WILSONVILLE, Ore. — Buffeted by consolidation, the structure andmanagement of state leagues seem to be undergoing a significantmetamorphosis, and if you ask two recently retired veterans of thetrade groups, there's no exact telling of the outcome but theirfervent hope is it benefits the industry.

“Look, we're now a state that has strong credit unions, ahandful of very large, healthy ones as well as small ones that dojust fine but, of course, we've come from a high of 284 creditunions down to 80 and so that has brought about change,” explainedEugene Poitras, the retired president/CEO of the Credit UnionAssociation of Oregon.

And in Peoria, Ariz. Gary L. Plank, the retired president/CEO ofthe Arizona Credit Union System, voices a similar refrain but notesalso that the days of leagues “serving as the hands-on, back officemanagers balance the books, do the training and consult on loans islong since gone.”

Moreover, observes Plank, CUs “which used to be extremelyreliant on their trade association” for those kinds of skills haverecruited their own sophisticated and professional managers to dothe job prompting leagues to chart out a new course in thosetraditional roles of lobbying and advocacy.

Still, whether mergers and the decline in CU numbers will forcesome form of regional structure or governance is very much an openquestion.

“I know Dan Egan has that kind of structure with those threestates in New England but for those out here in the West, thedistances are simply too great for that to work very well,” arguesPlank commenting on the long-standing management agreement betweenMassachusetts, where Daniel Egan Jr. is president/CEO, and the NewHampshire and Rhode Island leagues.

While the existing California/Nevada and Colorado/Wyominglinkups of recent years were in large part anomalies, conditionstoday marked by tax and field of membership battles with thebanking lobby likely dictate continual “autonomy” for individualleagues, maintained Plank, who officially retired last July.

Plank, 66, who was succeeded by Scott Earl, a CUNA vicepresident and former head of the Utah League of Credit Unions,argued that the future of leagues relies more heavily on preventingfractures between big and small CUs.

In essence, that means keeping them together to pursue commongoals and in his 42 years of trade group management that can be adaunting task.

Without mentioning Navy Federal Credit Union by name and itsCUNA resignation related to a dispute last fall in the Virginialeague over a lobbyist's role on payday bills, Plank said suchrifts must be avoided at all costs.

“That kind of thing is extremely distressing and tears at thevery fabric of the movement,” said Plank arguing that the leaguemanagement job can often be extremely difficult “since you have toget so many of your largest credit unions” to agree.

When that kind of issue arises, “people get excited and it issimply not easy to get them to work together,” Plank concludedadding that he has always stressed to Arizona CUs “that we havemore to gain with a united voice.”

When large CUs attempt private lobbying efforts, “it simplyscrews up the works,” said Plank.

Meanwhile, the 65-year-old Poitras, who retired Nov. 30 as headof the Credit Union Association of Oregon, said the problems in hisstate have focused on the economic impact of losing so many smallCUs over the years.

“Ever hear of the spotted owl?” asked Poitras. The Oregon outcryover saving the endangered bird figured indirectly in the merger ofso many small CUs tied to long-since shuttered logging mills acrossthe state.

“When the small wood product mills went out of business, so didtheir credit unions,” said Poitras.

And so now, the CUAO, which over the years has outsourcedseveral services to outside vendors including education andconvention management to the California Credit Union League hasbeen looking once again at signing management pacts, perhaps withCalifornia or the Washington Credit Union League.

“That's an issue for the board to decide,” said Poitras whothough officially retired and “planning to take up skiing again”spends time out of his Wilsonville home doing CU consulting on bothlocal and state political issues.

Poitras, who had been CUAO president/CEO since 1993, is a formerAlaska-based teacher for the Bureau of Indiana Affairs andpreviously served as a director of a Farmers Insurance Groupunit.

As for Plank, the former chairman of the World Council of CreditUnions, he has spent the last six months of retirement on the golfcourse, on a Mexican Riviera cruise, and enjoying hisgrandchildren. And “when I need a break,” he said he runs up to hisPinetop, Ariz. cabin home.

Plank who said last year that after retirement he might takeanother CU job or do consulting has now dropped that idea entirely.“I find retirement stress-free,” quipped Plank.

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