Press
Xceed Financial announces promotions for Ray Shams and Bertha Gascon
New roles acknowledge executives’ achievements, recognize growing importance of lending to credit union’s future success
EL SEGUNDO, CA (July 2, 2015) – Xceed Financial Credit Union announced that it has promoted its Chief Operating Officer Ray Shams to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and its Vice President of Lending Bertha Gascon to the position of Senior Vice President of Lending and member of the Executive Management Team.
“The new title for Ray Shams reflects both the breadth of his current responsibilities at the Credit Union, as well as the importance of his role in the future direction of our organization,” said Xceed Financial President and Chief Executive Teresa Freeborn. “Bertha Gascon’s promotion is also well-deserved, and acknowledges both her outstanding contributions to our lending growth and the significant efficiencies we’ve implemented under her leadership.”
Shams, who joined the Xceed Financial team in 2013, has nearly three decades of finance and banking experience. In the short time he’s been with the Credit Union, he has introduced a host of strategies to enhance profitability and orchestrated new processes and efficiencies that spurred the most dramatic lending growth in the institution’s history. He has been an Investment Principal for a major national bank, and served several financial institutions as a Chief Lending Officer, head of Commercial Banking, and head of Private Banking. He also counseled financial institutions as Senior Managing Director for the management consulting firm The Affinity Advisory Group. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s of Business Administration with a focus in supply chain management from the University of La Verne in La Verne, California.
Bertha Gascon, who now takes on responsibility for all lending-related activity for Xceed Financial, joined the Credit Union’s team in 2011. She is an expert at developing policies and procedures, lending strategies, and best practices to streamline loan origination and servicing. A respected industry veteran, Gascon has spent three decades in the financial services industry. She began her career working for a large national bank in their consumer, mortgage, construction and commercial lending departments. She later worked at some of the largest credit unions in the nation, helping to create a business lending department, developing a department infrastructure, funding a sizeable business loan portfolio as well as overseeing all mortgage, consumer and collections. Gascon has attained Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
About Xceed Financial Credit Union
Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., Xceed Financial is a full-service, federally chartered not-for-profit workplace credit union that focuses on meeting the needs of businesses and their employees throughout the United States. With roots going back 85 years, it now has over $1.2 billion in assets under management, nearly 65,000 members, and operates 12 Financial Centers in five states. Xceed Financial partners with more than 300 employers – also called “select employer groups” or SEGs – to deliver personal banking, wealth management services, and financial education to working adults and their families. The Credit Union has a four-star, excellent rating from BauerFinancial, and was named one of CU Times’ “Best Credit Unions to Work For” in 2014. Learn more at www.xfcu.org.