people to have some ‘a-ha’ moments and realize, ‘I can be financially successful.’”

Today, Adcock speaks 35 to 50 times each semester to Florida State University students and some local high schools about personal finance. He also consults with other credit unions on the topic.

Adcock, a 2017 Credit Union Rock Star, was a leader in the drive to establish the Frenchtown Financial Opportunity Center in an economically challenged neighborhood near downtown Tallahassee.

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