NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Nearly 400 attendees are expected at NACUSO's 2006 Annual Conference being held May 15-18 at The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. The four-day event will focus on the themes of innovation and collaboration and will feature many opportunities for participants to hear from experts in the areas – both from inside the credit union industry such as Filene's i3 group and those outside – as well as network with other CUs and CUSOs to find out what they're doing to collaborate and innovate. Headlining the four-day event will be Michael Raynor, author of the New York Times Bestseller The Innovator's Solution, and a director for Deloitte Research NACUSO said Raynor's book shows companies how to sustain growth past the point where they've built their position in the market and when they find it increasingly harder to keep growing, as the market demands of them. "Innovation and collaboration are the driving forces credit unions need to solve the challenges facing the industry," said NACUSO Interim President Vic Pantea, CEO of Members Gateway. "We want to give credit unions the best of the best, and we are putting NACUSO resources behind this. When it comes to innovation, no one knows it better than the best-selling author of The Innovator's Solution, Michael Raynor." In addition to Raynor, other names on the conference's guest speaker list include: NCUA Board Member Gigi Hyland; Jeremy Jaffe, a business development, marketing and new product development expert for the business and financial services industries; Bryan Sims, CEO and founder of brassIMEDIA Inc., a money management magazine for young adults; Gary Kohn, senior policy advisor to Hyland; Stan Hollen, CEO, CO-OP Network; Dr. Glan Urban, a leading authority on trust-based marketing; and NACUSO General Counsel Guy Messick.