MADISON, Wis. -- He describes himself as a "rehabilitatedattorney", but when Mark Meyer came to the Filene ResearchInstitute three years ago, the energetic, tell-it-like-it is leadersoon learned some of the skills he acquired in the law field wouldcome in handy.

Meyer, 39, executive director and CEO of Filene, is slowlybuilding a reputation in the industry as a proponent of creditunions stepping out of their traditional zones and taking morerisks in a "landscape that is ripe for change."

"It is absolutely, extraordinarily stimulating," Meyer said onhis time at Filene. "The type of people you're exposed to in thisjob, you can't put a dollar amount on it."

With that said, Meyer, who first came to Filene in January 2003as the director of innovation, can't mask his concern for creditunion CEOs who sincerely want to push the envelope, but say theyare shackled by regulatory thresholds and nervous boards. Meyerprovided an outlet for executives looking to "think out the box"when he founded i3, a group comprised of next generation creditunion leaders focused on identifying and implementing new products,services or business models aimed at transforming the credit unionindustry.

"Credit unions need to get around the talent issue and thiswhole notion of governance," Meyer said. "It's not right thatcredit union CEOs are not encouraged to take an appropriate amountof risk. That's not how other financial institutions operate. Theother piece is leadership. Is transformation happening now? It'sgood that we have Jim Blaine and Stan Hollen, who have createdCEOs."

Meyer is in awe of Filene's role in the movement and how theinstitute has worked to establish connections with notedacademicians and other purveyors outside of the movement to bring a"relevancy" and an awareness that may have not been apparent to theuninformed.

The importance of building alliances probably goes back to theeve of Meyer graduating from Northern Arizona University. TheIowa-born, Phoenix-raised soon-to-be-graduate recognized thathaving a Bachelor's degree would not mark the path to a leadershiprole he aspired to have one day. Earning a law degree from theUniversity of Nebraska, Meyer said the experience, along withworking at a prestigious Denver firm, helped to hone his reasoningand logic skills. While working in commercial and insurancelitigation proved to see both sides of cases that are often trickyto prove who's at fault, Meyer soon discovered that there was astronger calling.

"I quickly found that within six months, I was going down a paththat was not aligned with my path," Meyer said.

Meyer's first exposure to credit unions came through his collegeroommate, who had worked at Arizona State Credit Union. Theroommate was preparing to leave the job upon which Meyer seized onthe opportunity to talk with the CEO about filling the vacancy. In1995, at the age of 26, Meyer came aboard as vice president andlegal counsel at Arizona State CU--a career elevation that startledhim at first.

"How many CEOs would venture to hire a 26-year old in anexecutive role," Meyer recalled thinking. "You have to grow upthrough the ranks" is usually how the chain of command went.

During his six years at the credit union, Meyer made quite a fewfriends at CUNA Mutual Group. Ready for another transition, hisexposure to some of the company's top executives led to a series ofphone calls, a face-to-face interview and eventually a position asassistant vice president-credit union enterprises.

"It was a fascinating experience coming from a smallorganization with 300 employees to one with 5,500 employees," Meyersaid on his two years at CUNA Mutual. "It was run like a mini[General Electric]. My role was to work across product areas. Itwas a powerful experience."

When CUNA Mutual changed guard at the top, Meyer said he wasready for a new career move and through a series of meetings,landed the director of innovation role at Filene. In 2000, theinstitute's board recognized the myriad of new challenges withinthe credit union industry and set forth with research projectsreflecting those changes, Meyer said. His first project was a checkcashing initiative for members and nonmembers led by a series ofacademic studies by John Caskey, a professor at Swarthmore College.Meyer worked with a half dozen leagues on implementing the newmodel, which led to REAL Solutions, a project partially funded bythe National Credit Union Foundation and led by Lois Kitsch tobring "relevant, effective, asset-building, loyalty-producing"services solutions to those of modest means. Then, the concept of"i3" started to take shape.

"I had this very strange title--director of innovation. Incollaborating with several leaders and talking to boards, what Ikept hearing was missing was no one was provocatively looking atwhat it takes to get to credit union 2.0," Meyer said.

Twenty-five "innovators" came together for the first time in2004 to form i3 with Meyer at the helm. In addition to identifyingand evaluating innovations that met members' needs, the group, noneof which are CEOs, also worked together to develop strategies tolower costs and increase credit union operational efficiencies,build member loyalty, and meet the special needs of membersegments. Some of the group's well-known projects are a prize-basedsavings account and an "always a member" system that helps creditunions to move members seamlessly from one part of the country toanother. Through brainstorming, i3 members asked the hardquestions.

"What does it mean to be a cooperative," Meyer said. "Is CAMELrunning credit unions? What is the required competency to be a CEOtoday? That led to 'where is the future of credit unions' and areCEOs in a better position to lead credit unions."

The discussions probably also centered on some of the pressingissues of the day including membership growth, banking groupattacks and the thorny bank conversions.

"I'm a believer in market forces. If a credit union is going toconvert to a bank, the process needs to be fair and equitable,"Meyer said. "Filene has done research on other alternatives. It'spretty much about equality."

The unease still rumbling below the surface of the WingsFinancial/Continental merger shakeup

may have been a wake-up call, some in the industry havesaid.

"I didn't like it," Meyer simply said on Wings/Continental. "Ihad this feeling in my gut that this is something big. But look atwhat we can learn from this--the notion of member value. We're sohung up on ratios, which are key indicators of success, but whatare we doing for members?"

Putting on his research hat, Meyer said there are quantitativeways to look at member value and whether they even know "valueproposition."

"I see the Wings thing as the glass being half full," Meyersaid. "Why do credit unions exist and do members understand whythey exist?"

His role at Filene has been an "extraordinary experience," Meyersaid. Filene continues to work with bringing in experts fromoutside of the credit union industry to help see issues from adifferent perspective. Meyer is in the very early stages ofcreating a sabbatical model where credit union CEOs would be "onloan" to Filene for three, six, nine or 18-month periods to assistwith major research projects. On the road nearly 60% of the time,Meyer presses forth with building more alliances.

"One thing I'm struggling with is we always have to be swift andnimble," he acknowledged. "We've always had a small staff so it'snow, how can we create a mechanism to bring others in. Some of thathas been through the research council and i3."

With all that he juggles, Meyer said he is a "tenacious believerin work and life balance." He "revels" in being a dad to his threechildren and is working towards running in a marathon in Chicagolater this year. Meyer and wife Alicia will soon embark on a thirdhike of the Grand Canyon. The "quiet" history buff often looks tothe past as lessons for the future. Meyer describes his leadershipstyle as one who "leads from the middle." He much prefers to builda team and then push them to push the envelope.

"I would say I'm not the alpha, out-front person. If you'relooking for my name to be all over Filene, that's not my job. I usethe collaborative method. I'm learning more about who the realposition players are. They're not always in a focus group."

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