3 minutes
Voting has ended and the 2015 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec challenge has narrowed to the Top 15 applicants. The CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec competition – held in partnership with DDJ Myers and powered by Currency– searches for emerging leaders age 35 and under from within the credit union industry.
“Entering our sixth year of this challenge, we are encouraged to see the deserving young leaders the credit union world continues to nominate for this award. Applicants from three Canadian provinces and 12 U.S. states submitted an entry video. After putting the applicants to a public vote, we were thrilled to see thousands of people voting,” said John Pembroke, CUES’ president/CEO.
The top 10 vote-getters automatically advanced in the competition, and five additional applicants were chosen by a judging panel of former NTCUE finalists to round out the Top 15.
They are:
- Hayley Badeaux, 29, chief operations officer of $30 million Shell Geismar Credit Union, Geismar, La.;
- Matt Beckett, 30, private wealth advisor at $1.8 billion Coastal Community Financial Management Inc., Courtenay, British Columbia;
- Danielle Buscher, 30, learning and development manager at $165 million West Community Credit Union, O’Fallon, Mo.;
- Brittney Dessart, 23, SEG & social media coordinator at $187 million PCM Credit Union, Green Bay, Wis.;
- Nathan Dormody, 35, branch manager at $1.5 billion Royal Credit Union, Edina, Minn.; :
- Molly Gary, 25, marketing research specialist at $4.1 billion Ent Federal Credit Union, Colorado Springs, Colo.;
- Ally Haegele, 24, collections specialist at $169 million Rocky Mountain Credit Union, Helena, Mont.;
- Jimese Harkley, 35, philanthropy and community relations manager at $1.3 billion America’s First Federal Credit Union, Birmingham, Ala.;
- Jae Kim, 32, branch manager at $14 billion Servus Credit Union, Edmonton, Alberta;
- Ryan Manis, 29, regional branch manager at $295 million Kohler Credit Union, Kohler, Wis.;
- Karen Myers, 32, member experience manager at $564 million Community Choice Credit Union, Farmington Hills, Mich.;
- Joshua Poole, 34, chief lending officer at $30 million Shell Geismar Credit Union, Geismar, La.;
- Candice Thiry, 33, branch manager at $187 million PCM Credit Union, Marinette, Wis.;
- Garrick Throckmorton, 35, AVP/organizational development at $1.1 billion Allegacy Federal Credit Union, Winston-Salem, N.C.; and
- Kris Wanner, 34, investment specialist at $4.9 billion Conexus Credit Union, Regina, Saskatchewan.
The Top 15 will now submit a blog post update about their project to www.NextTopCreditUnionExec.com. And to provide additional value to the competition experience, they’ll each receive an executive coaching session from DDJ Myers, a CUES Supplier member and strategic provider based in Phoenix.
A judging panel of two CUES members and DDJ Myers CEO Deedee Myers, Ph.D., will then score the Top 15’s applications and blog posts, narrowing the competition to the Final Five, who will move on to the finals.
The five Finalists will receive additional coaching, airfare, accommodation and registration to CUES’ CEO/Executive Team Network™, Nov. 8-11 in Scottsdale, Ariz., where they will give their final presentations. The winner will receive further coaching, airfare, accommodation and registration for two CUES’ CEO Institutes, a total prize package valued at $20,000.
