Over the last six months, PamEasley has likely been on the road as much as in the office talkingwith CEOs, senior executives and boards to find out what's workingand where improvements are needed.

Business Partners LLC, a business lending CUSO, recently forgedyet another path when Easley was named president/CEO of the entityfounded and once owned by the failed Telesis Community Credit Union. Her official first day on thejob was Oct. 23, 2013 but the CUSO made the public announcement inMarch.

“Our new story is about listening, customer service and being apartner to credit unions,” said Easley. “The first step was to goout to the industry and ask for their feedback. It's about beingattentive and aligned to a credit union's portfolio needs.”

In fact, Business Partners conducted a survey with credit unionsto pinpoint where their needs were and when CU Times talked withEasley, the results were due to roll in. Meanwhile, through hervisits to some of the CUSO's more than 170 credit union partnersaround the country, Easley said she's hearing feedback oneverything from expanding current participation loan programs tohow to set up internal guidelines that look at optimizing lendingand underwriting.

Easley came to Business Partners nearly a year after the CUSOannounced three new principalowners: the $1.3 billion Public Service Employees Credit Unionin Denver; $644 million Great Lakes Credit Union in North Chicago,Ill.; and the $630 million Farmers Insurance Group Federal CreditUnion in Los Angeles.

With the new owners, came several key changes including areduction in overhead expenses that helped Business Partners post a profit for the first three months in2013. Those cuts included base salary and benefits for the CUSO's45 employees at the time. Easley said there are now 42 employees.Last November, Business Partners also moved its headquarters fromChatsworth, Calif. to nearby Northridge.

Additional moves included the formation of a credit reviewcommittee, consisting of the chief lending officers from BusinessPartners’ primary owner-credit unions, the CUSO said. Their mainresponsibility is to ensure that each loan originated throughBusiness Partners meets particular lending criteria.

During the previous loan review process, credit unions hired athird party to review the loans and make the recommendations.Internally, credit unions were required to approve and underwritethe loans. Now, before a loan gets to the loan participation level,the originator presents it to the credit review committee to ensurethat it's strong enough to take to the participating creditunions.

Easley said she meets with Business Partners’ board of directorsand managing partners each week to discuss the CUSO's statusreport. Getting to know the staff, she's discovered they are justas enthusiastic about the future.

“I couldn't ask for a better team. They’re knowledgeable aboutparticipations and business lending,” said Easley. “The averagelevel of commercial lending experience is 15 years, which is reallygreat.”

Business Partners ended 2013 in positive territory, according toEasley. However, like many credit unions and CUSOs in the businesslending space, there's been some runoff, which is being managed,she noted.

Before coming to Business Partners, Easley was CEO of the $550million American First Credit Union in La Habra, Calif. Her careerexperience also includes managing director and senior-executivelevel positions within the banking industry and building andmanaging multi-billion dollar loan portfolios. Easley said she isknown in the industry for being a restructuring and turnaroundexpert.

“She has earned a reputation within the industry as anoperational and enterprise risk management expert by successfullyleading risk consulting practices for credit unions and regionaland large-scale banks,” said David Maus, Business Partners chairmanand president/CEO of Public Service CU.

As for creating a strategic growth plan focused on improvingBusiness Partners’ core business, Easley said the first 90 days inher new role was spent assessing where the CUSO was and thendeveloping a new vision with the managing owners and board. Theplan is still in the development phase but is expected to befinalized in May, according to Easley.

Internally, the CUSO has updated its corporate values to includea focus on service, culture, high integrity, innovation andaccountability, said Easley. Developed by employees at BusinessPartners, the revamped values are hallmarks of a culture that ismoving forward along with encouraging a climate of opencommunication and knowledge, she added.

With a national reach, Business Partners is currently buildingcapabilities in the Midwest, said Easley. Because a lot of creditunions have hit their residential and consumer loan caps, the CUSOis hoping to encourage them to consider participation lending. Theloan arrangement is still new territory for some and that's whydeeper communication has expanded to not only chief lendingofficers but boards, CEOs and chief financial officers. That depthwill help understand portfolio needs including asset and liabilitymanagement and risk appetite, she explained. Changes as small asupdating Business Partners’ website to making larger improvementsin technology are also set to take place.

While the CUSO is looking ahead, some have said the financialwoes of Telesis, Business Partner's founder, put a taint oncommercial lending and participation loan programs leading toregulators stepping up scrutiny of all types of CUSOs. Founded in1995 by the defunct Telesis, for much of 2012 Business Partners hadbeen operating under the management of the NCUA after the regulatorwas appointed the conservator of Telesis in March 2012 shortly after the California Departmentof Financial Institutions shuttled the troubled credit union intoconservatorship.

“The previous culture was well documented in the press so Iwon't comment on that,” said Easley. “A critical point from theownership was not only making sure a new leader came from thecredit union industry but that the leader understood the situationand could deal with moving a company with some legacy challengesforward.”