When Dave Larson was named the interim president/CEO ofAffinity Plus Federal Credit Union shortly after Kyle Marklandsuddenly resigned on Aug. 28, he could not have predicted what thereaction would be.

“The response that I've received from the management team,employees, board, vendors, partners and regulators has really beenextraordinary,” Larson said. “It's almost been overwhelming, in agood way.”

After three months of guiding the $1.7 billion Affinity Plus in St. Paul, Minn., Larson was named thepermanent president/CEO Nov. 21. He has been with the credit unionsince 2002, last serving in the position of senior vice president.Larson is also the executive director of the Affinity PlusFoundation and serves on the board of the Minnesota Credit UnionFoundation.

Larson's new role comes after Markland, who served aspresident/CEO of the credit union since 1997, abruptly resigned inlate August. Affinity Plus said Markland's departure was promptedby empty nest syndrome after his second child, a son, recentlyleft for college. Markland was named Credit Union Times' 2012Trailblazer CEO of the Year.

To let Affinity Plus' members know about the changes, Larsonsent out a letter to those members who receive emails.

“I got over 200 responses. Typically, we might get four orfive,” Larson said. “And not all were raving fans. Some said 'youneed a branch in my community.' We got some of that. I didn't heara lot of concerns (about the change in leadership). They werepleased to know that we looked internally.”

Nearly a month in at the helm, one of the first discussionsLarson had with Affinity Plus' board of directors was the need toslow down growth at the credit union.

“I'm not saying we're going to turn people away,” Larsonexplained. “I believe there has been some stress put on our servicelevels. We're going to put the pause on growth plans.”

In Affinity Plus' 2013 Fall Member Focus newsletter, Larsonwrote the credit union was a healthy and financially strongorganization. At the time of Markland's resignation, Affinity Plusreported a 0.57% return on assets as of June 30, according to itsfinancial performance reports posted on the NCUA website. Inthe third quarter, return on assets dropped to 0.25%.Comparatively, in June 2012, the credit union reported 1.45%ROA.

Affinity Plus' third quarter financials revealed a number offinancial management strategy shifts that resulted in a 55.1%annualized drop in net income as of Sept. 30. Net income droppedfrom $4.6 million as of June 30 to $3.1 million during as of Sept.30. The credit union also experienced a 12.7% increase in provisionfor loan and lease losses after delinquent loans increased 23.5% to$16.5 million in the third quarter.

Chartered in 1930 as State Capitol Credit Union to serve thoseworking in St. Paul, the cooperative changed its name to AffinityPlus Federal Credit Union in 1998 to better reflect its broaderservice area, according to its website. It now has 25 branchesthroughout Minnesota and serves more than 180,000 members.

Larson said part of the pullback on growth means Affinity Plus'successful “Ditch Your Bank” campaign, which started well beforeBank Transfer Day in November 2011, will be scaled back in2014.

“That's not to say that it will be dead forever,” Larson notedabout the effort to woo frustrated bank customers to the creditunion.

Instead, more attention will shift back to the total memberexperience. Larson said some employees were bogged down with backoffice functions that were taking time away from working withmembers.

“We had become a very decentralized organization, which is aunique model not only for credit unions but other financialinstitutions,” Larson explained. “We have this gift to work withpeople that we truly care about – their lives, hopes, dreams andtheir communities. I believe most businesses don't see theircustomers, or in our case, the members, that way. We have thisincredible opportunity to connect with them.”

Since joining Affinity Plus, Larson “has exemplified adedication to the organization and its employees that is unique intoday's business culture, said Connie M. Roehrich, Affinity Plusboard chair.

“He is committed to a member-first philosophy that the boardvalues and respects, and when combined with his track record ofintegrity, transparency, and ability to communicate clearly, Daveis the best candidate to lead Affinity Plus into the future,”Roehrich said.

Another area that will see changes is within Affinity Plus' realestate division, Larson said. The bulk of the work was beingprocessed in the credit union's branches and call centers. Becausereal estate has many moving parts, Larson said the process can beoverwhelming to frontline employees. So much so, that processingmortgage loans took over their focus, he added.

“We want to centralize real estate. Over the last couple ofyears, we've done a lot to help with mortgages but we have a lotmore to offer,” Larson said. “If we can take more off (thefrontline employees') plates, it will allow them to spend more timewith the members.”

In addition to having the support of Affinity Plus' board ofdirectors with the credit union's members first approach, Larsonsaid he's also made some key changes within his management team.His first act as the new president/CEO was naming Brian Volkmannthe permanent chief financial officer after he served in an interimrole for nearly 11 months. Bill Urick, who served as CFO beforeVolkmann took over, left Affinity Plus in January. Larson broughthim back on board to become the credit union's chief operatingofficer. In July, Sarah Olson was also hired as senior vicepresident of human resources.

While the past few months as interim president/CEO of AffinityPlus has allowed Larson to get a wider view of the credit union'soperations, he said he felt confident about the transition sincehe's worn several titles over his 12 years of service here.

“One of the benefits of my role is I worked in other roles. Iknow these leaders, they know me, they know what to expect,” saidLarson, who has worked with credit union for more than 20 years.“The leadership team that we have is extraordinary.”