In a move to better align its chief operating officer's duties to touch every spot of member contact and membership growth, Elevations Credit Union has restructured the senior management spot.
Craig Burkhard has been promoted to chief operating officer and executive vice president of the $930 million credit union in Boulder, Colo. In his new role, he will be responsible for all lending, branch operations, wealth management, marketing and business development functions at the credit union. Since June 2007, he served as chief lending officer and prior to that, vice president of lending after coming to Elevations in 2004.
The chief operating role at Elevations has evolved since October, said Gerry Agnes, president/CEO of Elevations. Back then, Burkhard's predecessor managed the retail delivery teams, including branches, the call center and back-office operations, information technology, marketing and business development. Still, the senior position was more focused on IT functions, Agnes noted. Now, all support functions report directly to Agnes and Burkhard, which includes accounting and finance and internal audits.
"The reason for the different responsibilities is to expertly align the COO to manage all of the member contact and member growth functions," Agnes explained. "Craig is now responsible for the production-oriented staff, while I'll manage the support functions, in addition to the COO."
Before joining Elevations, Burkhard worked at MacDill Federal Credit Union (now $1.6 billion Grow Financial Federal Credit Union) in Tampa, Fla., for 17 years. While there, he served in several roles, including contact center manager, branch manager, assistant vice president of operations and vice president of lending.
"In these uncertain economic times, Elevations remains uniquely situated with a strong financial position," Burkhard said. "This strength will enable us to continue to provide the superior service that our members have come to expect and deserve. We have an exceptional senior leadership team and a dedicated staff that is committed to quality."
Agnes, who has been at Elevation's helm since August 2008 after serving in various roles including president at $889 million Altura CU in Riverside, Calif., said one piece of the credit union's strategic plan was looking at the financial institution's structure. It was determined that "a very strong COO" was needed to manage certain operations. An internal and external search was put in place to find that candidate.
"Candidly, when working with the team, I knew we had the talent to lead. Even if I had done a national search, we would have still found the individual we needed in Craig," Agnes said.
With more than 76,000 members, Elevations has nine branches that serve Boulder, Broomfield, Erie, Westminster, Lafayette, Longmont and surrounding areas.
--msamaad@cutimes.com
Craig Burkhard has been promoted to chief operating officer and executive vice president of the $930 million credit union in Boulder, Colo. In his new role, he will be responsible for all lending, branch operations, wealth management, marketing and business development functions at the credit union. Since June 2007, he served as chief lending officer and prior to that, vice president of lending after coming to Elevations in 2004.
The chief operating role at Elevations has evolved since October, said Gerry Agnes, president/CEO of Elevations. Back then, Burkhard's predecessor managed the retail delivery teams, including branches, the call center and back-office operations, information technology, marketing and business development. Still, the senior position was more focused on IT functions, Agnes noted. Now, all support functions report directly to Agnes and Burkhard, which includes accounting and finance and internal audits.
"The reason for the different responsibilities is to expertly align the COO to manage all of the member contact and member growth functions," Agnes explained. "Craig is now responsible for the production-oriented staff, while I'll manage the support functions, in addition to the COO."
Before joining Elevations, Burkhard worked at MacDill Federal Credit Union (now $1.6 billion Grow Financial Federal Credit Union) in Tampa, Fla., for 17 years. While there, he served in several roles, including contact center manager, branch manager, assistant vice president of operations and vice president of lending.
"In these uncertain economic times, Elevations remains uniquely situated with a strong financial position," Burkhard said. "This strength will enable us to continue to provide the superior service that our members have come to expect and deserve. We have an exceptional senior leadership team and a dedicated staff that is committed to quality."
Agnes, who has been at Elevation's helm since August 2008 after serving in various roles including president at $889 million Altura CU in Riverside, Calif., said one piece of the credit union's strategic plan was looking at the financial institution's structure. It was determined that "a very strong COO" was needed to manage certain operations. An internal and external search was put in place to find that candidate.
"Candidly, when working with the team, I knew we had the talent to lead. Even if I had done a national search, we would have still found the individual we needed in Craig," Agnes said.
With more than 76,000 members, Elevations has nine branches that serve Boulder, Broomfield, Erie, Westminster, Lafayette, Longmont and surrounding areas.
--msamaad@cutimes.com
