By Jessica Jones
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| From left: Lary McCants, Bert Hash, Jr., and Bob Hoefer (2012 winner). |
As president/CEO of MECU of Baltimore, Inc. and the 2012 CUES Outstanding Chief Executive award winner, Bert J. Hash Jr. is a highly accomplished man. In his 16 years leading MECU, the credit union has grown from a single branch into multiple locations throughout the Baltimore area, from 60 employees to 300, and from $430 million in assets to $1.2 billion. But if you ask him about the accomplishment he is most proud of, he only wants to talk about how important his employees are to the success of MECU.
“One of the questions that was asked by one of our employees was: What do I want my legacy to be? He happened to be someone who joined MECU as an intern in high school at the age of 17. He started in the mailroom and now he’s in the IT department. So I told him, my legacy is him. It’s his growth. The growth of the organization, the board, the management team, and the employees are our success,” Hash says.
Hash came to MECU with 27 years of experience in banking, where he says he built crucial people skills that helped him quickly connect with and rally the employees of MECU. He believes constant communication with and between all levels of the credit union is key to building a staff that is committed to the goal of returning value to the members—including and especially during times of change.
“When you’re making change, everyone’s supportive of change until you tell them you have to move your desk, and then they’re not supportive. You just have to continue to communicate to everyone. It’s hard to get people to buy in unless you communicate to them what will happen to them and what will be their responsibility and role in this change,” Hash says. “We kept open those lines of communication and continued to talk to the employees.”
Hash ensures that communication continues to flow by scheduling regular meetings that not only keep everyone up-to-date on the latest developments and goals within MECU, but also keeps employees on the cutting edge of skill and knowledge.
“We meet on a quarterly basis with the entire staff just to talk about our accomplishments. We also have a Thursday morning training meeting that we do religiously, and every month we focus on corporate training for two of the meetings and departmental training for the other two,” Hash says.
The result of open communication and hard work is a highly successful credit union with satisfied employees and board of directors. Hash makes sure to recognize both groups in a way that deepens the connection to MECU’s members.
“Last year, in our annual report, we highlighted our employees, including pictures of them, and this year we’re highlighting the board of directors. We’re having them communicate to the membership why they volunteer,” Hash says.
Hash also credits MECU’s success to the board of directors and their support of him throughout the years.
“The board had a vision for what they wanted to be changed, and they were very supportive of what I needed to do to make those changes happen, and they have continued to support me in a way that has allowed us to always focus on the benefits to the members,” Hash says.
Hash is most proud of what MECU’s employees have accomplished and what the credit union movement is doing every day, from teller to CEO to director.
Jessica Jones is a freelance writer.
Nominate yourself and your peers for the CUES Outstanding Chief Executive, CUES Exceptional Leader or CUES Supplier of the Year awards by June 3, 2013.
