PORTLAND, Maine — A new education-based trade group, designed for New England credit unions, has been organized and will hold its second workshop meeting Sept. 29 in Manchester, N.H. backers of the fledgling New England Financial Executive Council announced last week.
"Our aim is to provide a low-key, low-cost conference with timely topics geared for credit unions in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts," explained Terry Field, steering committee chairman for the council which held its first meeting in February.
So far 35 CUs have signed up to start paying dues for the council organized by a group of Vermont and Maine CUs together with Tricorp Federal Credit Union, the Portland-based corporate.
Stephen A. Roy, Tricorp president/CEO, said the council's mission is keyed to "affordability" for CU executives in the four states to convene twice a year to share ideas reducing the expense of traveling long distances.
The Sept. 29 meeting to be held in Manchester on premises of the American Credit Union Museum will focus on "Best Practices for Indirect Lending" with speakers drawn from across the region.
They include: AVCU Vice President Bryan Kent and NorthCountry Federal CU Vice President of Lending and Administration Bob Morgan, plus CPA John Leonard of Wolf & Co.
Also speaking to the group will be Don Groves, deputy superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Financial Institutions, and Barbara Lussier, vice president of business development for Bellwether Community Credit Union.
Field, a director of Tricorp and also CFO of Vermont State Employees Credit Union of Montpelier, said the idea for the council grew out of discussions at Tricorp board meetings last year about providing a convenient forum in which executives could participate.
A rotating system of attendance is being developed in which different executives from the CUs will participate providing input on a broad array of topics.
"We know we can't afford bringing in a Bucky Sebastian," said Field referring to the Tampa, Fla. CEO of GTE Federal Credit Union.
Ray of Tricorp said the New England Council will not supplant any other trade groups like CUNA's CFO Council or the existing education conferences of the leagues, but will serve as an additional resource. –jrubenscut@aol.com
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.