REIDSVILLE, N.C. - The concept of credit unions partnering to build economies of scale or share best practices hasn’t slipped past Kinney Ford, who has worked in credit unions for years as a consultant and volunteer, often helping various parties to align and gain synergies by working together.
As board chairman for the $50-million American Partners FCU here, Ford’s leadership skills were recognized when NAFCU named him as its 2008 Volunteer of the Year for CUs with assets of less than $150 million.
“When our CEO told me I won I think I was speechless for the first time in my life,” said Ford. “I didn’t even know I was nominated.”
Ford has been board chairman for the last nine years after first becoming a director at American Partners 13 years ago, at a time when the credit union was addressing field of membership issues. “When I joined the board the primary sponsor was the American Tobacco plant across the street,” Ford said. “But when it closed that put a whole new set of realities in place, going away from a stable field of membership.”
The local credit union that served Sears had recently merged with American Partners and soon, too, its primary sponsor closed its plant.
“American Partners was faced with forming a cohesive group from two vastly different fields of memberships that lost their sponsors,” Ford explained. “That’s been our biggest challenge.”
Outside of his volunteer duties, Ford is a consultant to a group of North Carolina CUs on asset/liability management modeling and forecasting, which has benefited American Partners, he said. “My experience as a consultant has made me a better volunteer because I see a lot of different things happening at credit unions and I can bring those ideas to American Partners.”
It all comes down to connecting people and groups, Ford said. “When I find a client that needs something I try to bring together two credit unions that have a common goal.”
A common goal for APFCU has been keeping a high performing board and staff together over the years,” Ford said. “We have an incredible staff who have been here a long time and an extremely dedicated board. Maintaining stability over the years, in what’s become a crazy financial world, has been a key to our continued success.”
Ford got his start in the credit union business working for the North Carolina league for 11 years–much of the time as COO of its service corporation–before becoming a consultant in 1995.
“My formal training is as an economist,” said Ford, who has his own take on the local and national economy. “I think Rockingham County feels the impact of the downturn first and we get through it last. The housing market is not good here and we are seeing charge-offs. Our short-term goals are just surviving this downtick and getting our members through it.”(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
