Roger Shelor, Carolinas Telco FCU CEO, Passes

Funeral services were held in North Carolina last month for long-time CEO Roger Shelor, an industry champion who served the $332 million Carolinas Telco Federal Credit Union of Charlotte for 44 years. Shelor was 78. A past chairman of the North Carolina Credit Union League and a director for 17 years, Shelor was credited with guiding the growth of the AT&T-based CU since joining the institution in 1965 as an accountant for Southern Bell Telephone Co. Among his many honors, Shelor was named 1991 winner of the mark of excellence award from the league. “He was the heart and soul of credit unions,” declared Jim Blaine, a friend and president/CEO of State Employees’ CU of Raleigh. Shelor’s CU is credited with being the first in North Carolina to introduce real-time processing and one of the earliest to offer share drafts, Visa cards and telephone audio response. His CU grew from a single branch with $6 million in assets to 11 branches and 93 employees. In the 1980s and 1990s, Carolinas Telco operated one of the early mobile units that could travel to work centers and branch locations during disasters. In a letter to CTFCU members posted on the CU’s Web site, Board Chairman Eddie Veale said that through “his influence and leadership throughout the years at every level of credit union governance, he has brought great credibility to Carolinas Telco FCU.” Named as interim CEO of Carolinas Telco was Ray Cannon, chief financial officer, who joined the CU in March 1999. In serving the industry, Shelor spent five years, from 1990-1995, as chairman of the league and was a CUNA director and member of its lending, marketing and regulatory/legislative committees. A graduate of the Citadel, he served in the U.S. Army in Korea. He is survived by two sons and a daughter.