By Frank J. Diekmann
It’s easy to slip into clichés and stereotypes when it comes to credit union board members. Old enough to have shared some high school carpentry classes with Moses. Like piranhas devouring a carcass right down to the bones when it comes to cleaning out a trade show booth of its tchotchkes. About as open to new ideas as they are to changing their traditional seats at board meetings.
Cliches don’t earn that status without at least a few truths underlying them, and I’m sorry to say I’ve witnessed examples of each. So it’s a pleasure to report I’ve also just witnessed and spent time with some cliché-killing volunteers who were engaged, active and even open to the idea of change.
At the Volunteer Leadership Institute last week in Lihue, Kauai, which is put on each year by the Paragon Group in Washington State, more than 300 CU directors turned out for what is nearly a week-long program, and not one of those directors programs in Hawaii starts at 9 a.m. and wraps by noon for some PM “discussion groups.” These were full days of educational sessions.
I was a speaker in that coveted last day, Saturday-morning-after-the-luau slot, fully prepared to address empty chairs (yes, I’ll say it for you, I probably have a lot of experience there), only to arrive and find the room full. And I didn’t even have tchotchkes.
The lesson? Not all board members are bored members.
Aren’t You Just A Political Operative?
At the VLI meeting there were a number of interesting observations and material covered, some of which has been or will be covered by CUToday.info. These include NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz addressing the meeting, and then at the end of her remarks responding to questions that had been submitted by attendees on cards, which allowed for anonymity. And anonymity, of course, means questions such as this: Are you really there to guard the safety and soundness of credit unions, or just to be a political operative and serve those who appointed you?
Matz, who afterward said she actually liked the question, laughed and responded by saying her primary role is safety and soundness. “The White House traditionally does not get involved in independent agencies, regardless of the party in the White House. We are not there as an advocate for credit unions--although we do advocate for credit unions before Congress--that is the job of credit unions.”
In response to other audience questions, which were posed by moderator Dennis Tanimoto, president of the Hawaii CU League, Matz said she does not envision a merger between NCUA and the FDIC at any point in the near future, explained that CAMEL ratings are not public 1) because it’s the law and 2) a downgrade in a CAMEL rating, even if not a poor reflection on the credit union, could be misinterpreted by members and lead to a crisis of confidence; said in response to a question that suggested NCUA gets to audit credit unions but NCUA is never audited itself, that the agency is, in fact, regularly audited by external parties; and that NCUA’s position right now on doing business with marijuana-related businesses is that those CUs need to follow BSA laws and know those businesses, as well as who those businesses are doing business with.
I was hoping she might wrap that last question up with a "So put that in your pipe and smoke it," but...
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info.