Paul Trylko hasn't given any thought to the historiccredit union fact that he is the first chairman to oversee thenewly formed Cornerstone Credit Union League. The country's largestleague, which launched July 1 following the consolidation ofleagues in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, represents nearlyone-tenth of the nation's credit unions.

Perhaps Trylko hasn't had much time to contemplate the enormityof his new role because he knows there is so much work to beaccomplished in order to meet the expectations of 570 member creditunions that the new entity will be stronger and better movingforward.

“It's a real honor to be chosen from among my peers to serve inthis role,” said Trylko, president/CEO of the $626 million Amplify CreditUnion in Austin, Texas. “The rest of the board and I nowunderstand that there is a lot of work to be done.”

In an interview with Credit Union Times, Trylko sharedwhat he, the board and the administration plan to achieve in thefirst year of CCUL's operation, as well as what the member creditunions across the three states can expect in the years to come.

“During the first year of the league we're focusing on makingsure that we get the word out in every state to ensure thateverybody understands our structure and everybody understands whatproducts and services are available to them,” he said.

During the last four weeks, CCUL staff members have been meetingwith credit unions in road show presentations in each state. CCULhas two remaining road shows on Sept. 17 and Sept. 20, in Amarillo,Texas and Houston, respectively.

Credit unions in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas understoodconsolidation was inevitable because of mergers thathave occurred in their states and across the industry. And moremergers are likely to occur over the next several years. With fewerdues-paying members, it is becoming increasingly difficult forleagues to keep up with rising costs and deliver the products andservices credit unions expect.

When the CCUL board met for the first time in early July, itselected Trylko to lead the organization into the future, and forvery good reasons. He's one of the most successful credit unionexecutives in the nation, having been recognized as CEO of the Yearby NAFCU for 2013. Last year, he also was named one of Austin'sBest CEOs by the Austin Business Journal.

In addition to its strong advocacy arm, CCUL will be focusing onhelping credit unions grow. And if there is anyone who knows how tomake credit unions grow, it's Trylko.

A few years after he landed the CEO job at the IBM TexasEmployees FCU in 1998, he recognized the credit union's futureprospects would be limited by simply maintaining its SEG-basedfield of membership, according to a profile article published inthe Austin Business Journal.

So in 2004, the credit union opened its membership to fivecounties. Two years later, the credit union changed its name toAmplify and opened six branches from 2006 through 2010.Since the cooperative launched its expansion campaign nearly 10years ago, membership has grown from 29,475 members in March 2004to 45,706 by June 2013.

Not bad for a guy who launched his credit union career as ateller in 1979.

Next Page: The Big Focus

Beyond this year and based on feedback he's gotten from creditunions, Trylko said he expects the league to develop an aggressivecampaign to raise public awareness about credit unions that willhelp increase their business and membership opportunities.

“That will be a big focus,” he said. “We've had some successesin each of the three states. Our job will be to put all of thattogether and make it into a robust program that will really helpget the word out about credit unions and how we serve ourmembers.”

Another big focus will address the growth challenges of smallcredit unions, and there are many of them in all three states.

The league has a small credit union department with a dedicatedstaff. In addition to a committee that will make recommendations tothe CCUL board on how to help small cooperatives, smallcredit unions will have a strong voice on the board as well.

Of the 18 board seats, six are occupied by credit unionexecutives who represent institutions with fewer than $50 millionin assets. Three more board members come from credit unions withassets from $59 million to $90 million. Eight board seats areoccupied by midsize cooperative executives with shops between $103million to $626 million in assets. Just one board seat is held by abillion dollar cooperative executive, President/CEO Michael Kloiberfrom the $3 billion Tinker FCU of Oklahoma City.

CCUL also expects to enhance its products and services,particularly those in compliance and ALM where credit unions need alot of support, Trylko said.

The new league will maintain advocacy offices in each statecapital: Austin, Oklahoma City and Little Rock. Because there wereno layoffs after the consolidation, staffing levels have remainedthe same in each office.

Reta Kathley, former president/CEO of the Arkansas Credit UnionLeague, and Gary Jones, former president/CEO of the Credit UnionAssociation of Oklahoma, are managing the advocacy offices inLittle Rock and Oklahoma City, respectively.

“Now we have the strength, the depth and the resources providedby a larger organization…for credit unions in Oklahoma,” Jonessaid. “I am very proud to be a part of that.”

Kathley declined to comment for this article.

Despite the fact that CCUL is the largest league organization inthe U.S., employing approximately 120 people, membership dues won'tincrease.

With the consolidation, credit unions in Arkansas, Oklahoma andTexas “overwhelming approved a dues formula that results in noincrease for the vast majority of credit unions,” according to aprepared CCUL statement.

Trylko said he expects the CCUL board to meet quarterly. Theboard is scheduled to meet in September during the league's firstleadership conference Sept. 5-7 in San Antonio, Texas, and willmeet again in December.

In the fall, CCUL will send a survey to member credit unions togauge their awareness of league products and services, and to whatextent they are using them.

“We also want to use the survey to get a sense from membercredit unions about how we are doing so far and what may be thethings that we don't provide that credit unions may want us toprovide,” Trylko said.