ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -
Burton L. Clyde, Sandia Area Federal Credit Union, Albuquerque, N.M.
Burton Clyde admits that he didn't really know what he was doing when he expressed interest in joining the board of Sandia Area Federal Credit Union in 1994. When he was elected chairman of the board in January 1995, the retired United States Air Force master sergeant was even less confident with his new position.
"I had leadership experience," said Clyde, named by NAFCU as this year's winner of the Volunteer of the Year Award (Assets $150 million or more.) "That meant I had been board chairman of the NCO Club for a couple of turns."
The Coral Gables, Fla. native quickly discovered this would be no club outing for the Albuquerque credit union. Sandia Area FCU was under the command of an interim CEO who had no interest in the position and no talent for making the institution grow. When NCUA came knocking at the door, Clyde knew he had to act, even though he was new to his elected position.
"We were a disaster and that was a fact. Our CEO didn't want the job and NCUA said we better find one who did," Clyde said. "I decided to conduct the search myself."
After 209 resumes had flooded his mailbox, mostly from unqualified candidates, Clyde began to suspect he'd made a mistake. With the help of Dr. Charles Idol, a credit union consultant who lived near Albuquerque, Clyde winnowed down the massive pile of applications to seven candidates. In the end, Sandia Area FCU hired as CEO Rick Rogers from the former OmniAmerican Credit Union in Fort Worth, Texas. (The credit union has since converted to a mutual savings bank.)
Rogers joined the credit union later in 1995, bringing the type of leadership Clyde said was lacking under the previous CEO. Four years of flat growth had caused the credit union to stumble in the regulators' eyes. Rogers reversed the trend and assets quadrupled over the next 10 years, a decade that proved to be one of the fastest-growing periods in the 51-year-old credit union's history.
Fate took an unfortunate turn in November 2005 when Rogers, then 47 years old, died suddenly. Here we go again, Clyde thought. This time, however, the credit union and its board found themselves in a much better position. Rogers had brought his management team from OmniAmerican, including Scott Connely, then Sandia Area FCU's executive vice president. After discussions among board members and meetings with Connely, who was under no pressure to accept the position, the former EVP became the credit union's new CEO, a transition Clyde describes as "seamless."
Clyde, Connely and the credit union board currently carry on the legacy begun under Rogers, including the doubling of credit union branches from three to six, the last one opened after Rogers' death. The branch has since been dedicated to his memory. In 2006, the credit union also raised $10,000 for the Children's Hospital wing of the University of New Mexico Hospital.
Despite the smooth transition and continued prosperity under Connely's guidance, Clyde makes sure neither his credit union nor his board are ever fully at rest. The chairman, who earned several master's degrees while in the military and now teaches at several area colleges including the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, a two-year college for Native Americans affiliated with the University of New Mexico, maintains a demanding schedule for both the staff and volunteers who serve the credit union's members.
"Every single board meeting is a strategic planning session for us. We need to know what's going on and we need to make decisions that benefit our members," said Clyde. Maintaining that focus without micromanaging staff is critical to any credit union's success, and so is being able to act quickly in times of emergency, with the proper plans and expertise in place to keep delivering member services, even in the face of tragedy.
Unfortunately, Burton Clyde and Sandia Area FCU know that drill better than just about anyone else.
