Bert Hash is known to zig when everyone else zags.

It's one of the reasons why the then-president/CEO of the $1.2billion Municipal Employees Credit Union of Baltimore Inc., wasnamed CU Times' Trailblazer CEO of the Year in 2007.

Six years later in 2013, the cooperative became a part of agrowing and some would argue controversial industry trend when itbought the $62 million Advance Mutual Savings Bank in Baltimore through a purchase andassumption agreement.

The deal was finalized in December 2013 and the integration ofsystems wrapped at the end of March for a bank that had been astaple in the community for nearly 58 years and served 3,500customers.

“We couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out,” Hash said.“We added customers to our membership base and we were happy tointegrate the 18 employees (at Advance Mutual) into MECU. Theirleadership went into some key positions.”

Hash, who retiredfrom MECU in June after 17 years at the helm, is preparing for thenext chapter of his life content that the credit union's legacy ofcommunity outreach will live on.

“Our culture has always been to give back and get involved,”Hash said. Over the past few years, the credit union continuedits partnership with the city of Baltimore by providing grants forhealth fairs and seed money to improve local neighborhoods, henoted.

MECU adopted nine area schools where MECU employees donate theirtime to help children with reading and other projects. An annualgolf tournament raises money to support education and each year,nearly $35,000 in scholarships are provided to high schoolgraduates.

In 2007, the year Hash won the Trailblazer award, the creditunion served 85,000 members and had $800 million in assets. Sincethen, membership has grown to nearly 110,000 and the credit unionsurpassed the billion-dollar mark.

In 2012, Mercy Health Services Employees Credit Union mergedinto the credit union. Although the cooperative was small with $1million in assets and 1,000 members, Hash said the fusion openedMECU up to Mercy Medical Center, which has 12,000 employees. Themerger was one of two smaller ones that had occurred for the creditunion over the past few years.

A few months in to his retirement, Hash said he's lookingforward to a new chapter.

“I'm leaving MECU but not my life,” he quipped, adding he willcontinue to serve on several boards through 2016 but plans to fishmore, keep up his power walks, and take more time for leisuretravel.

Hash was actually preparing to leave in January 2013 but with afew senior executives set to retire as well, those plans were puton hold so that those key departures wouldn't challenge MECU'soperations. Gary Martin, who had served at MECU for 42 years, isthe credit union's new president/CEO.

“I'm 67 years old. My wife retired nine years ago. It's time topass the torch,” Hash said. “It's a great team and a greatculture.”

As for the next line of CEOs, he said the industry has much moreregulation to contend with that will ultimately impact the waycredit unions do business – namely, interest rate risk andrisk-based capital. Still, today and tomorrow's CEOs should embracecollaboration.

“From my experience, it's become more of a partnership of teambuilding as opposed to dictatorial leadership. It requires moreunderstanding of training and what it takes to be successful,” Hashoffered. “The turnover for the CEO position over the next fiveyears will be high. You need to have people in place to get the jobdone and a plan to replace those people when it's time.”

He added, “There are more opportunities to go beyond the creditunion space. We're competing with the banking industry, we want thecommunity to do business with us.”

Ann South knows just how critical it is to offer outlets thatallow credit unions to compete. The president/CEO of the $139million Novartis Federal Credit Union in East Hanover, N.J.,received CU Times Trailblazer CEO of the Year award in2010 mainly for her role in helping credit unions recover stolenassets after CU National Mortgage, the credit union's third-partymortgage processor, collapsed in a fog of fraud in 2009.

CU National Mortgage, a subsidiary of the defunct U.S. MortgageCorp., was involved in the fraudulent sale of loans to 19 creditunions costing the cooperatives $139 million. Michael J. McGrathJr., the former president of both entities, pled guilty in 2009 tomail and wire fraud and money laundering for using proceeds fromthe credit union loans to repair cash flow problems stemming fromlosses on investments in mortgage-backed securities.

At one point, CU National Mortgage served more than 120 creditunions.

In its wake, South, along with the New Jersey Credit UnionLeague, organized a group of credit unions to recover stolen assetsand prevent many clients from losing a large portion of theircapital when it was discovered that fraud was involved.

Five years after McGrath's guilty plea, some credit unions arestill waiting on reclamation as litigation stalls in courtsnationwide, South said. The good news is 80% to 90% of the assetshave been recovered and Novartis did fairly well with itsnegotiations, she added.

“The bankruptcy estate is still going on. It's unbelievable thatit's been five years and it's probably going to be another year orso before it gets to court,” she explained. “The insurancecompanies of those credit unions don't want to settle to a pointwhere they need to settle without suffering huge losses.”

South said those credit unions that have recovered were bound byconfidential settlements so she couldn't provide a collectivedollar amount. She was tapped to serve on a court-appointedbankruptcy liquidation committee, which she credited for helpingcredit unions to get as much back as they did.

Out the ashes of the CUNM debacle came Symbionce FinancialSolutions LLC, a CUSO that originates and services mortgage loans.South said the entity helped to salvage some of the CUNM mortgageloans, many of which were held by smaller credit unions.

The CUSO bought the servicing rights of more than 80 creditunions that were served by CUNM, South said. Many of them had verysmall portfolios with just one or two loans, she added. Today,roughly 80 credit unions in 16 states are now Symbionce clients.

“It was an extremely good 2013. Even though the tide of thehousing market is breaking down, we're not losing money,” Southsaid.

Meanwhile, Novartis continued to forge ahead with moretechnology products including mobile banking, an online financialplanning tool and a service that allows members to aggregate all oftheir retirement accounts, including at other financialinstitutions, in one spot. The innovations have helped to growNovartis' wealth management group bringing on industry recognitions forthe credit union's financial planners.

Rather than court potential members, Novartis prefers to deepenrelationships with existing members, South said. Baby boomers getjust as much attention as the younger generations.

“There's so much we can provide to boomers that we didn't try todo in the past. And, in this day and age, for young people, if youdon't give them the technology, they're not going to come. But(technology) is expensive.”

Even though Novartis is a $139 million credit union, it onlyserves 6,060 members, mainly through Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.South said she's aware of the risks of being a single SEGcooperative these days and while plans are in place to remain thatway, there are contingencies should a major financial catastropheoccur.

While Symbionce had a strong 2013, South acknowledged that lastyear was a tough time for Novartis. In fact, the past few yearshave been a battle, she added.

“Everyone struggled to make ends meets. Money just doesn't runin the door anymore. From 2009 to today, we're down eight employeesto 16, who are doing more with less. I don't want employees to notget raises or bonuses.

“I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. It's going to bea struggle for another two to three years. It's going to take awhile for portfolios to rise enough before we can breathe easy. Alot of people lost their jobs and we may never see Americansborrowing like they did before.”

In spite of a rough financial patch, she praised the support ofNovartis' board, management team and staff. Her top suggestion tothose vying for a credit union CEO spot? Surround yourself withpeople who are better than you.

“When I started 30 years ago, I thought I would be able to putmy feet up and read the Wall Street Journal all day long,”she joked. “These days, it hard to use your mind for strategicplanning if you're constantly putting out fires and trying to makeends meet.”