By Fred Johnson
Since I’ll be retiring one of these days, folks who know me well have asked what I hope to leave as my legacy.
I hope that my 22 years at CUES have left the movement a better place with better prepared leaders.
When I was invited a few weeks ago to a meeting of credit union collaborators at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, it struck me that I have seen many indicators that CUES has had a lasting impact on the movement through our ties with world class universities—including UVA—over the last 15 years.
For example, the Filene Research Institute is one of several organizations that have leveraged relationships forged by CUES’ pioneering efforts at CEO Institute consortium universities. As an ex officio member of the Filene board, I’ve been pleased to see Filene:
- Receiving insight from Wharton adjunct faculty and former CUES staff member Franck Schuurmans for a 2011 study available from Filene: The Florida Financial Hurricane: A Credit Union Risk Management Case Study. (The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has been the site of CUES’ CEO Institute I since 2001. Before that, the institute was held at The Haas School at Berkeley, beginning in 1994.)
- Conducting CUES-funded research at the Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics and Board Effectiveness at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, resulting in the paper, Tracking the Relationships Between Credit Union Governance and Performance. Get an executive summary or, if a CUES member, the full report here. (Rotman is home to CUES’ Directors Leadership Institute: Governance.)
- Seeking out fellows at schools like Harvard University where CUES hosted its Advanced Leadership Institute for seven years until the economic environment required that we table the program.
In addition to great research, broadened opportunities for credit union leaders to learn has been a key byproduct of our connections with leading universities, and also with other thought leaders within the movement and outside of it.
For example, CUES’ Center for Credit Union Board Excellence leverages BoardSource's deep knowledge of non-profit boards. In turn, having strategic partners (like Cornerstone Advisors, the group we work with to offer strategic and technology services) means CUES members are connecting with some of the best thinkers out there.
Ties with high caliber universities and thought leaders aside, our connections with other cooperative groups within the movement have also played a key role in expanding access to professional development for credit union leaders. I’ve already described some of our collaborations with Filene. This year, with the help of Pete Crear and the World Council of Credit Unions, we’ve embarked upon a wonderful relationship with the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions to educate CCCU’s members and ours in the Caribbean.
Through this partnership, we’ve assisted CCCU in finding high quality speakers for its annual meeting in Curacao in exchange for them spreading the word about CUES International Leadership Academy at Florida International University. By helping each other, we both have benefited … which ultimately makes Caribbean credit unions better able to serve consumers.
I’m proud to say that CUES has worked to find ways to collaborate with any not-for-profit credit union organization that has expressed interest: the African American Credit Union Coalition, the National Association of State Chartered Credit Union Supervisors, the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, and others.
There’s a lot to be done before I retire in a year and a half and beyond. To those attending Credit Unions at the Crossroads at Darden (site of CEO Institute III), I say, “Bon chance.” Our system pioneers are watching what we do in coming years.
Fred Johnson is president/CEO of CUES.
