TAMPA, Fla.–There should be no letup in the push for credit union influence in the Federal Reserve System even though progress remains slow, according to Wendell "Bucky" Sebastian, nearing his first year as a director at the a Fed bank branch.

"Every Fed bank should have a credit union CEO on their regional boards, particularly when you see the only locally-owned financial institution in town is a credit union," declared Sebastian, president/CEO of the $2.1 billion GTE FCU of Tampa and a director of the Jacksonville branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Sebastian is among a group of north Florida business and banking leaders on the seven-member Jacksonville branch board and looking back on his November 2006 appointment said the experience has proved instructive in gaining CU insight into the state's business climate.