I read with interest Mike Welch's column in the June 23 issue concerning succession plans. San Francisco Fire Credit Union recently selected a new CEO (who coincidentally had a copy of the same publisher's column), and part of the success of our selection was because of our succession plan. Since most of our board and committee volunteers come from the fire department background, we have a strong foundation of order and succession already. For a long time we have had a succession plan. Until now, all of our CEOs have also worked in the firehouse, so succession was important to us. In our recent CEO selection process, our succession plan gave us order and direction. Obviously, O'Rourke Career Connections was also instrumental in assisting us (Bridget O'Rourke is top notch in her position there). Even our current HR person said she was amazed at how fast we moved on having continuity at SFFCU. That was important to us, and we felt it was important to our membership as well. Thanks for the continued great editorials and general good information in Credit Union Times. Jim Connors Secretary, Board of Directors San Francisco Fire Credit Union, Calif. Captain, San Francisco Fire Dept.