DES MOINES, Iowa – Dr. Dennis Sharpe, the 14-year president/CEO of Educational Community CU, announced his plans to retire from the $29-million ECCU Feb. 1. ECCU's Board has selected Vice President Julie Bryant as Interim CEO. Sharpe has been president/CEO of ECCU since 1989. Among his other involvements, he's a Development Educator for the Credit Union Development Education Program; an Adjunct Instructor for Upper Iowa University; a former project coordinator for the Credit Unions in Europe and the Republics of the Former Soviet Union; a former consultant for the World Bank; and a former member of the Business Advisory Council for the Iowa Council for International Understanding. Sharpe was also a member of Iowa's 1990 official delegation to the former Soviet Union that traveled there to study the former Soviet Union's banking system. Fluent in Russian, Sharpe has lived, worked, studied and traveled in over 30 countries and five continents. ECCU has not said whether Sharpe will remain involved with ECCU as a consultant.