Behind Great Woman and Great Men

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The saying goes, “Behind every great man is a great woman.” Undoubtedly true our female readers will agree and most of the men when they receive the head-cocked, one eyebrow arched, steely-eyed glare from their female colleagues, mothers, sisters or significant others. You know the one.

Studies and experience have irrefutably demonstrated women’s superiority. Don’t believe me? Ask my husband, John. Or Donald Shoultz, our managing editor. Or Marc Rapport, our online editor. Or…you get the picture. Smart male leaders make sure their teams are diverse and part of that mix is women. No one deserves special treatment, but all things being equal, choose the professional and life experience your team is lacking. Dilute the testosterone.

With Credit Union Times’ Women to Watch program, we wanted to highlight and honor the women who throw themselves into supporting and leading credit unions. Our regular program is restricted to credit union employees, but for our Focus Report on pages 17-21 of this issue, we decided to also celebrate women working in organizations supporting the credit union community.

The most recent data show federal credit union CEOs lean toward the female of the species (54% according to the 2012 NAFCU-Burns-Fazzi, Brock survey of federal credit unions), and past studies show that’s in line with the entire industry. However, that ratio dwindles significantly when you look at the higher asset-size credit unions to just 17% women over $750 million according to the NAFCU data. As demographics and history progress, more female executives are growing into these roles, and we wanted to highlight them in various states of their career paths. Particularly when, as you’ll see on page 21, 66% of women 18-34 rate career high on their list of priorities compared to 59% of men.

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