BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-There will be plenty of quality applicants lining up to replace the coming wave of retirees at the CEO level in credit unions, and one person said that's thanks in part to the bankers.
"The ranks of potential CEO candidates is getting stronger every day," said Dennis Dollar, principal partner at Dollar Associates. "Training is at a higher premium in CU land today than at any other time in history, both internally within credit unions and through external sources. Combined with a growing number of community bankers now becoming available because of mega-bank mergers and buyouts, the pool is quite strong today."
Dollar, whose firm has recently added formal executive recruitment services, noted that in most cases the transition from community bank to CU is a smooth one, in part because the priorities are so similar-a focus on community, helping people and forging long-term relationships.
On the other hand, he said, bankers from the likes of Citi and BofA "often have a tough time adjusting from the Wall Street, stockholder-driven, bureaucracy-laden approach ... to a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative."
The Real Life Lessons
While graduate degrees or certifications from CUES and other groups are a plus for CEO candidates, said Dollar, "the key ingredients for a successful CEO go beyond the classroom and are rooted in real-life, proven accomplishments demonstrating leadership, judgment, vision, open-mindedness and courage."
While those are somewhat intangible qualities, Dollar noted that they are just as important-if not more so-than managerial experience. "One can manage and still have dysfunction in an organization if others are performing out of fear and not buying into a vision and strategic direction for an organization."
In addition to being able to take strategic initiatives from the board room to the frontline, today's CEO candidates need to be well-rounded, stressed Dollar. While it's not essential to have served as a CFO or COO, candidates "need to be able to demonstrate his or her working knowledge of the financials and operations. Same thing with IT, marketing and human resources. Leadership to set a vision and hold accountable those with a wide range of responsibilities is more important than the ability of a CEO to close out the quarterly books himself or oversee a branch directly."
