COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Dreams do indeed come true and that certainly is the case when it comes to the rather mundane subject of CU-run ATMs in airports. Just ask Steve Ferrero, vice president of marketing and business development at Public Service Employees Credit Union of Denver, whose dream-come-true story was chronicled by his boss at the annual convention of the Colorado League of Credit Unions here. "I'd like to share this story of my marketing director, who is somewhat shy and bashful but came to one of our management meetings one morning to tell us he had a strange dream that our credit union got all the ATMs" at the Denver airport, declared David Maus, president of Public Service CU and the chairman of CUNA. Maus said the management committee at first snickered and discounted the remarks of a marketing person, "someone who is high on creativity but sometimes lacks a strong sense of reality." CU managers "did not believe him" but sure enough a month later, "we read about a call for submitting bids" on ATMS at the Denver airport. "Steve was possessed. He said, `let's see if we can get the bid,'" recalled Maus who was himself skeptical about committing extensive staff time to submitting an elaborate proposal to city and airport agencies. "Also I know it's the megabanks who always get those contracts." But Ferrero persisted and eventually Public Service CU, relying on a message of broad service and local control, beat out five big banks last September for the contract following a tortuous bidding procedure that involved the airport authority, the mayor's office, the Federal Aviation Administration and various city agencies. Maus stressed, however, the persistence of Ferrero and his staff as well as members of the board demonstrated that commitment and cooperation can produce desired goals for the industry. "The fight is not over," implored Maus noting the long battles ahead for CUs to carve a bigger share of financial business. In his League remarks, Maus also recalled the sometimes bitter face-to-face meetings with Colorado independent bank executives who scoffed at the Public Service CU bid. "The dream came true," noted Maus praising Ferrero as the kind of employee who top managements knows will move ahead "because they want it the most." Ferrero told Credit Union Times he was a bit startled and, of course, pleased to hear about his boss' remarks at the convention but did confirm that he really had the dream last April and though his peers "laughed" at him he was pleased that his dream came true. He said the 13 ATMS are "doing just fine" and "we are getting just as much business as U.S. Bank did." That, he hopes, will change he forecast once CU marketing campaigns get underway in full force. -
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