CEO’s from across the country attend!
CU*Answers recently hosted its 2nd Annual CEO Strategies Week at the Frederik MeijerGardens and Sculpture Park located in Grand Rapids, MI. The week provided a unique andinteractive forum for credit union CEO’s to join as peers in a “live blog”, attend a series ofworkshops, roundtable discussions and “CEO School” intended to assist CEO’s in being betterinformed about their credit union using the CU*BASE technology tools that are readily availableat their fingertips. CEO Strategies Week promoted collaboration as being a solution and acompetitive edge for growth.
The theme for Strategies Week was “Real Work” and it facilitated considerable discussionamong CEO’s for examining new ways to partner together and collaborate; in essence, torevolutionize the industry in a new way. Randy Karnes, CEO of CU*Answers says “CEOStrategies Week is intended to promote collaboration as being a solution and competitive edgefor growth. Can we inspire a new wave of innovative collaborators before it is too late? Do wehave the components to collaborate efficiently?”
The Schedule of Events included:
- Collaboration Workshop – a CEO brainstorming session about the merits of aCU*Answers Scholarship Program that assists credit unions by providing reduced or insome cases, free data processing services from CU*Answers as based upon variousqualification criteria.
- CEO School — a day of mentoring and coaching on how a credit union CEO can use CU*BASE tools to better interact with their Board of Directors and Management Teams.
- CEO Roundtable — featured a face-to-face discussion where CEO’s were asked to share information about their credit union’s business plan, how they see the marketplace changing, and the potential for new partnerships over the coming year. Each CEO was responsible for presenting what they wished for the credit union industry, as well as identifying the biggest challenge facing their credit union. Another CEO was then responsible for addressing an issue presented by a peer CEO and providing a possible solution.
Throughout the week, Karnes challenged the group to think in a new and collaborative manner.As Karnes presented “every CEO needs to develop a new mindset where no rule can’t be bent or opportunity be harvested, if people have the right frame of mind and initiative for getting things done. There is power in people thinking and working together!”Pat Lowney, CEO of Lakeview CU located in Neenah, WI says “I attended the CEO StrategiesWeek for the first time and found it to be very beneficial. It wrapped up nearly a month of steady traveling for me, almost all of it business. This was a great wrap up because the message tied in very well with things I’m hearing from all over. We are going through times of great change.”