Credit Union Times is very proud of its heritage andwhere it is going. This week we celebrate 20 years in print. Twentyyears of keeping the credit union industry informed. Twenty yearsof serving the credit union industry.

We've changed a lot in that time. Names on the masthead havechanged. Ownership has changed. The Internet has revolutionized theway the news is gathered and the way that it is provided-the wayyou, our readers, demand it. CUTimes.com has been online a fulldecade now. Over a year ago we introduced the digital version ofCredit Union Times. We're tweeting and posting onFacebook, venues not even conceived of 10 years ago, much less 20.Just last week we launched a blog.

Some may dismiss Twitter as a fad or feel that blogging isn'treal journalism. These may be true but that doesn't mean theyshould not be tried, including at credit unions, because they arewhat you make of them. The biggest obstacle to success andinnovation is the fear of failure (an epiphany of sorts I had,incidentally, by responding to a tweet a while back by a creditunion professional).

While social media can be a “fun” activity but it's serious workand cannot be jumped into without forethought. A credit union mustdecide why they want to do it, and it can't be because everyoneelse is. We use it as another avenue to share stories, to getfeedback on our columns and articles, it drives traffic to our Website (which can have a financial impact with advertisers), it letsus learn more about what readers want, and it serves as a newsaggregator to keep us informed.

Credit unions must think about their strategies. Just pushingout your latest promotion once a month is not going to cut it; youneed to ensure you have the wherewithal to keep the effort goingwith postings at least a few times per week if not per day. UseTwitter to push out financial education materials or mainstreamnews relevant to your members and then throw in some promotionalitems. It can't be all about you. For those of you who areconcerned you'll be slammed by a member somewhere along the way inthis very open forum. This just gives the credit union theopportunity to make things right in a very open forum as well.You're going to get slammed anyway. By the way, Twitter also letsyou search for mentions of your company so you can respond quicklyto these issues.

Twenty years ago Gen Y was crawling around, drooling. Now, GenYers may still drool, but they have money and future needs that youcan serve. Credit unions weren't thinking about Gen Y in itsinfancy but they sure are now, and many continue to break intoyoungsters minds earlier and earlier through financial literacyefforts in schools and online. Keep up that good work and an eye onthe future.

Within the last 20 years, 12 years ago to be exact, the CreditUnion Membership Access Act became law, which in part made iteasier for credit unions to convert to mutual savings banks. Whilethere hasn't been a widespread trend to conversions, there hasdefinitely been an uptick. The NCUA has taken an acute interest inthe subject; courts have ruled the agency acted in an arbitrary andcapricious manner in trying to stop conversions even. Since then,the agency has added several disclosure requirements for the partsof the conversion it can control; disclosure is good. However, theagency also includes on its Web site (www.ncua.gov) informationcomparing bank and credit unions savings and share rates. I'm notsure of the safety and soundness purpose this serves.

The board is proposing to require that conversion balloting beconducted in secret and tallied by a third party, which really isthe only way to hold a democratic election process, so this is agreat clarification.

However, a lot of things that should have changed over the last20 years have not. For starters, there are many board memberswho've been serving on their boards for the last 20 years or evendouble that. That historical knowledge is good to a point but ifmost or all of your credit union board has that length of tenure,it's time to shake things up. The best reason for this is that thecredit union board where each member has served 30 years is notlikely to be representative of your membership, and if it is,you've got even bigger problems.

Additionally, the requirements for running a credit union havedramatically changed in that time. Some board members may beeducated, savvy and interested enough to keep up and that's great,but honestly, how many board members continue to serve on the boardjust because they always have? The financial services marketplaceand credit unions have become much more sophisticated and complex,continuous and verifiable education efforts are a must. I was gladto see that the NCUA has proposed requiring volunteers to obtainbasic finance and accounting proficiency at its last boardmeeting.

One often hears about the trouble with recruiting board membersas part of the reason for a lack of turnover. The other reason youhear is you don't want just anyone on the credit union board. OK,so lay out requirements for board service then market yourelections. Ask for candidates. Burying an announcement on your Website or putting it in a statement stuffer is not enough. I can'ttell you the last time I so much as glanced at a statement stuffer.Posters in the branches would be a start. Splash it prominently onyour homepage. Local radio and cable would be nice too but possiblycost prohibitive for some credit unions. For SEG-based creditunions, the strategy behind marketing elections is ano-brainer.

The subject is a touchy one but cannot be ignored. The FileneResearch Institute is performing a survey through March 24 withsupport from CUES on strengths and weaknesses of credit unionboards. Thank goodness someone has the guts to raise theseissues-it's only been debated for 20 years.

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