ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Robert Scott has dedicated much of his life to helping credit union members, serving on Pentagon FCU's board of directors for the last 28 years.
And it is that service, and a long list of accomplishments, that earned Scott NAFCU's 2014 Volunteer of the Year for CUs above $250 million in assets.
During his PFCU tenure, Scott has participated in more than 336 board meetings, 840 committee meetings and 56 planning conferences — and his stewardship has coincided with the PenFed membership growing from 400,000 to more than 1.3 million — and to more than $17.6 billion in assets today.
Scott has chaired numerous committees, including employee benefits, financial management, planning, education, nominating and the foundation board. He has also been a member of those committees.
A History Of Involvement
But if asked 30 years ago if he thought his life would take a credit union course, he clearly would have said, "no way."
Scott explained to Credit Union Journal that he got involved with the PFCU board because he was not happy at one point with the service he received as a member.
"It was maybe 32 years ago and I had just retired from the military," recalled Scott. "I called the credit union to transfer money from my share account to an IRA, got an MSR, and she told me I had to come into the credit union to do that transaction. I said that is preposterous, especially for a worldwide credit union."
But the MSR did not budge, and Scott then spoke with higher-level management, eventually reaching Frank Pollack, then a VP of operations. Pollack ended up leading PenFed as CEO for 13 years, retiring in April when James Schenck took the helm.
Pollack made sure the money transfer was completed without Scott having to stop by and mailed Scott a copy of the transfer receipt. That same day, Scott received the CU's monthly newsletter that said the credit union was looking to fill a seat on the board.
"I said to myself, 'This outfit needs some straightening out,' and I sent in my resume. In a few weeks I appeared in front of the nominating committee," said Scott.
The committee chose another candidate, but Scott saw another chance to make changes at the credit union.
"In the standard form letter the credit union sent stating they would not support me for the board seat, it noted I could apply by petition," said Scott.
Which he eventually did, with help from his family and the U.S. Warrant Officers Association.
Stuffing Envelopes
A retired military warrant officer, Scott learned the association was planning a mailing to the association's membership. "So my family and I stuffed more than 1,000 envelopes with my petition. I had to get 300 signatures, and I think I got more than 500."
Meantime, one of the credit union's directors vacated his board seat to head PenFed's new insurance and investment CUSO and the CU asked Scott to fill the spot.
"The following year I ran for election and I have been on the board ever since," said Scott.
Over the last 28 years Scott has seen the demands of board members change, especially around the need for education, as credit union complexity has taken off.
He encourages colleagues to take advantage of the opportunities available at NAFCU conferences and other educational venues, and he leads by example, having earned the Certified Credit Union Director designation as well as the Credit Union Development Educator and DUDE designations.
Looking back on his CU career, Scott said he got so involved with PenFed that "it became my life. I am getting to the age now, going on 79, that I have to back off. The most important thing in my life has always been my family. But the second most important thing — and 30 years ago I never would have seen myself saying this — is the credit union."
