ALBANY, N.Y. - Calling it the creation of a new "top-tier corporate," Empire Corporate and Mid-States Corporate announced that their merger was finalized on June 30. The new Members United Corporate has $9.5 billion in assets and serves 2,100 credit unions.

Joe Herbst, former CEO of Empire, will lead the new corporate as CEO. Herbst will relocate from Albany, N.Y. to Naperville, Ill., the headquarters of Members United. Former Mid-States CEO Dave Preter is now president of Members United. With any merger of this scale, how the new board shakes out is always of interest. Former Empire CU CEOs make up eight of the 15 board seats.

The makeup is as follows: Terry R. Brahm, (chair) president/CEO, DHCU Community CU, Ill.; John T.Fenton, (vice chair) president/CEO, Affinity FCU, N.J.; Kyle Markland,(treasurer) president/CEO, Affinity Plus FCU, Minn.; Donald H. Briggs, (secretary) president/CEO, NorthEast Alliance CU, N.Y.; Bruce Beaudette, president/CEO, Sunmark FCU, N.Y.; Gail F. Bedell, president/CEO, WCTA FCU, N.Y.; Barbara Berghoff, president/CEO, Professional FCU, Ind.; Lloyd M. Fredendall, president/CEO, NorthStar CU, Ill.; Gary Furtado, president, Credit Union Central Falls, R.I.; Edward J. Gvazdinskas, president/CEO, Heartland CU, Ill.; Andrew L. Jaeger, president/CEO, Credit Union of New Jersey; Louis H. Jimenez, CEO, Montauk CU, N.Y.; Nancy Kasprzak-Whitmore, president/CEO, Niagara County's CU, N.Y.; Ron Linstromberg, CEO, DeKalb Financial CU, Ind.; and Michael Phipps, president/CEO, Evansville Teachers FCU, Ind.