INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -
According to Keith Kauffeld, chair of the Operations, Sales & Service Council, the GAC sponsorship is symbolic of the CUNA Councils' increasing prestige within the credit union movement.
"All six councils are showing great growth," he told the Credit Union Journal during the OpSS Council's recent conference here. "In an industry with less than 2% growth, the councils are growing 15% to 18% consistently every year."
The other five CUNA Councils are: CFO; HR, Training & Development; Lending; Marketing & Business Development; and Technology.
Sponsoring an event at GAC will help to further raise awareness of the councils, Kauffeld continued. He said many people "see the value of council membership" due in large part to the conferences the councils offer, as well as the opportunity to participate in listservs. The OpSS Council's listserv alone reaches 5,000 subscribers.
"When people come to our conferences, they get best practices; things they can implement. Our listservs give people a chance to draw on a large number of their peers."
In contrast, Kauffeld said, banking conferences are a vastly different experience. "Each bank sits at its own table. Everyone is tight-lipped; there is no sharing. At council conferences there is lots of discussion and sharing. People get the benefit of other people's work, including tactical advice such as branch design."
In addition to his OpSS Council duties, Kauffeld is VP of operations at Air Academy FCU in Colorado Springs, Colo.
