George McNichols, longtime president and CEO of Hoosier Hills Credit Union in Bedford, Ind., will retire on March 1, 2020.
The credit union said on Friday that the board and McNichols are working on creating a “smooth transition” to his successor. HHCU will hire a search firm to assist in what is expected to be a nationwide search.
McNichols has overseen tremendous growth since being hired in 1984 to serve as president and CEO of what at the time was called Bedford Independent Federal Credit Union. The CU had a field of membership that was limited to those who lived or worked in north Lawrence County. It held just $10 million in assets and had 10 employees.
HHCU now has $554 million in assets, nearly 200 employees and has eight service centers in south central Indiana. In October 2018, HHCU
Earlier this month, Hoosier Hills CU said it earned about
“As we have built our business, it was not because there were lots of new people moving into town. I think it really was because we offered a good alternative to the financial services they currently had access to,” McNichols said in a statement. “We have had a positive impact on the people who live in those communities, even those who did not end up coming to Hoosier Hills Credit Union for their financial needs and services, because of the impact we had on pricing and fees to other financial institutions.”
McNichols also has been active in state and national credit union trade associations. He served on the Indiana Credit Union League board for 13 years, including a stint as chairman, and spent 20 years on the state’s governmental affairs committee, with 12 of those years as committee chairman.
In 2015, McNichols was named to the Indiana Credit Union Hall of Fame.
On the national level, McNichols has been a member of the Credit Union National Association’s governmental affairs committee and as a member of CUNA’s Kitchen Cabinet, a national task force to explore alternative structural options for credit unions in the United States. In 2016, McNichols was appointed by then Gov. Mike Pence to the Indiana Board for Depositories as the first ever credit union representative on that board.
