CU Democracy 2: Conversion Opponents Shut Out of DFCU Board

DEARBORN, Mich. – Three incumbent directors at DFCU Financial held on to their seats last week in the face of a challenge by candidates opposed to last year’s failed conversion of the $2 billion credit union to mutual savings bank, putting the ongoing effort to recall the board in question. The three won reelection by an overwhelming three-to-one margin in an unusually large vote, with 26,500 members casting ballots. “What it says is the membership has spoken,” Mark Shobe, president of the credit union who headed the ill-fated conversion bid, told The Credit Union Journal. About 500 people, many believed to be paid employees of the credit union, attended the regular annual meeting. Meantime, the conversion opponents, the self-styled DFCU Owners United, continues to wait word whether a state court will enforce the credit union’s bylaw and require a special meeting to vote on the recall. Almost 1,800 of the credit union’s 170,000 members signed a petition urging the special meeting. DFCU bylaws allow members to force a special meeting with just 500 signatures.