Compiled by Lisa Hochgraf
It's been a pleasure getting to know CUES' first Brazilian member, Roberto Cesar Durscki, credit cards quality and operations manager of Sicredi, the largest credit cooperative system in Brazil, with more than 2.3 million members in 10 Brazilian States, more than 1,000 branches and $11 billion (U.S.) in assets. He's excited about attending his first year of the three-segment CEO Institute in April, and we're excited to have him join the group! So you could get to know him, too, he agreed to have me post this email Q&A about his interest in CUES and professional development, as well as his credit union and the movement in Brazil.
Q: How did you learn about CUES?
Mr. Fred Johnson (retired CUES president/CEO) met our (World) Council (of Credit Unions) Brazilian represenative Mr. Manfred Dasenbrock and our Finance Director Mr. Joao Tavares at Gdansk(, Poland), in July 2012. At that opportunity they exchanged information about their institutions, and that’s how CUES was introduced to Sicredi.
Q: How did you get interested in attending CEO Institute?
I’ve been discussing with some executives my intentions to continuously evolve my executive education, since I finished my masters in 2007. I explored some institutions like HBS, Stanford and Columbia, but CUES seemed to be the perfect fit--combining excellent institutions with a tailor-made agenda for CU executives.
Q: What are your career goals?
I haven’t set specific career goals; I prefer to seek Sicredi’s goals and trust my career in the best way the board finds fit. Naturally I believe that through dedicated management, education and successful projects, my career shall improve along with Sicredi.
Q: What is available for the professional development of credit union leaders in Brazil?
Several institutions in Brazil offer courses for financial institution executives. For credit unions (known here as credit cooperatives) there is a national cooperative learning service (Sescoop) that offers education for all types of cooperatives. They have many technical courses for credit unions, but none at a senior level like CUES.
Q: How are Brazilian credit unions/the credit union movement the same and different from in the United States?
I’m not particularly familiar with the American movement, but as far as I’ve heard we have some differences. First of all, our credit unions are organized in systems, like Sicredi. There are five main systems: Sicredi, Sicoob, Unicred, Confesol and Cecred, each an organized group of credit unions that do not compete against each other since they have their area of action, well defined. Another characteristic is that we have basically three types of cooperatives: general admission (for all kinds of professionals), rural (for agribusiness) and segmented (for specific professional segments, like doctors, lawyers, etc).
Q: What do you hope to gain by joining CUES? How will you take advantage of your membership from afar?
I’m particularly interested in the experience from CUES and the prestigious universities involved regarding the subjects of strategic planning and implementation for large credit unions. We have many cooperatives that have grown consistently in the past decade, and demand more mature and advanced techniques to manage their strategy. Also, Sicredi as a system demands its own strategic vision and how that should unfold into its core processes.
Q: What do you hope to gain by attending the CEO Institute?
Honestly many things, from networking and technical knowledge to practical insights from other executives and recommendations for books to read. But my main objective is to improve Sicredi’s methodology to review and translate its strategic planning cycle, which is planned for 2013.
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
Learn more about CEO Institute. Note: All three 2013 segements are sold out; you can put your name in for next year!
CUES' close rapport with Carribbean credit unions led to the development of CCCU and CUES International Convention, which will be held June 22-25 in Panama City, Panama.
