CU*NorthWest – the 100% credit union owned Cooperative CUSO located in Liberty Lake, WA is the recipient of the 2014 Kim Bannan Eternal Flame Award. The CUSO was nominated by credit unions it serves in Southern California.
“CU*NorthWest really cares about our industry”, says Olivia Bautista, CEO of Sunkist Employees Federal Credit Union (a nominator of CU*NorthWest) and client of CU*NorthWest since 2012. “There are very few partners out there that really want to help credit unions – especially the micro-small. I can attest to this. Thankfully we have partners like CU*NorthWest who remember our industry came from”.
Sunkist Employees Federal Credit Union was the first credit union to sign with CU*NorthWest as part of the pilot program “Small Credit Union Initiative” (SCUI). The program is designed to serve the smallest of credit unions. Under the SCUI, CU*NorthWest offers an entire complement of leading edge credit union data processing and management tools to credit unions who traditionally could not afford them or the cost of which would pose too great a risk to the fiscal health of the institution. Also, as part of the SCUI, Sunkist works with 1st Valley Credit Union in San Bernardino, CA as a mentor/sponsor – to assist with implementation guidance and providing ongoing coaching and support of the credit union’s daily use of the technology.
Additionally, CU*NorthWest also gave special assistance to Printing Industries Credit Union in Riverside, CA. Susan Conjurski (CEO) said, “We received a two year scholarship from CU*NorthWest for all of our technology and associated services. Without that assistance, we wouldn’t be where we are today. The motivation was purely to help our credit union survive and we will soon become a full invoice paying client when our scholarship ends. Even with the full invoice however, the dollars are less than our prior processor and the value per dollar is far greater”.
“It is truly an honor to accept an award that focuses on the true cooperative spirit of CU*NorthWest and our network. Our goal is to offer a wide variety of technology products and support services that can drive any credit union to success”, says Greg Smith, CEO of CU*NorthWest.
In remembrance of Kim Bannan, a former VP of the California Credit Union League, the award commemorates her instrumental work in developing programs to assist credit unions and the credit union movement. The award each year is given to one company/organization and one individual.