The Quiet Governance Risk Credit Unions Should Talk About By Grant Sheehan, CCUE | CCUP | CEO, NCOFCU Having spent many years both serving on a credit union board and leading as a CEO , I’ve had the opportunity to see governance from both sides of the table. That perspective has given me a deep appreciation for the delicate balance that must exist between management, leadership, and board oversight. When that balance works well, credit unions thrive. But when it slowly shifts — often unintentionally — it can create governance weaknesses that regulators and examiners increasingly watch for. In conversations with governance professionals and through years of industry experience, one theme keeps emerging: most governance problems don’t begin with bad intentions or misconduct. They begin with boards that gradually become too dependent on management. This is rarely obvious at first, but in fact, it often occurs within high-performing organizations. But slight patterns ca...
This is a op-ed reference: New National Trade Group Forms To Champion Credit Unions Under $500M Grant Sheehan, CEO, NCOFCU Let’s be clear—representation for small credit unions is not something new that suddenly needs to be invented. For more than 150 years in Europe and 115 years in the US, many of us—along with numerous trade groups representing postal workers, schools, hospitals, the military, first responders, electricians, welders, auto workers, and many other sponsor employee groups—have been actively representing and supporting small credit unions. The mission has always been the same: protect these institutions and ensure they have a voice. The real challenge facing small credit unions has never been a lack of organizations claiming to represent them. The challenge has been engagement and education. Many small credit unions operate with extremely limited resources. Their boards are made up of volunteers who already have full-time careers. Even when scholarships, training ...