In this edition of the New York Minute, we spotlight significant achievements and initiatives that underscore the dynamic leadership and innovative spirit within our community. Dive into our blog for a closer look at everything going on this week.
Sue Commanda Appointed to State Charter Advisory Board
The Association congratulates Sue Commanda, CEO of Hudson River Community Credit Union, on her appointment to the State Charter Advisory Board by the Department of Financial Services (DFS). Sue’s selection to this prestigious group marks a significant milestone, reflecting her deep commitment to the credit union movement and her exceptional leadership within the financial community.
The State Charter Advisory Board, consisting of nine members representing a broad spectrum of financial institutions of varying sizes and locations, is instrumental in enhancing New York’s banking landscape. It collaborates with the Superintendent of the DFS to retain and attract state charters and promotes the state banking system’s vitality. Sue’s appointment as the credit union representative highlights the significant role credit unions play in this ecosystem.
“As the only member of the State Charter Advisory Board appointed to represent credit unions, I am committed to providing insight that ensures a strong and equitable state charter banking system. Just like the credit union principle of promoting the well-being of our members, I hope to use this opportunity to be a strong voice for state chartered credit unions of all sizes, and to provide important input on DFS policies and regulations that put consumers first and serve the needs of local economies. It is an honor to serve as the board’s only credit union representative,” said Sue Commanda.
“Let me congratulate Sue on her appointment to the NY State Charter Advisory Board,” stated William J. Mellin, Association President & CEO. “Sue is a dynamic and well-versed credit union leader. I’m confident she will do an excellent job in representing our state charters and the greater New York credit union community.”
As we celebrate Sue, we also extend our gratitude to Lisa Whitaker, President & CEO of CFCU Community Credit Union, for her three years of dedicated service as the previous credit union representative on the board. Lisa’s contributions have assisted in advancing the interests of credit unions and their members throughout the state.
Sue’s appointment brings her extensive experience and visionary leadership to the forefront, promising to significantly benefit the credit union community and New York’s broader financial landscape. Congratulations, Sue, on your well-deserved recognition; your dedication to enhancing the state banking system and inspiring leadership within the credit union movement are invaluable assets that we look forward to seeing in action.
Introducing the Compliance Quarterly Series
The Association is announcing our new Compliance Quarterly series, a four-part educational initiative designed to address the intricate compliance challenges faced by credit unions. This series, facilitatedby the Association’s General Counsel, Mitchell Pollack, promises to dissect and demystify the compliance questions most frequently posed by our members.
Upcoming Session: Levies and Restraints
Embark on a deep dive into “Levies and Restraints” with Mitchell Pollack, who brings over 35 years of legal expertise in commercial, bankruptcy, and real estate law, including significant experience representing credit unions since 1989. This session will cover everything compliance professionals need to know about handling restraining notices, levies, executions, Child Support Orders, and Tax Levies from both New York State and the IRS, including how to analyze these documents and calculate applicable exemptions.
Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
Sessions: 11:00 am: For Credit Unions Up to $100 Million in Assets
2:00 pm: For Credit Unions Over $100 Million in Assets
Speaker: Mitchell Pollack, General Counsel, NYCUA
Mitchell Pollack brings a wealth of experience as the Association’s General Counsel, through our alliance with Mitchell Pollack & Associates, PLLC, a firm he founded and manages. Mitch’s extensive legal career includes representing credit unions across the country and serving as lead counsel in complex litigation matters, making him an invaluable resource for our members.
Take advantage of this learning opportunity brought to you by the Association! Click below to register.
Join the FOCUS NY Day of Giving
In the spirit of strengthening our advocacy efforts and supporting candidates who stand with the credit union movement, we are excited to launch FOCUS NY’s Day of Giving. This special initiative is set to coincide with the first day of the 2024 State GAC in Albany, showcasing our commitment to fostering a pro-credit union legislative environment in New York.
FOCUS NY, our dedicated political action committee, strategically channels bipartisan support to key state office candidates who share our values and mission. The Day of Giving aims to jumpstart our ambitious goal of raising $100,000 in 2024 to back these crucial allies. Your participation on this day is more than a donation—it’s a powerful statement of our collective vision and influence.
We invite the entire New York credit union community to join us in this pivotal initiative. Together, we can ensure our advocates in the state government have the resources they need to succeed, furthering our mission and extending our reach across New York.
Leveraging 3 Strategic Frameworks To Shape Your 2024 Strategic Planning
By Steve Heusuk, Director of Competitive and Market Intelligence, and Adam Leslie, Director of Strategic and Business Planning at TruStageTM
As we step into the new year, the industry is met with an elevated volume of new developments and trends that are accelerating at breathtaking speeds. Credit unions find themselves navigating a landscape shaped by a liquidity crunch, economic challenges, changing consumer expectations, and growing fraud and cybersecurity risks. As we embark on the new year, the urgency to formulate strategies that align with overarching annual plans has never been more critical.
Strategic frameworks for the New Year
To guide credit union senior leaders through this dynamic landscape, we advocate the integration of three strategic frameworks tailored for the challenges and opportunities that await in the coming year.
- Political, economic, social, technological and industry forces analysis (PESTI)
- Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) matrix
- Change agenda
Below, we share how these three frameworks may be used together to help your credit union determine the right strategic choices for your desired outcomes.
Using PESTI to understand external forces
PESTI analysis is a strategic planning tool used to study how external forces and trends can affect a market or company. The goal is to develop a deep understanding of the external forces impacting your credit union to feed into your SWOT matrix and inform your strategic choices.
To create your own customized version of the PESTI, here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Engage your leadership team in pinpointing external trends that can impact your credit union and group them into the five PESTI categories.
- Next, score trends based on evaluator’s knowledge of trend, impact, and the likelihood of occurrence over the next 3–5 years. Evaluators’ impact and likelihood scores should be given more weight if they are very knowledgeable about a trend.
- Prioritized trends ranking high on your weighted impact and likelihood scores should be included in the PESTI analysis and grouped under the appropriate PESTI categories.
Now, it should be said that the true value of frameworks lies in the actions that follow. Once the PESTI analysis is complete, the stage is set for strategic decisions that resonate with the credit union’s goals.
Using a SWOT matrix to visualize opportunities and threats
Next, we recommend taking the PESTI and using it to develop a SWOT matrix. This framework helps us gather, analyze, and select potential future strategic choices. Using the PESTI, collide external opportunities and threats with an honest evaluation – using third party analysis where available – of your own internal strengths and weaknesses. To help teams visualize, we use a 2×2 grid and sticky notes to start documenting potential choices. These choices fall into four unique categories on our grid:
- External opportunity & internal strength = Exploit for growth
- External threat & internal strength = Leverage for advantage
- External opportunity & internal weaknesses = Improve for the future
- External threat & internal weakness = Protect the business
This SWOT matrix framework should generate lots of choices. Some will be mutually exclusive, and others will be dependent on other choices being made in the matrix. Aim for a good mix of “predictable” choices and bold choices. Focus on the breadth and depth of the choices and don’t worry yet about communicating what finds its way onto your SWOT matrix. This way, you are ready for the next and final step – the change agenda.
Using a change agenda to make specific strategic choices
The change agenda is the result of the hard work put in on the PESTI and SWOT matrix. It acts as the bridge between the current state and the envisioned future state of a strategy via simple “from” and “to” change dimensions. These change dimensions are where the shifts need to occur to create new outcomes and benefits. The outcomes could be used in a vision statement, strategic priorities, or strategic themes.
Creating a strategic change agenda will help you visualize the key choices you want to focus on making. And any choices that do not make the change agenda are equally – if not more – valuable. You now have broad agreement these are choices your credit union will not pursue.
To frame up the choices in the change agenda:
- Review SWOT matrix and select a series of choices that are mostly likely to create the outcomes the leadership team is seeking.
- Next, review your strengths and weaknesses and document where you are coming from.
- Lastly, determine how far you want to look into the future (e.g., 3 years, 5 years) and agree upon what your future state is. State what you will look like when this choice is fully realized.
Now, you possess a collection of practical strategic options topped with a clear objective. Next steps will be to determine how you will communicate this strategy to a broader audience including your board and employees.
Conclusion
By intertwining these three frameworks, credit unions can better translate industry information and emerging trends, analyze the best choices they can make using their own internal strengths and weakness and into actionable choices, and make specific choices to drive the change they want. As we step into the new year, these strategic approaches will empower credit unions to not only weather the challenges but also thrive amidst the opportunities that lie ahead.
Ready to navigate the dynamic landscape of the new year with strategic precision? Download the essential resources here and pave the way for a resilient and successful year ahead.
TruStageTM is the marketing name for TruStage Financial Group, Inc. its subsidiaries and affiliates. Corporate headquarters are located in Madison, Wis.
© TruStage
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