LENEXA, Kan. — After 36 years in the credit union industry, it is the collaborative service culture that CommunityAmerica Credit Union Chief Operating Officer Mike Patrick will miss most when he retires this summer.
"Credit union people are driven by the long-term vision of serving and valuing members, not by profits or by a corporate mandate to serve the bottom line," said Patrick.
Previously executive vice president of the Credit Union of Johnson County for 13 years, Patrick served as president/CEO of Yellow Financial Employees Credit Union from 1985 to 1998. Yellow Financial was renamed CommunityAmerica CU in 1996 and he became COO of CommunityAmerica when it merged with Members America Credit Union in 1998.
Recommended For You
During his 23-year tenure with CommunityAmerica, Patrick facilitated growth from $44.3 million in assets and 19 employees serving 14,400 members to $1.7 billion in assets and more than 450 employees serving 168,000 members.
In addition to his day-to-day COO responsibilities, he engineered the credit union's major sponsorship of CommunityAmerica Ballpark, home of the Kansas City T-Bones Northern League baseball team and temporary home of the Kansas City Wizards Major League Soccer club. He also was the architect of CommunityAmerica's relationship with Hy-Vee, Inc., an employee-owned food retail corporation that hosts several CommunityAmerica branches in the Kansas City area.
"I love to do the deal, particularly when the deal is all about credit union members who embrace us not just as a financial institution, but as a community resource. Venues such as CommunityAmerica Ballpark provide the kind of family-friendly environment important to strengthening our American way of life," Patrick said. "And the corporate culture of employee ownership, such as Hy-Vee, is consistent with the corporate culture of the credit union industry. In both cases, it's all about people serving and helping each other."
Patrick, 57, will complete his day-to-day responsibilities in April and serve as an adviser until June 30. Then, he and his wife, Kathy, plan to enjoy more time with their son and daughter-in-law, who reside in upstate New York.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
