Capital Communications Federal Credit Union, Albany, N.Y., announced the hiring of Alysia Miller to its small business team. In this role, Miller is responsible for overseeing the credit union's commercial account programs. Most recently, Miller was the director of business development at the Schenectady County Community Business Center.

SOUTH

Community First Credit Union, Jacksonville, Fla., announced that Mark Fitzmorris was the recipient of the CFS' 2007 gold pacesetter award at the 2008 CFS "Focus, Commit, Evolve" annual conference. Fitzmorris is a registered representative affiliated with broker-dealer and registered investment adviser for CUSO Financial Services LP. The award honors the top producing registered representatives among CFS' 100-plus credit union programs. Fitzmorris has served the credit union for four years.

Grow Financial Federal Credit Union, Tampa, Fla., announced the appointment of John Trujillo to vice president, senior commercial executive. Trujillo has more than 34 years of commercial lending experience. Prior to coming to Grow Financial, Trujillo served in various senior management positions at places that include Mercantile Bank, Manufacturers Bank, Landmark Banks, NCNB and Regions Bank.

Virginia Credit Union, Richmond, Va., announced that Jeff Coward has joined the credit union has vice president of mortgage lending. Coward comes from Saxon Mortgage Co. where he has more than 15 years of experience. For the past six years, Coward was the senior vice president of pricing and analytics at Saxon.

MIDWEST

GCS Federal Credit Union, Granite City, Ill., announced that Staci Schaefer was appointed assistant branch manager of the Edwardsville location. Schaefer started at GCS in June of 2002 as a teller at the Granite City Maryville Road location.

Afena Federal Credit Union, Marion, Ind., announced the hiring of Jason Ford as new member relationship officer. Ford has 15 years of experience in the banking industry. Ford is involved in the Fairmount community and has served as the town's clerk-treasurer for the last six years. He is also a member and past-secretary of the Fairmount Lion's Club. He has coached baseball for six years for the Fairmont summer rec league and has served as past treasurer and board member for both the Crisis Pregnancy Center and the Park Elementary School PTO.

Landmark Credit Union, New Berlin, Wis., announced that Kent Eliason was hired as vice president and manager of the business department. Eliason has over 25 years experience in the financial services industry and was most recently vice president of business banking at another area financial institutions. Eliason is active in organizations such as Kiwanis, the Menomonee Falls Scholarship Foundation and the Menomonee Falls School Board's finance advisory committee.

Catholic Federal Credit Union, Saginaw, Mich., announced that Yvonne Metiva was promoted to supervisor of the Williamson Road Saginaw office. Yvonne has been employed at the credit union for the past 10 years.

WEST

Desert Schools Federal Credit Union, Phoenix, Ariz., announced that Lori Sevensky was appointed vice president of credit services. Sevenskly returns to Desert Schools after 12 years away as sales manager of a multistate division for TransUnion. Most recently, she was the national director of business sales for Merchants Information Solutions. Sevensky has a 25 year career in financial services. Sevensky will oversee credit services with credit assistance, loss mitigation and the soon to be created asset disposition departments reporting to her.