Just as the number of households has grown, the small business sector has expanded. Even though CFCUF isn't into business lending in a big way, the credit union sees potential there.

"We are part of a CUSO involving six Florida credit unions, all in different markets, who have gotten together to provide business lending and underwriting," says John Hirabayashi, CFCUF president/CEO.

"On the deposit side we have an internal business services department. We're working on what is probably the most difficult part, which is integrating that line of business into your distribution and branch network. Of our 104,000 members, perhaps 10,000 are directly or indirectly involved with small businesses. We have about 1,000 business checking accounts."

So despite residents grumbling about traffic congestion, crowded schools and endless rows of new homes in what used to be rural land, the influx of newcomers has been good news for the credit union.

"It's a growing area viewed as an attractive state to live in," Hirabayashi says. "Before I came here I was in California, and many of the trends you saw on the West Coast years ago are starting to appear in Florida."

If potential members often don't really know what a credit union is, Hirabayashi can relate. In 1980 he had graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in finance. He needed a job. So when he saw an ad for a loan officer management trainee at Pentagon Federal Credit Union, he scurried to the library to find out what a credit union actually was.

He applied, and as it turned out Pentagon Federal was trying to emulate what many commercial banks were doing at the time. The idea was to hire recent college graduates and put them in a program exposing them to various aspects of the organization.

After nine years, he joined Patelco Credit Union as CFO. A year later, he moved on to Cal State 9 Credit Union as CEO. Then, in 1996, he accepted the job of CEO at CFCUF.

"Overall, from a career standpoint, I can't think of a whole lot of things I'd change," Hirabayashi says. "You're constantly trying to update your style and sharpen your skills. The job of CEO when I started here in 1996 is not what I do now. The demands are not the same. My interaction with the board and the leadership team is not the same. The question is always, 'What does the organization need right now?'" Florida is Hot for Growth

Like many others, Hirabayashi finds Florida attractive.

"There are many things that attract people to the state–quality of life, cost of living, business environment, job opportunities, housing. Any time you have a growing economy in a place where people want to live, that's got to be good news for consumer financial institutions."

But he believes it's more than just a stream of moving vans that has helped the credit union prosper. He credits the staff and leadership, including what he considers a very progressive board, in place not only now, but well before he arrived.

"A lot of times I think the opportunities are there, but those opportunities are seen as obstacles. Consider the field of membership. You can have a field of membership that is nationwide, but what you do with it depends on what you're allowed to do."

The challenge for CFCUF, he continues, is coping with an intense competitive environment. Many financial institutions are entering the market from out of state. Hirabayashi also cites a de novo bank that has just been formed. It's capitalized with $60 million. At a 10% capital ratio, that would support about $600 million in assets. "Whenever you see something capitalized at that level, you have to figure this is an attractive market," he says. Hirabayashi believes it's important to look at the whole bank versus credit union issue from a number of perspectives. He states a lot of what is going on has to do with the bankers' national and state trade associations. Those groups need a cause to retain community banks. Credit unions provide a convenient issue.

When CFCUF changed its name last year from Educators Community Credit Union, the idea was to reflect more closely the fact that three out of four members are not in the education community.

"I was looking at some of the age demographics, and we find members are getting older. We have a lot of baby boomers. If we don't attract new members, that could be a problem down the road. About 35% of our members are Generation X," Hirabayashi notes.

Hirabayashi, who is divorced, has four children ranging in age from 7 to 17. On weekends he tries to spend as much time with them as possible. A couple of months ago, remembering the family camping trips he enjoyed as a child, he bought a pop-up camper and took his two youngest children camping. He likes running and participates in 5K or 10K events. He has also joined a new YMCA in town and tries to work out three times a week. Golf and fishing are also on his list of hobbies. Hirabayashi compliments other members of the Billionaires Club. "Once you get to a billion and above, it's interesting that most of the credit unions are pretty darn good. They're high performing, they're all pretty efficient, most of them have good service," Hirabayashi says.

"Until recently we would track ourselves in the $600 million to $999 million segment. Now we're looking at the $1 billion to $1.5 billion segment. I think everything kind of improves. Efficiency improves. Services per member improves." –[email protected]