SAN ANTONIO - He’s a former banker who loves the service side of the credit union movement. He’s also NAFCU’s Professional of the Year for credit unions with more than $150 million in assets.
Stephen Hennigan is executive vice president for San Antonio FCU here, as well as president of its CUSO, CU Factory Built Lending. He originally is from New Orleans, and came to the Alamo City to attend St. Mary’s University.
“In 1993, I was recruited by San Antonio Federal Credit Union from the commercial banking side,” he recalled. “Once I came over I never looked back. I didn’t know much about credit unions when I started other than the principles, which I thought were pretty cool.”
Hennigan said he feels “blessed” to be a part of many of the credit union’s initiatives that helped bring him the award.
“Probably the biggest venture was the CUSO, which brought manufactured housing lending into the credit union industry,” he assessed. “We have done about $800 million in manufactured housing loans in five years. We started and built it from scratch, and today have three buying offices across the country covering 43 states.”
CU Factory Built Lending is the second-largest lender in the market today, Hennigan reported proudly. He said the average loan is about $50,000, and the largest market for manufactured housing is in California.
The most important element, he continued, is the CUSO is attempting to help people afford housing. “The folks we are serving need shelter,” he said. “Their needs were not being addressed–by credit unions or by the market in general. Manufactured housing is an attractive, affordable alternative and a very nice product.”
Hennigan also is active in the community here. He sits on the board of the largest municipal electric and gas company in America. The board controls $8 billion in public assets, employs approximately 4,000 people and provides power for one-million. “We provide for a way of life for the region,” he declared.
NAFCU’s Professional of the Year is married to Tracy, and the couple has two “healthy and wonderful girls,” ages two and five. “Tracy works for Randolph Brooks Credit Union, so it is credit unions in the family,” he laughed.
Looking to the future Hennigan said as an industry, credit unions “really need to look at how we can get back to our original purpose: helping people.”
“We’ve been talking about ROA and efficiencies and all that stuff, but what we need to be is a service to society,” he asserted. “We need to help families provide for lifelong security–from student loans to retirement to the basic tools for work, such as computers or transportation. We talk about the need to compete, but with the amount of need out there, there is no shortage of areas where credit unions can help.
“I am all about doing what is right and having a higher purpose than ourselves.” (c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
