VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Chartway Federal Credit Union has plungedboldly into areas often already packed with competition – and theeffort seems to be working very well, thank you. Shortly afterChartway opened a branch in St. Petersburg, Fla., a curious St.Petersburg Times business columnist decided to pass some time whiledriving along Fourth Street N. by counting financial institutions.He discovered the area, known as banker's row, is already home to16 bank and credit union offices including CFCU. Four more areabout to open. In addition to Florida, other expansion beyondVirginia has taken CFCU into Rhode Island, North Carolina, Georgia,Texas, New Jersey and Ohio. President/CEO Ronald Burniske indicatesCalifornia is the next target. As far as he's concerned, it's aquestion of diversifying in order to remain viable. He says thecredit union learned that lesson years ago. Back in high school,Burniske's classmates might not have pegged him as someone likelyto become a financial services executive pondering such issues. Heplayed hockey in high school, and was drafted into the pro ranks.But he broke both wrists, ending that career. After earning adegree in accounting from Massachusetts University in North Adams –he also has an MBA from Duke – he worked for three banks. In asense, Burniske can credit his brother for his credit union career.The brother, who filled a management position with a bank for 20years, found himself out of a job when the bank merged and hisposition was eliminated. He learned his job was gone when his bossabruptly delivered the news on a Friday afternoon. Burniske quicklydecided the banking industry didn't care about its employees. Hestarted looking around. He signed on with GE Credit Union as acontroller, later rising to vp/finance, and discovered it wasexactly what he wanted. Credit unions cared about people. Then, 21years ago, his wife saw a Wall Street Journal ad for a job at CFCUas EVP/CFO. They were each facing long commutes to work, and afteran especially severe Massachusetts winter a milder climate had itsappeal. They figured it might be a two-year stay. However, theysettled in as Burniske discovered the credit union was exactly whathe wanted. In 1986 he was offered the CEO job. At that time thecredit union boasted $100 million in assets and three branches, allin Virginia. “About 15 years ago we were still a single-sponsorcredit union, specifically the Norfolk Naval Air Station,” Burniskeexplains. “We said, `You know, if something were to happen here,we're out of business.'” That intuition proved correct, because thebase is now closed. But the credit union had already adopted astrategy aimed at sheltering CFCU from the economic ups and downsof any one region. Basically the credit union has divided thecountry into five areas, and now operates in four of them. Thefifth is California, and Burniske openly states that is next on thelist. “As soon as one region falters, the others will remain stableor improve, thus neutralizing the impact of the region thatexperienced a decline,” he says. “Likewise, we diversified ourfield of membership through varied industries to protect ourselvesfrom the volatility of specific occupations. As one industry may bedeclining, such as the petroleum industry, other industries may beon the rise such as air travel.” Yes, there's lots of competition.However, Burniske prefers to view each area as an opportunity. Hestresses it's not a case of build it and they will come. Instead,it's a matter of finding those who will come, then building. Oneimpact on the organization chart is, rather than relying on onemarketing manager to oversee efforts throughout the nation, threemarketing managers based in three different areas handle thoseterritories. They are responsible to the vice president ofmarketing for regional and SEG-specific efforts. There are alsoDealer Direct personnel in each area to keep an eye on the localautomobile markets and what any changes may mean to the CFCUindirect lending program. Each area is in effect a cost-and-incomecenter accountable to headquarters. That means giving personnelsome elbow room. “Without autonomy I don't think we could providethe level of service our members expect at Chartway,” Burniskedeclares. “There are definitely standard procedures and protocolsput in place to ensure our members receive a consistent serviceexperience. But with 36 branches located across the U.S., autonomyis a natural part of how we do business.” It all sounds fine, butaren't there some worries that keep Burniske and the board awake atnight? Judging from Burniske's answer, the worries are ones someother credit unions would like to share. “”We don't want to growtoo fast,” he says. “We actually had to curtail growth the lastcouple years. We could have grown 20 or 30% We set a goal of 12% ayear – and that may be too much.” So Burniske keeps an eye onmonthly and yearly satisfaction surveys. Today 97% of members sayCFCU meets or exceeds their expectations. That's up from 66% in1996. While diversified locations and membership may make businesssense, it does have at least one drawback. It keeps Burniske on theroad about 30% of the week. So he works to preserve as much familytime as he can. He and his wife have two daughters, 16 and 11 yearsold, and just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. The girlsare active athletes, and Burniske coaches both their basketballteams. He usually gets up about 4:30 a.m. to run, bike or swim foran hour or so. He's back home by about 5:30 or 5:45, showers, wakesthe kids, and arrives at work about 6:30 or 6:45. When he gets homefrom work that evening he may read, work around the house, ortinker with one of the muscle cars he enjoys collecting. So farhe's had about 14 muscle cars and currently owns three. He justsold a 1964 Bonneville convertible, one of his favorites, and a1996 Pontiac GTO, and bought a 1970 Chevy Nova. The GTO involved atotal restoration job that took Burniske five years. He's nowdecided he enjoys driving cars more than tearing them apart, sohe's shifted from acquiring cars needing major work to thosealready restored. Overall, Burniske sounds like a happy man. “Ihave a great family and I have a perfect job right now,” he states.“I work with a great group of people every day for a greatorganization that believes in the same values I do.” The We PromiseFoundation, started this year, is an example of how Burniske'svalues match those of the credit union. “Six years ago I met thisgirl. Her name was Julie. She had brain cancer and was given sixmonths to live. Her dad was sitting at a golf tournament I wasplaying, trying to raise money to send her to Disney World to seeCinderella. Thirty days later – and this is what Chartway is about– we had put together our own golf tournament and raised $10,000 tosend that girl and her family to Disney World,” Burniske recalls.“Last week we had our seventh annual charity golf tournament. Weraised $300,000 for 65 kids. In six years this organization, withabout 400 employees, has raised almost $1 million for 200 kids. Wewill try to put a smile on the face of any child with a terminal orchronic illness. Our goal is to raise $1 million a year.” -

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