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How Seattle Credit Union Escaped Board Entrenchment

CEO Richard Romero describes the difficult process of creating a board that understood the CU’s targeted low-income members.

Richard Romero Richard Romero speaks during Filene’s “Beyond Diversity: The Value and Impact of DEI for Credit Unions.”

Credit union governance experts have long agreed that as a best practice, credit unions should build a board of directors that represents their membership. For Richard Romero, president/CEO of the $896 million Seattle Credit Union, the process of replacing long-tenured, out-of-touch board members with a younger, more diverse lineup was at times “painful” and even led to one inflexible board member abruptly resigning during a meeting.

Romero, who received CU Times’ Trailblazer Award for CEO of the Year in 2018, discussed his board’s transformation with Sekou Bermiss, associate professor for the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, during Filene Research Institute’s virtual “Beyond Diversity: The Value and Impact of DEI for Credit Unions” event Wednesday.

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Natasha Chilingerian

Natasha Chilingerian

Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.

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