PLANO, Texas - Southwest Corporate FCU's new CEO is in a unique position to hit the ground running, having been with the $10-billion organization since 1992.
John Cassidy, formerly the corporate's chief financial officer, has been tapped to be Southwest's new CEO, about a year after Francis Lee left Southwest to become CEO of U.S. Central Corporate FCU.
"I believe an element of this decision is an affirmation to continue the direction Southwest has been taking," Cassidy told The Credit Union Journal, referring to the corporate board's decision to hire a new CEO from within its own ranks. "I see my job as continuing the momentum that Southwest has been developing. We've had a lot of success in expanding our products and services, particularly on the ALM and investment side and refining our image processing product and branch capture. My role is to continue that level of success that Southwest has had."
In his previous position with Southwest, Cassidy's focus was very much internal-giving him a real depth of knowledge about the organization, pretty much eliminating any learning curve an outsider would face coming into the corporate.
"There is really no adjustment period," he said. "My new role will allow me to get out to the membership more, which I am going to really enjoy. One thing I'm going to do is to seek input from all levels of the organization. This is a great opportunity to go into listening mode."
And there is plenty to listen to, he suggested. "Southwest has a great depth of resources and a high level of expertise. Our staff is terrific with extremely long tenures, so I'll be listening to what others have to say about this organization."
Jody Beck had been serving as interim CEO while the board engaged in a search for the new permanent CEO-a search that was put on hold when Southwest considered merging with Southeast Corporate.
That proposed merger came into consideration when Southeast CEO Bill Birdwell was asked if he had any interest in becoming CEO of Southwest. But that merger didn't pan out, putting Southwest back to square one on its executive search.
Though that merger didn't come to fruition, Cassidy said Southwest hasn't ruled out a future merger with some other partner at some point.
"Clearly we are interested in looking at other merger partners," he said. "Mergers have been part of the corporate landscape for a few years now and will continue to be for some time to come."
With Cassidy's promotion to CEO, Beck will resume her usual duties, which include directing several areas of Southwest Corporate's operations.
