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The judges’ results are in! The five Finalists for the 2015 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec challenge are:
- Hayley Badeaux, chief operations officer of $30 million Shell Geismar Credit Union, Geismar, La.;
- Danielle Buscher, learning and development manager at $165 million West Community Credit Union, O’Fallon, Mo.;
- Jimese Harkley, philanthropy and community relations manager at $1.3 billion America’s First Federal Credit Union, Birmingham, Ala.;
- Garrick Throckmorton, AVP/organizational development at $1.1 billion Allegacy Federal Credit Union, Winston-Salem, N.C.; and
- Kris Wanner, investment specialist at $4.9 billion Conexus Credit Union, Regina, Saskatchewan.
A combination of public vote and a judging panel determined the Top 15 entrants. Since the results of that vote were announced in late July, all 15 young professionals have been providing updates to their CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec projects. These updates and entrants’ earlier video applications were evaluated by a judging team composed of Deedee Myers, Ph.D., CEO of DDJ Myers, Phoenix, and two credit union executives.
“Our judges’ task of determining which of the Top 15 to move through to the Finals in the competition was a difficult one,” said CUES President/CEO John Pembroke. “These five Finalists were selected from a varied and highly capable group. We thank all of our applicants for their hard work to this stage of the competition, and for the outstanding ideas they are bringing to their credit unions. Now, as we congratulate the Finalists, we also look forward to learning about their particular projects’ progress between now and their final presentations at CEO/Executive Team Network in November.”
In addition to two coaching sessions provided by challenge sponsor and CUES Supplier member DDJ Myers, the five Finalists each receive registration, accommodation and airfare to CUES' CEO/Executive Team Network™ in Scottsdale, Ariz., Nov.8-11. There, the Finalists will face off for the grand prize, a CUES educational package valued at $20,000, and the honor of being named 2015 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec on Nov. 11.
