For Steph Sherrodd, executive vice president and chief operatingofficer at Texas Dow Employees Credit Union, the two words “whynot” have helped shape her life and career.

“I've always been open to change, learning new skills and takinga chance,” said Sherrodd. “Early in my career I'd volunteer for anyassignment and take on any challenge. I always thought why not? Ican do that. If not for that openness to new experiences, I wouldhave missed a great many opportunities, like moving back to Texas,taking the challenge here to grow in a role I love.”

Although a longtime credit union member, she didn't consider acredit union career until she interned with a credit union for asummer as an undergrad in marketing doing market research. Aftergraduating from college, she largely did retail work until aftershe got married and moved back to town, where she was offered a jobat the credit union she'd done her internship.

“When I started working at the credit union again, it was then Istarted thinking, wow I could be a leader here. I want to be adecision maker and want to be part of the organization as farhelping to steer where it's going,” said Sherrodd. “I went back toschool, got my MBA and that belief in myself that I can do thisreally put me on the platform of preparing for a leadership role ina credit union organization. I would say to anyone thinking aboutbeing a leader today, go finish your education. Get the best formaleducation you can afford and take advantage of benefits offered.Having that education as a foundation is just so fundamental.”

That doesn't mean underestimate the importance of opportunities that can arise from one'scumulative experience as well. She said it all matters.

“I had the advantage of working for, with and around differentpeople who have been influencers on my career and certainly aidedin my development with the role I'm in today. I think mentoring isanother important component as well. Sharing that leadershipvision, not just talking about what has helped make them successfulbut being a person who provides feedback on ways you can not onlydevelop in your career but encourages personal growth as well issomething invaluable,” said Sherrodd. “The hubris of thinking youknow everything is the single, quickest career derailer. Anorganization becomes great because people work together and buildon each other's ideas. You've got to hear, appreciate, take thetime to have lunch with someone interested in different parts ofthe credit union. Having a conversation about whatever it is thatmatters to employees or finding out just what they're thinkingbenefits everyone and it's a good way to ensure that there's aneffective communication of the organization's vision and thateveryone is on the same page.”

She doesn't believein meddling in the day-to-day and lives her leadership style ofgiving staffers a clear vision of where TDECU is headed andensuring they have the tools and autonomy to execute thatvision.

“I have a lot of energy and really enjoy what I do. The goals,thinking about the future of the organization where we're going,how to make changes, improvements–that's exciting,” said Sherrodd.“Certainly things come up, there's growth problems, liquidationproblems, of course the growth problems are better, as are thechallenges associated with that.”

She said that is why she does her best to keep her eye on whereTDECU is headed and not get bogged down into the problems ofgetting there.

“We're constantly communicating that overall vision, and I'm abig believer in hiring great people who are a lot smarter than Iam. Give them the space to do the work they do best, and togetherwe all can accomplish great things,” said Sherrodd. “You've got tofind multiple touch points with people, and really a key part of itis making time to go out in the field. It's an opportunity toconnect at all levels of the organization and remember why we'rehere. I'm pretty informal so everyone feels comfortable enough tojust stop into my office.”

She's proudest of how the Lake Jackson, Texas-based credit unionas a whole has grown and delivered the value of the credit union tomore consumers. It's evidenced by not only member growth but in thecommitment demonstrated by employees across the organization todelivering real quality service. It's something every team memberhas worked hard on over the years, in spite of challenges thatcontinue to present themselves.

“There's changing regulatory environment that creates challengeswe probably didn't even think would be her 10 years ago. Some ofthe events have been outside of the control of credit unions, butchanging our business strategies is one of the bigger challengesfacing the industry as a whole,” said Sherrodd. “Coming outpost-recession, to be a healthy financial institution, we need tobe growing so how do we do that in spite of the other burdens thatare around that.”

She added the  $1.6 billion credit union hasexperienced a slowdown over the past few years and has been seeinga general market contraction.

“When the markets were growing like the early part of the lastdecade, it's easy for credit unions and all financial institutionsto grow. Without making any fundamental changes with that sameslice of the pie, you naturally grow as the pie gets bigger. Nowit's smaller, and that means taking customers away fromcompetitors,” said Sherrodd. “For credit unions that is not ournatural inclination. We have to have a real value proposition anddeliver on it to take business from our competition. We've got todeal with the competition in a different way.”

To that end, TDECU has had some success with its $1,000 a daygiveaway to members with checking accounts. The more services amember has the more chances they have to win.

“As we grow and bring in more members, we looked at how we canreward those people who built the foundation of our organizationfor years,” said Sherrodd. “It helps show how were different in themarketplace and by rewarding our existing members, they share thestory of what their credit union is doing to reward their loyalty.It's this type of value and initiative that members get a lot ofenjoyment out of.”

She ultimately sees the future of TDECU as a statewideorganization.

“Many, many years from now, I just don't see us limited to thearea we're in. For what we offer members it's almost a moralimperative to take across the state,” said Sherrodd.

“I think the credit union industry as a whole tends to lookinward too much. There aren't enough outside voices coming in andweighing in on some decisions. You have to ask if we had outsideinvestment bankers as directors on the board of corporates, wouldsome of the same investment decisions have been made? We seem tothink all the answers can be found within the industry, yetdiversity is so important that it's critical to the success of thecredit union industry going forward.”

Nominate a female credit union executive for CreditUnion Times' Women toWatch at CUTimes.com/W2W.