Wash. League Effort Aims To Identify Potential CU CEOs

The Washington CU League has created a program to recognize and encourage the advancement of up and coming CU leaders called Tomorrow's Leaders.

With forecasts indicating some 20% of credit union CEO will retire over the next five years, the Tomorrow's Leaders program will help identify people within the CU movement who show the potential to be leaders in the future and support succession planning efforts.

"The Tomorrow's Leaders program recognizes the best and brightest emerging credit union professionals in Washington," said President and CEO of the Washington Credit Union League, John Annaloro. "By embracing tomorrow's leaders and revealing to them the promise of a prosperous future career with our credit unions, we are creating an improved climate of employee motivation, respect and investment. This program fosters the education and retention of the next generation of credit union leaders and proactively supports the succession planning, from within, for our credit unions."

Designated Employees To be Automatically Enrolled

To support the launch of the new program, this year the league will automatically enroll employees designated by their credit union as a 2003-2004 Employee of the Year.

Completing the class of leaders, Washington CEOs are allowed and encouraged to contact the league to enroll additional employees meeting the criteria of Tomorrow's Leaders standards. Those employees:

* Provide exemplary service to their community, co-workers and members.

* Show interest in learning more about the history and philosophy of credit unions.

* Exhibit leadership qualities including: the desire to excel, honor, vision, courage, commitment and integrity.

The first class of Tomorrow's Leaders will be recognized at the Washington Credit Union League Annual Convention and Trend Show in September, where they will be awarded certificates to document their distinction.

In an effort to develop Tomorrow's Leaders, during the upcoming year, the WCUL will provide specialized advocacy and compliance training, as well as networking opportunities. They will be invited to attend the Washington Government Affairs Conference and will be better trained to become spokespeople for the credit union system.

Lastly, the League is offering an entire educational program specifically for Tomorrow's Leaders that attend Convention.

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