CU*Northwest held their fifth annual Leadership conference June 25-26 at Northern Quest Resort in Airway Heights, WA. The event began with an open CU*NorthWest board meeting and welcome cocktail reception, then moved to additional days of interactive discussions and executive briefings for CEOs and senior managers of CU*NorthWest client credit unions. The event also incorporated a stockholder annual meeting for the cooperative.

The theme of “Walking in the Members’ Shoes” was the catalyst for member-centric discussions with guest participants Randy Karnes, CEO of CU*Answers, Linda Bodie, Chief Innovator at Element FCU, and Evie Rasmussen, CEO, United Financial Northwest FCU. New software, business initiatives and strategic planning were discussed in a conversation platform that encouraged participation by attendees. The annual executive briefing is designed to give a strategic update on product and network initiatives for the coming year and allow credit unions to interact directly with other credit union management teams and CU*NorthWest leaders.

CU*Northwest CEO Greg Smith briefed participants on CU*NorthWest directives for the coming year including the beginning pricing reductions, new CU*NorthWest services, and host of new products coming within the CU*BASE GOLD core product suite. CU*Northwest Vice President, Ann Joyce led a roundtable discussion on credit union success stories to end the conference.

Greg Smith said, “As a cooperative CUSO, we take our responsibility to provide complete transparency for our client/owners seriously. The conference is designed as an executive briefing for the coming year as well as an opportunity for our staff and board of directors to interact directly with client/owners. We must continually work to uphold the core principles of cooperatives – listening may be even more important than talking for us during this event”.