HUNT VALLEY, Md.-When Bernie McLaughlin arrived recently at Point Breeze CU as its new CEO, he had 33 years in financial services, 29 of those in banks. That bank experience, believes McGlaughlin, makes him neither more nor less effective at running the credit union.
Instead, what McLaughlin thinks is critical for any successful CEO is to have a broad background of experience in a bank or CU, covering as many areas of an institution's operations as possible.
"You need to have a broad base and understand as much as possible about how the financial institution runs," said McLaughlin. "My advice to any aspiring CEO is to gain this experience so you can best handle all the challenges that will come your way. And it doesn't matter if the experience comes at a credit union or at a bank, because their operations are much the same. A credit union is very much like a retail function within a bank."
McLaughlin came up through the marketing ranks in banking, learning all aspects of banking from consumer retail, to business lending, to finance, HR and IT.
No Resting On Laurels
But today's CEO can't just rest on experiences and skills accumulated over the years, noted McLaughlin. With the pace of change in financial services, ongoing training and continuing education are becoming increasingly important. "You have to keep up."
Before arriving at the $725-million Point Breeze in February, McLaughlin was CEO at the $135-million Members First in Manchester, N.H. There he was charged with turning around the CU, which he did. After losing $1.1 million in 2008, MFCU was profitable each of the last four years.
Prior to entering the CU movement, McLaughlin was VP of Marketing at Fourth Financial Corp. in Wichita, Kan., and had previously worked at Eastern Virginia Bank in Tappahannock, Va., as EVP of retail banking, and at Bank of New Hampshire in Laconia, N.H., as EVP of retail, small business services and marketing.
McLaughlin believes a strong CEO provides his staff with direction, makes sure company goals are understood by all, and that each person clearly knows the role they play in the CU's success, and then gets out of the way.
Micromanaging, Macro Problems
"Micromanaging can be the death knell of any CEO or financial institution," said McLaughlin. "You have to empower your team and trust them to make the right decisions, knowing that no matter how hung up they get in the daily minutia and tasks, they will pick their heads up from their task, look at that member, and make sure they are meeting their needs. Do that and all good things follow."
The new CU CEO also stressed the need for good two-way communication among all levels of the organization to foster open and honest dialogue. "I have a great board and staff and together I know we will accomplish a lot. It's a competitive area and we cover a number of communities and 500 SEGs. It is a very busy market with opportunity for consumer mortgage and business loans. But just like most credit unions, lending is our biggest challenge."
