SAN JOSE, Calif. Meriwest CU’s Julie Kirsch, its chief operating officer since 1996, will slide into the CEO suite Tuesday upon the retirement of Christopher Owen, head of the $1 billion credit union since 1995.
“For years, we’ve been working together to ensure that we have a strong and balanced senior management team,” said Owen.
“Julie’s leadership and financial business acumen at Meriwest over the years has been highly impressive,” said Charles Munch, chairman of the board at Meriwest. “Her innovation, dedication, and ongoing development of the credit union and its operations are beyond comparison.”
Kirsch, who served as chief of marketing at the one-time IBM San Jose employees credit union before becoming COO, previously worked as manager of marketing research for AT&E in San Francisco, and as project manager at research spectrum in San Francisco.
Owen went to work at the IBM employees' credit union in 1991 and served as chief financial officer and chief operating officer before Kirsch.
