NEWPORT NEWS, Va.-When Jean Yokum grabbed a ride with some friends in 1953 she had no idea that trip was actually taking her to a 58-year career within the credit union movement.
In that car Yokum spoke with a girl who worked at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory FCU and that led to a teller's job. Yokum worked her way up through the credit union-which eventually expanded and changed its name to Langley FCU-to take over as CEO in 1979. She will retire July 17 after leading the credit union for 32 years.
"It was just a casual conversation in that car that morning, but look where it carried me," said Yokum. "The girl told me about an opening for a part-time job so I took it. But the management liked my dedication to the credit union and my work ethic so I don't think I never worked less than 40 hours. I was pretty much full-time when I started."
All those years of service would never have come about if Yokum had not connected with the purpose of the CU movement, she said. "I never expected to love my job as much as I did. But helping people is something that I think is just in my makeup."
Yokum went from teller to eventually accounting and then to assistant manager before taking over as CEO. Yet in a period in which women typically had a difficult time advancing to leadership roles in business, Yokum believes she was able to break through the "glass ceiling" because she cared a great deal about the credit union.
"I was assistant manager at the time the CEO decided to retire. I was able to review all of the resumes that were coming through and I knew of all of the applicants. But I knew none of them were right for our credit union. So I talked with our board."
Last-Minute Resume
Yokum was not seeking the CEO job nor did she expect the board to recommend that she apply. But they did. Yokum provided her resume at the last-minute and the board quickly selected her.
During her tenure Yokum has certainly seen the industry evolve and she says the biggest impact to the movement has been the advancement in technology, helping credit unions extend their reach and serve more people effectively despite their size.
Much the same could be said for HR151, the landmark 1998 legislation also known as the Credit Union Membership Access Act. "It helped our credit union and it helped consumers because the little guys were not being served by the big banks-sound familiar?"
Yokum's credit union was always closely tied with Langley Air Force Base. Indeed, it initially served just a portion of the base-the Aeronautical Laboratories, before adding employees of NASA, and finally the entire base itself, something the Air Force wanted but the credit union at first resisted. Yokum recalled, however, that if the credit union had declined it would have had to move off base and then contend with a competing credit union with a huge field of membership. "We took them in around 1956, eventually changed our name to Langley, and it turned out to be the best thing we ever did. It gave us all the growth we ever needed."
When Yokum took over in 1979, the CU had begun expanding beyond the base's borders, with three branches and $76 million in assets. Today, Langley Federal still primarily serves the military, as well as some local SEGs, has $1.7 billion in assets and more than 180,000 members. "We never wanted to grow for the sake of growth. We wanted controlled growth to be able to take care of the members with world-class service."
Size Is Not The Goal
Yokum said the fact that a number of credit unions over the years have gotten bigger for the sake of getting big has been be detrimental to the industry. But overall, the ability to reach more people with much-needed products and provide service that is superior to banks has made charter expansion the right thing to do.
"I think the credit unions that have grown but have not lost the personal touch is what is important to this industry," observed Yokum. "I know our credit union has not lost its touch with the membership. We provide the same personal service as when I first came to this credit union. Now I may not know all my members names like I used to, and I may not be as familiar with all the staff as I used to be, but as long as your people who make contact with the members every day have that same dedication that I did when I started, you don't lose a bit of that one-to-one feeling that members come to credit unions for."
Yokum said she personally instills the importance of personal service to each new hire, meeting with them and explaining what the credit union and the CU movement is about, and what is expected of them. "Then training handles it from there. But I keep in touch with the entire staff on a regular basis, whether that be visiting our branches or holding monthly luncheons where I sit down with employees who have birthdays that month."
As Yokum moves on to retirement, she says Langley FCU and the entire credit union community are headed in a good direction. "I think Bank Transfer Day has pointed out a lot about what is right with credit unions. I know some have struggled recently and the industry has had it problems, but we are all in it for the long haul-because we have to be. There has to be an alternative to banks and we are it."
