On-site: Wrap-up of the 2010 CUES Annual Convention

Wrap-up of the 2010 CUES Annual Convention
Randy Smith – CUinsight.com Managing Editor

The 2010 CUES Annual Convention wrapped up yesterday with attendees getting a behind the scene look at how the Disney Magic works in real time including a tour of the system of tunnels located beneath the Magic Kingdom.

Recap:

CUES 2010 was kicked off by Dale Schumacher, CUES Chairman of the Board and Pres/CEO of Tampa Bay FCU, laying the groundwork for this year’s event.  Mr. Schumacher spoke of the experience of professional development that attendees will participate in between both CUES and the Disney Institute.

The first general session, and the talk of the entire conference, was by Wendell “Bucky” Sebastian, the new Executive Director of the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) and former CEO of GTE FCU.  Mr. Sebastian got everyone’s attention by laying out his plan for a new charter of credit union called Financial Services Cooperatives (FSC).  Some of the highlights of Bucky’s plan; Caps on CEO Compensation based on averages of the rest of the credit union. This would be an opt-in designation. CEO’s required to be on board of directors.  Loans would be risk rated. Selective on membership, and include a capital share from every member.  But the hottest button was giving up the tax free status.

The morning breakouts were spent discussing Mr. Sebastian’s ideas.  The majority were against it based on two main issues: Taxation and distrust of the legislative process.  The overwhelming feeling was that by the time it made it through the legislative process it would be changed so much that many of the benefits would be gone and credit union would lose their favorable tax status.  The topic did spark a very constructive and sometimes heated discussion.

The morning wrapped up with breakout sessions focusing on the credit union leader’s role in building political influence, adapting fee income strategies, and 21st century governance leadership.

The afternoon breakouts included topics on preparing your credit union for a rising rate environment, executive benefits, and attracting and retaining talented senior management.

Patrick Adams, President and CEO of St. Louis Community Credit Union lead the afternoon general session with his presentation “Credit Unions: Renaissance or Roadkill”.  Mr. Adams discussed the changing environment in the credit union movement based on the market, competition, regulation and redefining member service.  Mr. Adams stated that credit union need to have a passion and purpose.  That there is a real opportunity for credit union because we’re not banks.  The problem is no one knows who we are.  Members, lawmakers and the media think we are banks.

The final day was facilitated by Disney Institute focusing on Disney’s approach to leadership excellence.  The key points of the Disney presentation were; how to adapt Disney’s leadership strategies and best practices into the credit union. Developing and communicating your vision.  Establish an effective structure to meet your goals. Apply Disney strategies to foster individual responsibility throughout the credit union. Inspire others. Implement your own action plan for continued leadership development of the entire credit union.  The CUES attendees were then shown the Disney approach in action on the behind the scenes tour of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

CUinsight.com was tweeting live from the entire event.  You can find the tweets at #CUES10 on Twitter.