By Lisa Hochgraf
During the keynote session at CUES Symposium: A CEO/Chairman Exchange this week, Steve Williams told attendees that collaboration was going to be a key way credit unions can thrive in the post-crisis economy. (Williams is principal with CUES Supplier member and CUES partner Cornerstone Advisors Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz.)
During the week, Lisa Renner helped attendees take a deeper dive into why collaboration is so important.
"What if credit unions collaborated on one shared branching network?" was a question posed early on by Renner, president of CU Holding Company, Lenexa, Kans. "What could that mean?" We would have 21,078 branches. Wells Fargo has 6,586 and Bank of America has 6,217. That’s what I mean about the power of collaboration."
While Renner's session focused on credit union service organizations, which she defined as business entities that facilitate collaboration among CUs, attendees were also encouraged to think more broadly about how working together with others can create efficiencies, better serve members and positively impact the bottom line.
In discussion, Carla Altepeter, CCE, president/CEO of $333 million CitizensFirst Credit Union in Oshkosh, Wis., said her CU's business lending CUSO has added greatly to the credit union's bottom line, and helped the organization continue to grow its loan portfolio. (In the photo, Altepeter, toward center facing the camera, and her board chair, Brenda Haines with the laptop, listen to the ideas of table colleagues.)
In a different kind of partnership, Bill Raker, CCE, said his CU offers space to the local chamber of commerce. In return, the CU gets exposure to many local businesses and their owners. Raker is president/CEO of $791 million US Federal Credit Union, Burnsville, Minn.
"No one alone can achieve the same results that we can together," Renner emphasized. "One plus one equals three. Collaboration is a non-zero sum game. It creates new value."
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
Read more posts from CUES Symposium.
