MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – Kinecta FCU, fresh of a scuttled merger with NuVision FCU, announced this afternoon it hired Keith Sultemeier, an executive vice president at San Antonio’s Security Service FCU, as president and CEO of the $3 billion credit union.
Kinecta, originally Hughes Aircraft Employees FCU, has been run the past two years by Roger Ballard, the CEO of NuVision, in preparation for what was supposed to be the industry’s second biggest merger. The deal would have created a $4.6 billion credit union giant and rivaled only the merger of Oregon’s First Tech CU and California’s Addison Avenue FCU to create a $5 billion credit union as the industry’s biggest ever.
Sultemeier’s hiring comes as the one-time $4.4 billion credit union has slumped back into the red, losing $31 million last year, after digging out of big losses for 2008-2009. Then Kinecta rebounded with a $15 million net for 2010, only to fall back into the red for 2011.
At Security Service he led strategic planning and budgeting for the $6.5 billion credit union and directed the operations of both back office and member-facing divisions.
Kinecta said Ballard will assist Sultemeier transition into the role as CEO when he comes aboard April 23, then Ballard will return to be fulltime CEO of NuVision, in nearby Huntington Beach.
