LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — Spokane Teachers CU has promoted multiple vice-presidents to C-suite positions as part of its succession planning strategy, along with broader efforts to diversify the responsibilities of upper-management employees.
Tom Johnson, CEO of the $1.8-billion CU, told Credit Union Journal that the move is as much about advancing executives' responsibilities as it is about keeping them at the credit union.
Ev Hopkins, STCU's VP of human resources and development, will be stepping into the role of chief administrative officer, while Belinda Caillouet, VP of information technology, has been named chief operations and information officer. Late last year the CU also promoted two other VPs to C-suite positions.
When asked if the moves were an effort to ensure these employees are not lured away by other credit unions, Johnson conceded that, "You could say it that way."
But he was quick to add that the move is about more than just retaining upper-level talent.
"I think in any organization you always want to encourage your successful and strong folks to keep growing and to learn more and experience more," he said. "One of the things we have realized over time is that we tend to get ourselves 'siloed' into our work areas, and so many organizations have very, very strong financial executives in the VP of finance or CFO roles, but frankly they haven't had an opportunity to step out of that role and do something different in their career. So as long as your career path is still in finance, you're okay. But if you aspire to step into something wider, broader or more challenging, you're at a bit of a deficit. So a lot of organizations will take senior management and rotate them around."
Johnson noted that the 121,000-member STCU isn't large enough to rotate its senior executives that way, "so this is a bit of a hybrid" as it attempts to broaden senior staff members' skills and responsibilities.
The two newly minted C-suite employees will also oversee various areas of the credit union they did not previously have responsibility for.
Despite the changes taking place at STCU, one observer says that this is not indicative of a larger shift in the credit union community away from VP titles and toward broader usage of C-suites.
Instead, it is more closely tied to keeping top talent happy in a job market that is hungry for well-qualified executives at financial services institution, said Lynn Stephens, SVP of HR at Mountain America CU and a member of the CUNA HR/TD Council.
The move at Spokane Teachers "gets to the bigger question of 'Are we seeing more pressure for highly skilled, experienced people from financial institutions?' And I think the answer to that is, yes, we probably are," Stephens said.
Expect To See More Examples
"I think as the economy warms up, you'll see that happening more," he added. "There will be more opportunities, and what I read about is that they're having difficulty finding the right level of experience and expertise to fill those jobs. And so then there will be greater competition for them, and businesses will have to respond in ways they can retain their key talent, and that may include doing things like creating an organizational structure that rewards high performance."
For CUs considering transitioning their senior management from VP roles into C-suites, Deedee Myers, CEO at recruiting firm DDJ Myers Ltd., said organizational assessments are needed before that transition "in order to understand, far beyond analytical data, how the organization leaders are aligned in thought and action on structure, design, and culture."
"Making the title change consciously and unconsciously shifts the title," Myers said. "It is important to be in conscious and intentional dialogue about the desired outcome prior to enacting such a change."
Both Myers and MACU's Stephens emphasized that shifts toward C-suite-level titles usually imply increasing complexity within an organization. Myers noted institutions with more than $1 billion in assets tend to be more likely to rely on C-suites than those below that threshold.
But Myers also cautioned that "the C-suite title does not necessarily mean the individual has the executive leadership presence so critical in today's world."
Developing that, she said, requires commitment from both the organization and the individual.
"Anyone who has a C-suite office in their career plan should be on the path right not for developing an executive leadership presence which, by itself, is not an overnight phenomena. Rather, an evolving organic process over extended time."
Despite moving multiple VPs to C-suite-level positions, Johnson said STCU does not plan to create a C-suite position for every function.
Not A 'Forever Situation'
"But things change and people retire and leave, and people bring different skills and strengths to their roles; I don't think this is a forever situation. It's the organizational structure that appears to me to be of good service to us for what we're going to accomplish in the short term."
The CU does plan to continue to place senior staff in VP positions, including a new VP of branches, replacing someone who recently retired from that position.
"We're also trying to create some opportunities at the director level [one step below VP] because that's where the future leadership of this organization comes from," said Johnson. "So we're looking at that layer of our organization, and over time we'll be trying to decide how best to challenge and create opportunities for them.
Johnson added that those appointments will be made on an "individual, one-at-a-time" basis, but with an eye toward creating opportunities for those working on the front lines of the credit union.
