FITCHBURG, Mass.-CIO David Thibodeau wants to be a credit union CEO someday.
Thibodeau may be well qualified. "Today's CIOs are business-oriented and entrepreneurial," said Thibodeau, who is, technically, VP-IT at $800-million Workers' CU here. "There will be a trend of CIOs rolling into the CEO position in the credit union world."
CIOs grabbed the top CU position in two high-profile transitions in 2011: Rudy Pereira, long-time CIO at Chicago's Alliant CU, took the helm at Royal CU in Eau Claire, Wis. Doug True moved from CIO to CEO at Fishers, Ind.-based FORUM CU.
"In the next 5 to 10 years, I could see upwards of 25% to 35% of credit union CEOs coming from a technology background," Thibodeau suggested.
If you ask Jackie Buchanan, CEO at $1.4-billion Genisys CU and a former CIO herself, a CIO's combination of business and tech savvy make a prime candidate for CEO.
"A credit union is really a technology company," Buchanan explained. "Everything we do as a credit union touches technology, so to be successful, our technology must be successful. For credit unions to survive and thrive, we will need to keep pushing our technology forward."
The CIO is clearly the person responsible for pushing technology forward, but CIOs also have the additional skills necessary to run the entire organization, Buchanan continued.
"A CIO has the unique, good fortune to need to know and understand every area of the credit union," she said. "A CIO is one of the few C-level positions that is not a well defined silo within the credit union. The CIO must communicate and strategize with all other areas."
As a result, the CIO knows, top to bottom, each business area's goals and processes, said Buchanan. The CIO also governs one of the largest budgets at any CU, she said.
Good On Resume
Technology prowess, enterprise-wide business acumen and a head for money-"all of these things easily port over to the CEO role," said Buchanan.
Doug True, CEO at $909-million FORUM amd recently promoted from a top-level technology and consumer lending position, said he thinks a good CEO can hail from any C-level discipline. What's important is that the candidate has the "broadest and deepest" experience in the various business disciplines, he said.
But the best candidates will also have a strong technology background, True continued. "We'll be seeing more of an emphasis on technology aptitude in CEO job postings. Candidates should understand how improvements in technology infrastructure and how member offerings with a technology foundation can make a difference in the value proposition to their membership."
Rudy Pereira, the former Alliant CU CIO who last month rose to CEO at $1.3-billion Royal CU, agreed, adding that he predicts an "acceleration of senior managers outside of finance becoming CEOs."
Former CFO Brandon Michaels took the helm this month at $452-million Mazuma CU in Kansas City, Mo. Michaels said he agrees that a well-rounded CIO makes a good CEO because of the prevalence of technology in business.
Core of the Business
But C-level executives from a different business area also have their strong suit, the new CEO added. CFOs make good candidates because "finance continues to play a very large role in the leadership of a credit union," Michaels said. "After all, we are financial institutions and the core of our business is still very finance driven."
