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Pursuing emerging trends can tempt board members to stray into management’s role of deciding how to pursue them. Ed Marvin, a director at $9.7 billion asset Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union, Live Oak, Texas, says he learned why that’s a mistake when a past board chairman took him to lunch almost 20 years ago.
“You have to stay at a 30,000-foot level to be effective as a board member,” he says.
A former Air Force officer, Marvin now focuses on questions that help him identify what goals the credit union should pursue and then check progress toward them. That helps him pinpoint the right questions to ask at board meetings.
“I ask, ‘are we where we need to be on diversity, on empowerment, on equity, on our strategic planning?’” Marvin says.
He believes board members should use the credit union’s services so they understand their potential impact on the credit union. Becoming familiar with technology allowed Marvin to recognize the importance of the items on his trend list: keeping the credit union “digitally sophisticated” while maintaining proper cybersecurity.
Marvin also believes it’s essential to refresh the board periodically with new members who have fresh perspectives on member needs. Randolph-Brooks Federal now bars board members from seeking another term once they’re 80 years old.
“You keep excitement in your ranks by bringing new people along, grooming them, mentoring them, and letting them take over,” he says.
Boards should recognize that “failure to grow” is the price of failing to keep pace with members. When credit unions fail to make ongoing investments in technology and digital services, Rendel says they risk falling so far behind that they cannot afford the capital investment required to catch up.
Monitoring the changing landscape and building it into strategic and business planning can help credit unions avoid that fate.
“Look at how the average consumer goes about his or her business,” Rendel says. “If they have a great digital or in-person experience, they carry the same expectation into the next retail business they go to.
“You have to think like a member all the time.”
This article appeared in the summer issue of Credit Union Magazine. Interested in subscribing? Visit news.cuna.org/subscribe.
Eric Day, senior vice president of board advocacy and strategic initiatives at the Credit Union of Southern California in Anaheim and a member of CUNA’s Volunteer Leadership Committee, says key responsibilities to members should shape how boards prioritize industry developments.
After spending 25 years as a board member at the $1.7 billion asset credit union, Day started leading the credit union’s advocacy work in 2013.
“Your job is to keep the credit union safe and sound and to make a future for the credit union industry,” Day says. “Focus on important initiatives and set achievable goals.”
Advocacy should be one of those goals, he says, to protect credit unions’ tax status and further legislative and regulatory priorities. He notes board members play an important role in achieving these goals.
“We need to let members of Congress know what we do and how we do it,” Day says. “We need to be out there saying, ‘I serve on this board because I care about the people my credit union serves.’”