LAKE TAHOE, Nev. — The Product Research Organization for Credit Unions will hold its sixth annual meeting and conference at Harvey's Lake Tahoe Casino and Resort here on Sept. 30-Oct. 2. The CUSO-services related group started out as the CUSO Management Association of California but outgrew the boundaries it set for itself.

PROCU became an idea-generating organization led by several well-known CUSO leaders, but stayed all-volunteer and decidedly informal by choice and design, said Becky Nilsen, CEO of Desert Schools Financial Services, LLC and PROCU director. "Respectfully, there are a lot of credit unions and CUSOs out there who need information and education and don't fit into the new NACUSO Cooperative model," said Nilsen, who has also served on the NACUSO board. Other prominent board members include Scott Jenner of Addison Avenue Financial Partners, Leonard Gzesh, of The Golden 1 Credit Union and Don Clark of Mountain America Credit Union, Utah.

PROCU's mission is to "provide a forum where new friendships can be forged and ideas can be exchanged. PROCU is unique, because it is the only meeting of CUSO and credit union executives that focuses on the exchange of ideas in an informal atmosphere," according to its Web site (www.procu.org).