BACK ON THE BUS

Credit Union Management,  Jun 2004  by Pratt, Laura

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GETTING SERIOUS

Once directors understand that theirs is a job in its own right, Radford believes, they start to take pride in fulfilling its expectations. And the fear factor left in the wake of the Enron disasters of the world cannot be underestimated for its influence on encouraging directors to enhance their knowledge. "With increasing public accountability expectations by ownership," she says, "many directors are now getting more serious about education, training and development."

At $1 billion, 120,000-member Educational Employees Credit Union (www.eecufresno.org), Fresno, Calif., for instance, board members are required, through policy, to attend two educational conferences a year. The nine-member board picks conferences that are devoted to director improvement. When they return, there's an expectation that the "student" will present a written report to the board.

More exceptional is the credit union's requirement that its five supervisory committee members also attend conferences related to their supervisory duties. New board members are asked to complete three on line courses through the CUES Director Education Center in their first year, and another three in their second.

Through the board's "associate volunteer program," anyone who is interested in a supervisory committee role, or a board position down the line, can petition and apply to be an associate volunteer. A maximum of three individuals are selected each year and work with the board or the supervisory committee for up to two years. During that period, they're expected to attend one conference each year and participate in a number of CUES online director education courses.

"I think what we're doing with the associate directors is pretty interesting," says DEF member Barbara Thomas, chairman of the board at Educational ECU. "It costs the credit union some money to keep them educated but, at the same time, you get to observe a potential board or supervisory member and how they act and what kind of enthusiasm they bring to what they're doing."

Director education overall, Thomas says, is critical for the part it plays in helping the board to be consistent with each other and for keeping everybody up to date with current laws and practices. "And I think, as the competition increases out there for financial services, whether it be a bank or another credit union, you have to be knowledgeable so that you and your CEO don't make any mistakes that are going to be harmful to your members. All these kinds of things help the board function better."

Laura Pratt is a Toronto-based free-lance writer who writes for a variety of publications.

Copyright Credit Union Executives Society Jun 2004
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