COLUMBIA, Md. – The Maryland Credit Union League is in the final stages of picking a new president and CEO and is advertising for the job on a national basis starting this month, according to League Chairman Richard Stoll. "We expect to appoint a new president by January of 2004," forecast Stoll, who also is president of Anne Arundel County Employees FCU in Millersville. One of the leading candidates for the job which has been vacant since last April is Michael Marshall, executive vice president and director of government affairs. Marshall has been acting CEO following the departure this year of Robert Steil, whose contract was not renewed. "Mike has done a tremendous job for us in the interim and he is very much in the running-in the final cut," said Stoll. The League chairman acknowledged the difficulties over the summer in conducting a search because of schedule conflicts among the League Board members, "and we had to deal with Isabel," the hurricane that damaged property and disrupted operations last September. The League began advertising at the beginning of the month, he said, and "we will take applications and do the interviewing between now and Christmas." Steil left the League after 25 years with the trade group, the last six as its president. He acknowledged the Board was seeking "a new and different direction" but that "there were no dark clouds or hidden agenda" in leaving the League.