WASHINGTON – Colleen Kelly, a 17-year employee of CUNA and currently vice president of state government affairs, is leaving the association, sources reported. Her immediate plans are to stay at CUNA through the end of March, adding that she'll do "whatever is best for CUNA." Kelly intends to be a stay-at-home mom for her two sons ages eight and 10. "My husband and I have always had open discussions with our sons about us being a working family. I always told them that family comes first, so when my 10-year old who is starting middle school asked me to be home for him, it was a no-choice decision. I didn't hesitate," Kelly told Credit Union Times. According to CUNA's Web site, Kelly "works closely with the state credit union leagues to identify emerging state legislative trends, promote favorable state credit union-related legislation, and maintain a high profile with state lawmakers on a national level." As a member of CUNA's seven-member Model Credit Union Act Task Force, Kelly was involved with what turned out to be a two-and-a-half year project of updating the comprehensive documentation for the association's Model Credit Union Act. The project was completed finally in 2002, and the last time it was updated prior to that was 1986. The Model Credit Union Act covers 12 areas of CU operations: supervision and regulation, formation of a credit union, CU powers, membership, governance, member accounts, loans, investments, reserve allocations, change in corporate status, general provisions, and corporate credit unions. It has since been used by several credit union leagues as the basis for their respective efforts to update their own state credit union acts. In addition to Kelly's work on the state legislative and regulatory side, she also worked closely for six years while at CUNA with federal regulatory agencies such as the NCUA to influence regulations affecting CUs. Before joining CUNA in 1989, Kelly worked at the Colorado Credit Union League in various positions including lobbyist, regulatory compliance specialist and campaign fundraiser. Kelly has also served as pro bono legal counsel for the National Center for Law and the Deaf, Advocacy for the Elderly legal clinic, the Montgomery County Commission for Women, and the United Cerebral Palsy Association. -

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