Most banks worry about losing valued employees to other banks, but the competition for Star Banc Corp.'s credit card executive was not of the brick-and-mortar kind.
The company lost senior vice president Collin McKenny to the Fiji Islands.
Ms. McKenny, a prominent voice in the card industry and a nine-year veteran of the Cincinnati bank, is three months into her new life.
Ms. McKenny, her husband, and three pets-a cat, a cockatoo, and a Shih Tzu-moved to Vanua Viti island to open a resort called Lomalagi, the Fijian word for heaven.
The 52-year-old banker had been plotting her move for a decade, determined to reach her goal before she turned 55.
"I'm looking forward to not dealing with other people's priorities," Ms. McKenny said in an interview before she left Cincinnati in March.
Though lacking experience in the hospitality business, Ms. McKenny says there is little difference between running an upscale resort and providing a high level of customer service for a bank.
While Fiji may be gaining a hotel, the card business has lost a leader of 30 years' experience who had served on numerous industry committees and taught at the American Bankers Association's National School of Bank Card Management.
Ms. McKenny was also responsible for several innovative programs at Star, including the Dining A La Card program-which gives Cincinnati-area cardholders a 20% discount on restaurant bills-and a card designed to help customers save for their children's college expenses.
Instead of worrying about delinquency rates and bankruptcy filings, Ms. McKenny is now consumed with installing such basic amenities as telephone service and electric generators on her 25-acre property. Lomalagi is supposed to open by October.
Ms. McKenny's successor at Star, Faris D. Weber, described her move as "a remarkable change in direction that all of us dream about at some point."
Mr. Weber's own direction in banking has been steady. Mr. Weber, 55, joined Star in April from the former American Savings Bank of Irvine, Calif., where he was responsible for the card portfolio and other retail operations.
His other banking stops included First Nationwide Bank, where he headed consumer lending; and First Deposit Corp. (now Providian Financial Corp.), where he was in charge of credit cards.
Mr. Weber is in charge of 250,000 customers at Star with outstanding debt of $425 million.
When news of Ms. McKenny's departure began to spread, she said fellow bankers told her that her plans were "inspiring."
She hopes the inspiration leads to visits. She is the author of a weekly newsletter-distributed regularly to her former colleagues-detailing her adventures on Vanua Viti.
The latest edition of the Lomalagi Letter informs readers that it has been one year since Ms. McKenny "fell in love" with the Fiji Islands. "Here we are on our grand adventure," she writes. "Stay tuned."
