TOPEKA, Kan. – John Smith has returned to the position at the Kansas Department of Credit Unions he previously held from 1993 to 1998. Smith, who served as director of the Missouri Division of Credit Unions from 1999 to April 1, 2005, has been chosen by Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to serve as state credit union administrator. He succeeds Jerel Wright who served in the position for about seven years and resigned in September to work at the Kansas Credit Union Association heading up its governmental affairs department. A native of Kansas City, Mo., Smith spent most of his life in Kansas. Besides working with the Kansas Department of Credit Unions under former Gov. Joan Finny, he served for 23 years on the board or supervisory committee of Wesley Employees CU in Wichita. In the position of director of the Missouri Division of Credit Unions, Smith actually served under four governors – he was appointed by former Gov. Mel Carnahan in his second term. When the governor and his son were killed in a plane crash in his last term when he was running for the U.S. Senate, Lieutenant Gov. Roger Wilson took over the governor's seat until Bob Holden was elected governor in 2001. Smith remained in the director's position through Holden's term in office. When Gov. Matt Blunt was elected, he named Sandra Branson as the agency's new director. Branson at the time was president/CEO of Missouri State CU. In addition to Smith's previous positions with the Missouri and Kansas credit union regulatory agencies and with WECU, he recently served as a board member and chair-elect of NASCUS and also served as chair of the NASCUS Professional Standards Committee. -

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