Q&A: Mary Beth Spuck

Mary Beth Spuck recently celebrated her five-year anniversary as president/CEO at Resource One Credit Union in Dallas, which has grown from $476 million to more than $825 million in assets during that time. However, Spuck’s 35-year credit union career expands well beyond Resource One. She discusses her professional points of pride, explains how the financial services industry has changed, and offers advice for young credit union leaders.

Credit Union Magazine: What have you been working on?

Mary Beth Spuck: We spent 18 months working on a core conversion that went live in February. Later this year, we’re doing a payments conversion.

I’ve been truly inspired by the unity and the collaboration of the team. A core conversion is tough on the entire organization. It takes everybody, and they all stepped up.

That took a lot of preparation. You throw in a liquidity issue and deposits, and we’ve been managing a lot.

Q: What aspects of your career make you the most proud?

A: Individuals that I’ve hired, mentored, or worked with thriving and moving into leadership positions across the credit union movement. It’s a reflection of the positive impact individuals can have when we focus on helping each other and invest in the growth of others.

Q: How have credit unions changed since your career started?

A: For many years, we rested on our laurels of providing great member service. We saw our high Net Promoter Scores, and we were proud that we were so much better than banks from that perspective.

Now, it’s not so much about the service level credit unions provide but about how convenient it is to do business from the members’ perspective. It’s about measuring ease of use, which will translate to a higher Net Promoter Score.

Q: How would you define your leadership style?

A: Collaborative. My foremost responsibility is to make sure I clearly communicate our vision and our direction. Where are we headed? What’s our purpose?

Then I strive to provide resources and tools to my team so they can be successful. Then I get out of their way and let them accomplish those goals.

Q: What advice would you offer credit union leaders on the path to CEO?

A: Learn as much as you can about all operations of the credit union. Don’t just stay on one track. If somebody comes to you and sees something in you, be willing to take that opportunity.

There were a couple times in my career where my CEO or another organization said there was an opportunity for me. I didn’t really want those roles, but it’s best that I took them because I can look back and say, “What I learned in that job has helped me today.”

Also, look at volunteering in the community or within the credit union movement. Get involved with your league and associations, look for training opportunities, and go through the Development Education (DE) program. DE has opened the world from a credit union perspective, taking me to places like Africa and the Philippines.

Q: What do you like to do outside of work?

A: I love to travel, spend time with my family, ride bikes—and I recently started tennis lessons.