WASHINGTON – CUNA has hired executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates of New York to help it find a successor to Dan Mica, who has announced he will step down as head of the credit union group in January 2011.
Plans call for the firm to provide the group’s CEO search committee with recommendations for at least one candidate from inside the credit union movement and one from outside, according to sources familiar with the search.
Separately, CUNA insiders say a top candidate could be FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, who has worked with the credit union lobby and has risen to national prominence during the current banking crisis.
Other candidates being discussed are: Texas CU League President Dick Ensweiler; Bill Cheney, president of the California and Nevada leagues; former NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar; and, former NCUA and Federal Housing Finance Board member Geoff Bacino.
There are not expected to be any shortages in candidates for the position, which paid Mica $1.9 million last year, one of the highest compensations for a Washington trade association executive.
Mica, 65, a former Congressman, has led CUNA for 13 years.
