Staff

Tracie G. Kenyon, CAE, CUDE, is the Queen, sorry, President/CEO of the Montana’s Credit Unions and provides leadership for Montana’s credit unions in advocacy and government relations, compliance, outreach and development, education and training, communications and public relations, vendor relationships and fee-based services (there is never a dull moment!).

A left-coast girl, Tracie has spent her entire career working in the credit union movement in Washington State, Oregon, Utah, and Montana. When not advocating for the preservation of cooperative credit, Tracie enjoys spending time with her family…she is married to a credit union CEO (not a typo, they keep it “all in the family”) and has a college-aged daughter, which really means that her most important jobs are financial advisor, guidance counselor, and fashion consultant (not necessarily in that order, it depends on the day, err, minute).

As the Office Manager/Bookkeeper, April Bogy manages the daily operations and functions of Montana’s Credit Unions. April focuses her time on maintaining budgets, financial data, inventory management, and compliance reporting.

April loves to travel with her husband and four kids. Going exploring and seeing new places is always an adventure April is willing to take. Most days you will find her relaxing at home with her dogs (5) and cats (3), cooking a homemade meal, or racing across the great state of Montana to make every sporting event for her kids.

Renee Lyman, CUDE, has been with Montana’s Credit Unions for over 10 years. She provides support in both the Education and Training Department and League Service Group by promoting education events, distance learning, and business partnerships and sponsorships. She’s involved in a lot of the behind-the-scenes details and planning for MCU events.

In her free time, Renee stays busy as a personal chauffeur for her two teenage kids, driving them between their various activities. On the weekends, she spends a lot of time sitting in bleachers cheering at sporting events and is a season ticket holder for MSU Bobcats football games. Some day she hopes to spend more time on Montana’s lakes and rivers, camping and fishing; but, until then, she enjoys spending time with her family.

Donya Parrish has been supporting credit unions at MCU since 2002 and has earned both her Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE) and Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Specialist (BSACS) designations. She focuses on training and assisting credit union staff and boards on compliance, fraud, and regulatory issues as well as producing relevant resources to assist in their daily compliance efforts. As the author of the weekly A Direct Line blog for volunteers, she actively searches for resources to support credit union volunteers in their role. She also coordinates the Compliance Officer and Lending peer communities and the CUNA Mutual Group relationship.

As a University of Montana grad, she is a passionate Griz football fan and loves to take in baseball games when she travels. In her spare time, Donya helps her husband with his small business, spends time camping and enjoying exploring Montana, and spoils her two spaniels. Her daughter and son are both grown and live in Missoula.

Mara K. Rayner, CUDE, manages the day-to-day operations of the Montana Credit Union League Group Benefits Trust and provides additional HR services, including facilitating the HR Community. She graduated from the 2017 April DE class (BEST CLASS EVER!) and believes wholeheartedly in the DE program. She coordinates with the Giant Springs Chapter to bring her DE project Garage Sale for Good to life annually.

In her free time, Mara loves spending time with family and friends doing anything outdoors — hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing, beautifying her yard, and so much more. Glacier National Park is her favorite place to visit in Montana, and since she’s from Minnesota originally, she acts as a Glacier tour guide for MN friends and family several times each year.

Beth Satre, CUDE, functions as the data hub at Montana’s Credit Unions. She oversees MCU’s data collections, the print and online publications, and content on the website. If you want to subscribe to one of our publications, would like access to MCU’s website, or have a question about grammar (or Adobe software), give her a call.

In her free time, Beth hangs out with her family and friends, volunteers for various non-profits, and works on her photography and design skills. She loves the outdoors, often has her nose in a book, and is always ready to engage in a good conversation about credit unions, cooperatives, or, well, just about anything.

As the Communications Director, Michelle Skinner is responsible for the creation of content and integration of multiple marketing platforms to tell our brand story via social media, digital communications, and videos to engage consumers and promote credit unions. Despite having 15 years of marketing experience, she continually searches for ways to promote credit unions to garner greater consumer awareness of their mission and benefits.

Michelle spends her spare time chasing two daughters around their registered Angus ranch in Hall, MT, with her husband, hanging out with her flock of show sheep to capture content for TikTok, and reading about everything from ancient European history and urban fantasy to FinTech entrepreneurs and marketing trends.

As the VP of Advocacy, Karen Smith focuses her time to support the advocacy work of Montana’s credit unions in political, philosophical, and philanthropic areas. Karen has been with Montana’s Credit Unions since 2003 and is a designated Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE).

Karen loves life on her family ranch with her husband and two kids. For Karen, the best days are those spent camping in the mountains or relaxing on the river with family and friends.

Ranel Smith, CMP, CUDE, supports Montana’s credit unions with education-related assistance, putting on up to 10 conferences and educational events throughout Montana every year. In addition, she assists the Minnesota Credit Union Network and the Montana Tavern Association with their education event planning. In 2013 Ranel became only the fifth Montana meeting planner to achieve the Certified Meeting Professional designation through the Convention and Industry Council. She is currently working on her Certified Meeting Management designation with Meeting Planners International. Ranel also oversees MCU’s Business Partnership relationships.

Ranel lives in Great Falls, Montana, with her husband and has three grown children. She enjoys music, running, and leisure travel (when, that is, she’s not traveling for work)!