The Credit Union Association of the Dakotas (CUAD) held their Annual Meeting on May 1 st at the Delta Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Fargo, North Dakota. The highlight of the meeting was the election of CUAD Board Members. The CUAD Board is made up of seven members consisting of three North Dakota division members and three South Dakota division members, along with one multi-state at-large position. Board members hold various positions on the CUAD Board of Directors that oversees the association as well as the Dakotas League Service Corp (DLSC), the for- profit service corporation of CUAD.
Here are the results from the 2019 election:
SD DIVISON C
Jerry Peterson – DLSC First Vice Chair, newly elected. Jerry is a current board member of Consumer’s FCU (Gregory, SD) where he has been a member since 1983. He began serving as a director in the early 1990s, and has been a board member ever since. He has also served on the South Dakota Credit Union League Board, and was on the CUAD Board when the two leagues first merged. Jerry recently retired from the Gregory County Register of Deeds, where he worked for 36 years. He continues to be active in community development and local charities.
ND DIVISON B
Lacey TerWee – Secretary/Treasurer, newly elected. Lacey began working at University FCU (Grand Forks, ND) in 2004. She worked as a part-time teller while attending the University of ND. After graduating from UND with a BA in Banking and Financial Economics, she became a full-time employee. She held the titles of Loan Officer and Director of Operations before becoming CEO in 2016. She graduated with High Honors from CUNA Management School in 2018, and holds the Certified Credit Union Executive (CCUE) designation. She served as Secretary of the Maurie C Byrne Chapter of Credit Unions from 2011 to 2017. She has served as the President of this Chapter from
2017 to today.
In addition, two current board seats were up for election, but were uncontested.
SD DIVISION A
Jarrod Reisner – CUAD Board Chair. Jarrod began working at Black Hills FCU (Rapid City, SD) in 2009. His current title is SVP/Chief Financial Officer. He graduated from SD State University with a BS in Management and holds a CPA license. He has been on the CUAD Board of Directors since 2016, is a member of the SD GAC, and is a current board member for Midwest Business Solutions, LLC dba Pactola.
ND DIVISION C
Darla Schafer – DLSC First Vice Chair. Before becoming the Manager of Flasher Community CU (Flasher, ND), Darla served on the credit union’s board of directors. When the previous CEO moved to another job, Darla was offered the position. She received an Associate’s Degree in Electronic Technology from Bismarck State College,
and also holds an Associate’s Degree in Theology from Yankton College. Darla is a long- time member of the Credit Union Foundation of the Dakotas (CUFD) Board, has been a member of the ND GAC for ten years, and previously served on both the North Dakota League Board and the CUAD Board.
Three current board members have seats with terms expiring next year, or later. Continuing to serve on the CUAD board are:
ND DIVISION A
Melanie Stillwell – First Vice Chair. Melanie has been the CEO of Western Cooperative Credit Union (Williston, ND) since 2002. Previously, she was the EVP at Western Cooperative CU and also worked for a number of years as an NCUA examiner. She holds a CPA Certificate and is currently on the ND State Credit Union Board. Her term will
expire in 2020.
SD DIVISON B
Jeff Schmidt – DLSC Chair. Jeff has been the COO of Voyage FCU (Sioux Falls, SD) since 2011, and will become the next CEO upon the retirement of the current CEO this year. Prior to that, he was the President of Midwest Partners FCU. He is a member of the SD GAC and previously served as president of the Sioux Valley Chapter for a number of years. His term will expire in 2020.
MULTI-STATE-AT-LARGE
Sean Rinkenberger – Second Vice Chair. Sean has worked at First community Credit Union (Jamestown, ND) since 2015, starting as Controller, and taking on the CFO role in 2016. He holds a CPA license and got his start in public accounting where he worked with financial institutions ranging in size from $20 million to over $1 billion in total assets. His term will expire in 2021.
Photo attached L to R: Jerry Peterson; Darla Schafer; Lacey TerWee; Melanie Stillwell; Jarrod Reisner; Jeff Schmidt; Sean Rinkenberger, and Jeff Olson, CUAD President/CEO.