LAS VEGAS Credit union board members here indicated they realize their ranks need to get younger, and three board members under age 40 offered some suggestions on doing just that.
During a discussion at the National Directors Conference here one white-haired person observed, “I’m the youngest person on our board, and that scares me.” Another woman, also a CU volunteer, added, “We have one person on our board in his forties; the rest are in their sixties and seventies and we’re worried about our future.”
Among three people under the age of 40 who are CU board members and who offered strategies for getting younger people involved as volunteers was Atom Avery, a board member with the $54-million Oswego County FCU in New York. A member of the CU since age nine, Avery said he did not even know his credit union had a volunteer board until he met a CU rep at a county-sponsored leadership meeting.
“I came on as an adjunct director to see if I liked it, to see if I was a good fit,” said Avery, who eventually was elected to the board. “The person whose seat I took continued as an adjunct member of the board.”
Jake Jensen, board chair at the $1-billion Advantis CU in Portland, Ore. and a police officer, said he got involved when recruited as an alternate director in 2004, before being elected to the full board in 2007. Elected chair in 2010, Jensen will term out at the end of his current term. He made it clear that getting a younger board in place took some leadership by former board members.
“One of the things we found as our board moved to younger folks is we had to make some adjustments,” said Jensen “We see the world not as it is but as we are. When I came on the board was all retirees. We had to adjust schedules for board members with work or kids. We have child care available during board meetings.”
Shawn Fischer, a volunteer with Best Advantage Credit Union in Wisconsin, who has three small kids himself, was suggested for the board by a loan officer after he showed up in a branch with a spreadsheet representing his family’s finances. “That person took it to the CEO and the board and said I think you should nominate this person when an opening comes up,” said Fischer. “That happened in 2007 and I was voted in.”
Fischer drew an audible gasp when he reported the average age of his board is 39. “We have speeded up board meetings, especially during summer months. I’ve heard about board meetings lasting 3 hours, and I don’t want to be on a board like that. The board has to be efficient, and there have to be ways to access the information other than on a spreadsheet when you arrive, and you have to be accommodating.”
