Pamella Easley has been appointed the new president/CEO of business lending CUSO Business Partners LLC.

With Easley at the helm, the Chatsworth, Calif.-based CUSO, which was founded and once owned by the defunct Telesis Community Credit Union, also unveiled a strategic growth plan focused on improving the company's core business.

Previously, Easley was CEO of the $550 million American First Credit Union in La Habra, Calif. Her career experience also includes managing director and senior-executive level positions within the banking industry and building and managing multi-billion dollar loan portfolios, according to Business Partners.

The CUSO had been operating under the direction of its three credit union co-owners prior to Easley's appointment.

“We are getting back to our roots of serving as true partners to the credit unions and I am encouraged by the growing demand from borrowers and the credit union industry to grow balance sheets where Business Partners can help,” Easley said.

Business Partners Chairman David Maus said Easley “has earned a reputation within the industry as an operational and enterprise risk management expert by successfully leading risk consulting practices for credit unions, and regional and large-scale banks.”

Going forward, Easley said the CUSO is focusing on helping its credit union partners diversify their portfolios beyond residential and consumer lending options and building products and services that are innovative, sound and aligned to their current financial goals and business needs.

“Credit unions are expanding their options with respect to balance sheet diversification,” Easley noted. “Last year's low interest rate environment drove demand for residential mortgages that placed many credit unions near their portfolio caps.”

She added, “Credit union management and boards of directors will need to explore financial and risk mitigation strategies by engaging in business loan participation lending, supported by the appropriate risk management infrastructure, internal skills and knowledge, and corporate governance.”

Founded in 1995 by Telesis, for much of 2012, Business Partners had been operating under the management of the NCUA after the regulator was appointed the conservator of Telesis in March 2012 shortly after the California Department of Financial Institutions shuttled the troubled credit union into conservatorship.

In November 2012, Business Partners announced three new principal owners of the CUSO: the $1.3 billion Public Service Employees Credit Union in Denver of which Maus is president/CEO; the $644 million Great Lakes Credit Union in North Chicago, Ill.; and the $630 million Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union in Los Angeles.

Business Partners has more than a dozen credit union shareholders and serves more than 150 credit unions nationwide.