CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference serves as an annual rallycry for credit unions. Like a good sports coach, it's there to pumpup the team, provide direction and do a little cheerleading minusthe short skirts.

Gathering all of the players in one room is great for bolsteringthat cooperative team spirit to approach Capitol Hill with thecentralized mission of protecting credit unions' future viability.Some will focus on enhancing credit union powers through expandedbusiness lending or supplemental capital, while others willhighlight the need for regulatory relief. Still others willdemonstrate the need to maintain credit unions' federal taxexemption.

Advocacy pulses through the veins of Thomas Renz of CommodorePerry FCU, the credit union recognized by Credit UnionTimes for Outstanding Political Action. When the credit unionperceived unjust treatment from its NCUA examiner, Renz spearheadedthe full-court press to try to make it right.

The aim of the GAC is political advocacy, but it should alsoreinvigorate credit union professionals with the cooperative natureof the industry. When the future scares large, for-profitcompetitors like Verizon and AT&T enough that they'll worktogether on a project like Isis, you know there's something to thecooperative philosophy beyond a hollow tagline.

If thousands of credit union professionals can gather inWashington to lobby for their futures, think what can beaccomplished if credit unions large and small work more closelytogether on operational issues as well. DDoS attacks are a perfect timely example. If credit unionswould cooperate on developing defenses, it would bring everyone'scosts down and provide solid industrywide security.

Take for example CU Times 2013 Trailblazer CFO ScottWaite of Patelco CU. Waite has contributed to the credit unionindustry far beyond his credit union. He regularly consults withthe NCUA and other regulators on accounting and other issues andhow rulemakings will affect all credit unions. He shares hisknowledge as part of the CUNA CFO Council and one on one withothers in the industry.

After the corporate meltdown and the downfall of credit unionsselling bad participations, it can be difficult to trust each otheragain. However, credit unions won't survive any other way. On theflip side, credit unions can't only do business with CUSOs and eachother, because it leads to the concentration risk we saw in2008.

And stop trying to keep members out of the democratic process.The, um, marketing that is done to recruit board members might meetregulatory requirements. It's crucial that nominating committeemembers be active in the community or field of membership that thecredit union is trying to recruit from. Volunteering is a lot ofwork, as Carroll Beach, CU Times Volunteer of the Yearfrom Elevations CU, will attest to.

Unfortunately, some credit unions seem to be moving away fromtheir cooperative and democratic roots. Joe Brancucci, CEO of GTEFinancial and CU Times CEO of the Year, caught an earfulwhen the credit union rebranded without the FCU. He did what hefelt was necessary to keep the credit union going, but thecontroversy among credit unions seemed to raise nearly to the levelof a mutual savings bank conversion. GTE Financial gave up the“credit union” name, not the credit union philosophy.

It's important to study individual credit unions and thecommunity overall to reimagine it all. Our 2013 IT Trailblazer ofthe Year, Chad Graves of Ent FCU, looks at the credit union in itsentirety rather than through technological blinders. His goal is tokeep up with trends rather than being reactionary–an intelligentphilosophy for the credit union community as a whole to adopt,although lately so much is happening in technology, regulation andother areas, it's hard to keep credit union heads above waterwithout some scale.

The $90 million Shreveport FCU manages to do it though. TheCU Times 2013 Trailblazer for Service to the Underservedtook on a partnership with a center that tries to assimilate prisoninmates back into society. Not many financial institutions of anysize would tackle this group's financial needs, but they can't befully rehabilitated without being able to manage their finances.Shreveport FCU stepped up almost without hesitation and has madegood business of it.

Collections is often a neglected part of credit unions' lendingoperations, but not at Grow Financial. Dona Svehla recognized theimportance of collections over the last few years, particularly inFlorida. Pushing the previously back-burner issue to the forefrontis what made Svehla CU Times Lending Officer of theYear.

Critical to success in each of these areas–lending, taking on achallenging FOM, technology strategy and the rest–is clearcommunication. This is the hallmark of our 2013 Marketing Executiveof the Year, Kristen Mashburn of Listerhill CU, who seescommunication across departments and with members as the challengeand the key to meeting and exceeding goals.

Now, read these folks' inspiring stories in our Feb. 27 printedition or online, quit riding the pine, advocate, cooperate andre-imagine the future of credit unions.