VANCOUVER, Wash. — Roger Michaelis, longtime president and CEO of $509 million iQ Credit Union, said he plans to retire in October after 29 years of service.
The credit union's board of directors said it has begun a national search to replace Michaelis, who has steered the CU through growth and numerous changes in his three decades there.
Michaelis joined what then was known as Clark County School Employees CU as president/CEO in 1985. At that time, CCSECU had just $38 million in assets and a total of 36 employees, serving 9,500 members.
The CU changed its name in 2004, and in 2005 merged with City Employees FCU of Clark County. It currently is in merger plans with neighboring Lacamas Community Credit Union.
iQ credited Michaelis for much of its growth and success. The CU said his efforts to "guide innovation toward personal service and convenience" resulted in a variety of remote access accounts. First, through VIP TellerPhone, allowing members to access their account information over the phone and later becoming an early adapter of online banking.
Almost 20 years ago, Clark County School Employees started offering information over the Internet on its own web page. That same year, assets topped $150 million, with a rise in membership to over 25,000.
In 1996 electronic bill pay service was added. In recent years, iQ has added cooperative payments systems, shared branching commitments, tellerless kiosks trials and full mobile access technology.
The CU's field of membership has grown beyond Clark County to include the entire state of Washington. With the pending consolidation with Lacamas CU, the new organization is expected to have more than $725 million in assets, a staff of 250 employees serving approximately 70,000 members through 15 branch locations, plus five high school branches.
"For the past 29 years, our credit union has benefited and prospered from Roger's leadership," James Sork, iQ CU board chairman, said in a statement. "His tenure with iQ exceeds that of any current board member and his contributions to the business and nonprofit communities are significant."
Michaelis serves as a member of numerous regional and national professional and industry committees, councils, task forces and boards. He is currently on the board of Credit Union Service Centers, a division of CO-OP Financial Services. He received Washington Credit Union League's Distinguished Professional Award in 2004 and the League's Mark of Excellence Award in 2006.
