NAFCU Board Chair Ed Templeton was shocked when he learned the executive committee of CUNA's board canceled a meeting with the executive committee of NAFCU's board at the 2016 Governmental Affairs Conference.

The event had been a longstanding gathering for the nation's two national credit union trade organizations.

For years, the executive boards of both trade groups would meet twice a year, once at NAFCU's Congressional Caucus in September and then at the GAC, to discuss industry-wide issues. It was also an opportunity for executive committee members and staffers at both ogranizations to build professional relationships.

“It was a mortifying shock,” Templeton, president/CEO of the $732 million SRP Federal Credit Union in North Augusta, S.C., said. “I did not expect that at all.”

According to Templeton, Susan Streifel, former CUNA board chair and president/CEO of the $96.7 million Woodstone Credit Union in Federal Way, Wash., canceled the GAC meeting because the CUNA executive committee would be too busy.

What's more, according to Templeton, Streifel said CUNA felt the meeting was no longer necessary because CUNA was not getting any takeaways from it. CUNA also pulled the GAC passes for NAFCU's executive committee members.

Streifel did not return phone calls and emails from CU Times seeking comment last week. In addition, CU Times emailed Streifel a list of questions, to which she did not respond. Zan McKelway, deputy chief of strategic communications officer for CUNA, also did not respond to CU Times' calls and emails seeking comment.

“I'm very distressed about this and I don't like it,” Templeton said. “It is a let down to the industry because the industry expects us to get together. Nobody [on the NAFCU board] was happy about it because everybody feels the same way as I do on this.”

Templeton said Steifel did not say that canceling the meeting was a CUNA board decision, but that his inference was that the cancelation was something the CUNA board was aware of.

“As the NAFCU board chair I would be remiss to have canceled the CUNA biannual meeting without making sure that the board was 100% on board with it,” he said.

Incoming NAFCU Chair Richard L. Harris, president/CEO of the $1.3 billion CalTech Employees Federal Credit Union in La Canada, Calif., said it's NAFCU's desire to keep the lines of communication open with CUNA – despite the politics of the two associations – so that the two trade groups can continue to speak with one voice on Capitol Hill.

“The interest of the industry should be put at the top of the list,” Harris said. “And certainly, the interest of the industry is that the two associations that have been in place for decades should be openly communicating so that we're all fighting the same fight. That's the value of insuring we are working toward the same end by meeting together and being able to clearly establish that we're together on the issues.”

Although Templeton acknowledged the meetings between CUNA and NAFCU did not produce new takeaways, he said he believed that to be a good sign.

“The perspective that they [CUNA] probably took is that we really aren't learning anything new, so why do we have to meet,” Templeton said. “Our perspective is that I think it's great we're not learning new things. To me, that is a reassurance that we are on the right path. We may not be holding hands, but we're walking down the path together, and I think that was really what we were looking for was the reassurance that we don't have any issues.”

Moreover, Templeton said another purpose of the CUNA-NAFCU meetings was perhaps even more important for him.

“It let us, as executive committee members on both sides, develop personal relationships and it allowed us to have some interaction with the staff,” he explained. “I think relationship building is the key to understanding. I think the interpersonal relationships, at least for me, were very, very positive through the whole process. Quite honestly, that's the part that really hurts.”

Templeton also said he did not see the relationship sour between CUNA and NAFCU.

“I actually saw the relationship blossoming, and I mean that quite sincerely,” he said. “In my 10 years on the board, I saw the relationship between NAFCU and CUNA go from a two and a half to a nine.”

He also said he has a positive relationship with Streifel.

“Susan and I have built, and I still think, a very good relationship,” Templeton said. “We were kumbaya.”

But a remark made by new CUNA Board Chair Rod Staatz, president/CEO of the $2.9 billion State Employees Credit Union in Linthicum, Md., during his speech at the GAC's general session, indicated that the relationship between CUNA and NAFCU is not exactly kumbaya.

“Quite honestly, what happens if you think advocacy is just here in D.C. and it's not working with the leagues and credit unions, if it's just a few people here – even though they'll do a great job more than likely – here's what happens, that wheel [of a united CUNA, league and credit union advocacy system] doesn't roll; it's that simple,” Staatz said in his speech. “That wheel doesn't roll, and as a matter of fact if you take a look at the way that's depicted, that kind of reminds me of some other trade association that's not a system. It's just somebody here in D.C. that wants to do some advocating and take your money. If you want a system, you want CUNA, you want the leagues and you need to be involved as well.”

CU Times reached out to Staatz via emails and phone calls to comment on why CUNA's executive committee decided not to meet with NAFCU during the GAC and NAFCU caucus in September, but did not receive a response.

Nonetheless, Templeton said he understood why CUNA canceled the September meeting – he said the board was instead meeting to discuss the industrywide controversy of the bylaw changes that would allow credit unions to join their state league without being required to join CUNA, or to join CUNA without being required to join their leagues.

“I understand schedules and that was their call to make,” Templeton said. “So we went along with it and reached out to them later [in October and November] to go ahead and get on their calendar for the GAC. We did not sense any negativity, but we got just a little bit of, I won't say pushback, but a little bit of a lack of responsiveness.”

What might be straining the CUNA-NAFCU relationship is the controversial membership choice issue, given it could lead to fierce and unfriendly competition between the two trade organizations for credit union members.

If CUNA's membership approves the proposed bylaws that would allow membership choice, some credit unions that decide to join their league without joining CUNA may opt to join NAFCU instead.

Though no one knows exactly how membership choice will affect the national trade groups, one thing is for certain: The NAFCU board wants to revive its biannual meetings with the CUNA board.

Templeton also said he plans to contact Staatz.

“What causes me to think that I'm going to convince him is that time heals a lot of things; time changes a lot of things,” he said. “CUNA has had a lot on their plate over the past four, five months with the task force report, the position they took and then the position they had to take later.”

He added, “The NAFCU board is fully committed to these meetings. We want to keep the doors of dialogue open and keep the relationship building. I think the meetings are meaningful. I think they are important, and I think the industry needs to know that the two organizations representing them are on the same track even though they may be marching to different drum beats.”