Spokane, Wash. – In his President's Address Wednesday morning atthe Northwest Credit Union Association's MAXX Convention, Troy Stang gave leaders from credit unions inWashington State, Oregon and Idaho an ambitious call to action:Increase their share of the Northwest market from 50% to 75% by2025.

He listed member experience, advocacy and building consumerawareness as the three key focus areas that will help members ofthe Northwest credit union movement achieve that goal. “Knowingthis crowd and this movement, I'd say, mission possible,” theassociation's president/CEO said.

He said when it comes to capturing non-members, credit unionleaders should keep in mind that members and non-members in facthave similar values – while non-members tend to be a bit youngerthan the typical credit union member, they are also tech-savvy,love all things local, want to be a part of something bigger thanthey are and want to get the best value out of their financialproducts. “We must elevate our passion around who credit unionsare, and make sure everyone knows they have a choice to do businesswith a credit union and not a Wall Street bank,” Stang said.

Stang noted the biggest barrier to gaining more members – and abigger share of members' wallets – is a lack of consumer awarenessabout credit unions. Many consumers still don't understand thatcredit unions are accountable to their members, and others havemisconceptions that credit unions are only for the needy or thatthey are not safe and secure places to store one's money, forexample.

A key piece of successful credit union advocacy, he added, willbe telling members' personal success stories so that electedofficials can fully understand the impact credit unions have onconsumers' lives. “We have to ignite the 25,000 people who work forcredit unions in the Northwest [to tell those stories],” hesaid.