A Direct Line Blog

By Donya Parrish, MCU VP Risk Management

One of the greatest strengths of this industry is its willingness to help one another and share experiences. During our Power Up conference a couple of weeks ago, a group of credit union board members met for breakfast and dialogue. They had a fantastic conversation, and I thought some of the discussion and takeaways might be of interest to all of you.

What Keeps Them Up at Night

As each director introduced themselves, they led with something either they personally or their credit union is challenged with right now. Heads nodded as others could relate, had a similar situation in the past, and shared an example of their solution. Here were a few of the things on their lists:

• AI: There was no question that artificial intelligence is worrying many boards. Whether it is how to embrace it safely, what it will mean for the future of products and services, or how to combat the fraud that might come with it, this was a topic that all agreed they wanted to understand better.
• Growth Strategies: Several shared that they are being encouraged to grow and want to do so in a way that they don’t lose their credit union’s identity. Whether through mergers, field of membership expansion, or just organic growth, the “how” of it is top of mind.
• Succession: Working with a new CEO or planning for the retirement of a long-time leader both give boards angst. It involves transferring all that institutional knowledge, making sure they have the training and skill needed to lead the credit union forward, and  — most importantly on the list — it includes change! Directors shared that they want to do both correctly and support the CEO and the credit union through a transition.
• Board Recruitment: Where do you find younger board members with new and different ideas? How do you expand the professions represented in your community and plan for a future credit union? One idea shared is to be deliberate about who is not represented and approach candidates from that sector. Another way was to develop an associate director program that gives new directors a learning curve before they are full directors with voting power.
• Fraud: We know from the growth of our fraud peer community that fraud is a great concern in all departments at the credit union. The board is not exempt. They are feeling the pressure to support education and proactive measures to combat losses in their communities, and in the credit union’s balance sheet.

What Do We Do Now?

The topics above were not all that was shared, it was just all we had time for in the moment. There were wonderful ideas taken away, including having America’s Credit Unions potentially host a small credit union board conference. Rich Mohr with America’s Credit Unions joined us and took away several pages of notes and ideas. He will be doing a guest blog soon to share what resources they have for directors.

Sharing great ideas and learning from others doesn’t stop when we go home from an in-person meeting. I am always open to including anything you found valuable in your boardroom in the blog. Don’t hesitate to reach out to share, or if you want to know more about any of the above topics. We are planning some education sessions for the remainder of 2025, and I suspect you’ll see one or two of them.