I have opted to offer an opinion on the recent announcement of impending conversion of First Technology from a credit union into a mutual. I offer the unique perspective of having gone through such a conversion in 2000. I am the chief operating officer of Atlantic Coast Bank and the former president/CEO of Atlantic Coast Federal Credit Union. I will retire from Atlantic Coast Bank in early 2012, having spent approximately 11 years in banking and 21 years in the credit union world. 

Every institution has the right to determine its own destiny. Simply put, I would like to try and address my experience with the conversion process. 

Similar to statements that I have read from First Technology, we converted charters for valid business reasons. In our case, we were a rural railroad credit union that had grown from approximately $34 million to $330 million via mergers with failing credit unions in different geographical areas. In our opinion, to make those mergers successful we needed to grow in those new markets. In most cases the sponsor had gone out of business and a community charter seemed like a logical step.