NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Fresh off its announcement made at the end of 2004 that it was restructuring the organization and adopting a new collaborative CUSO business model, NACUSO spent 2005 offering new programs and organizing conference agendas to reflect the association's new mission and strategy. As part of the association's restructuring plans, it announced in August it was expanding the size of its board from seven to 11 seats to give the NACUSO board a broader representation of its membership and help members "collaborate, innovate and succeed." The board expansion idea was the brainchild of NACUSO's newly elected chair Ava Milosevich, CEO, The SELCO Group, and at the association's annual meeting in September, the new board was announced. The 2005 Annual Meeting was actually held in conjunction with NACUSO's first CUSO CEO Collaborative, Sept. 19-21 at the U.S. Central headquarters in Overland Park, Mo. The three-day event, organized in response to feedback the association heard from its membership during its annual conference in May, gave attendees the opportunity to build credit union and CUSO partnerships and brainstorm ideas. One month later, the association held its first Business Services Collaborative in Chicago. At the same time the restructuring plans were announced in late 2004, NACUSO also announced that its president Bob Dorsa was stepping down to head up the American Credit Union Mortgage Association (ACUMA). Vic Pantea, president and chief operating officer of Member Gateways LLC was named interim president. In October 2005, Dennis Pierce, president/CEO of CommunityAmerica CU, Lenexa, Kan. was appointed by the NACUSO Board as chairman of a search committee responsible for selecting an executive search firm to conduct a search for the association's new president. Pierce said NACUSO hoped to announce the name of its new president by the end of the year, but at press time no decision had been made. -

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