SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — The long-running campaign to get more volunteers in leadership of credit union trade groups is due for a new airing this month when a resolution encouraging the trend and soliciting ballot support goes before the National Association of Credit Union Chairmen.

“It's nothing dramatic but we are considering a resolution supporting volunteers who run for elected office and which encourages chairmen to get their hands on the ballots,” explained Charles Smith, chairman of NACUC and of First New York Federal Credit Union here.

In citing ballot procedures for elected jobs in trade groups, Smith was referring to complaints over the years from volunteers who argue the voting is sometimes rigged in favor of CEOs who receive the mail ballots bypassing chairmen or other directors.

The proposed resolution to be considered during a business session at NACUC's annual meeting Sept. 27-30 in Hawaii demonstrates that “we are becoming more active in taking a stand,” said Smith, even though the resolution simply supports the idea of more volunteers in trade group jobs at both the state and national levels.

Smith said up to now NACUC has not gone out specifically promoting volunteers as candidates for trade jobs. The resolution backs “those volunteers who wish to seek election” and also encourages chairmen to “actively participate in the decisions concerning these elections by casting votes on behalf of their respective credit unions.”

David H. Gilbert, of Aberdeen, Md. and who holds one of the highest volunteer jobs in the U.S. as secretary and member of the executive committee of NAFCU, said he “was delighted at the resolution as a first step” in the process of getting more volunteers elected.

Still, he said, “the group can go a lot further by really equipping and supporting directors” who make the decision to run, adding NACUC has the potential to “become a national force” in this area.

Gilbert, who is chairman of Aberdeen Proving Ground Federal Credit Union, said he sees nothing wrong with NACUC becoming more aggressive on the topic and “becoming more political.”

Also involved in pushing volunteers into trade group leadership has been the California-based Credit Union Directors Association whose vice chairman, Charles Dawes, said he supports the NACUC resolution.

Dawes, who is director of Travis Credit Union in Vacaville, Calif., and was named last month as “Director of the Year” at the National Directors Convention in Las Vegas, said he can't make the Hawaii meeting, but there is no reason the two groups cannot unite on the issue “since we could work together.”

Dawes said he recently wrote CUNA's Renewal Committee about changing the bylaws to permit a 35%-40% breakdown of staff/volunteers in leadership jobs.

“If somebody can't get something passed without a two-thirds margin, then they have a real problem,” said Dawes, maintaining there is too much “friction” today between volunteers and staff over this issue and there is no reason for it.

“We hire these people and they turn against us,” declared Dawes. Gilbert of NACUC said he expected a number of the backers of the NACUC resolution to include the same Maryland/D.C. area volunteers who in 2005 created a stir with similar demands at NAFCU's annual conference in Las Vegas. Those volunteers also complained about getting their hands on ballots and on that score NAFCU said it had previously made adjustments in its election procedures to ensure ballots were mailed to directors and chairmen. Since then, NAFCU has also produced a guide for volunteers on the do's and don'ts of running for elected office. Gilbert said copies of the guidelines would be made available at the Hawaii conference to be held at the Fairmont Orchid Hotel located in Kohala Coast on the Big Island. Apart from the resolution, the NACUC meeting will also feature the traditional roundtable sessions with a focus on leading topics of the day, but one unusual session year includes a secret “Crisis Roundtable.” “This additional roundtable gives the chairmen a crisis situation to deal with but they don't know what the crisis is until they sit down,” explained Kathy Clark, executive director of NACUC. “In past years they've tackled the question of dropping NCUSIF insurance, a surprise bid to convert to a mutual savings bank charter, and the untimely death of the CEO.”

Other roundtables will cover such areas as CEO compensation, board innovations and secrets of a highly effective board. –jrubenscut@aol.com

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NACUC Takes Up Resolution on Volunteer Role in Trade Group Leadership

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