Two NW Entries Make Top 15 in CUES Next Top CU Exec Competition
Anthem | By Eric Horvath
What began as more than 200 young credit union leaders at the beginning of the nomination process has made it to the next round.
Two of the Top 15 finalists in the CUES Next Top Credit Union Executive Competition are from the Northwest.
Shannon Cahoon, Community Outreach Coordinator at Fibre Federal Credit Union ($967M) in Longview, Washington and Michael Murdoch, Marketing Specialist at NW Priority Credit Union ($236M) in Portland, Oregon, both advanced.
The announcement follows the conclusion of public voting which increased to nearly 60 percent over last year, according to CUES President & CEO, John Pembroke.
“After putting the twenty-five applicants to a public vote, we were delighted to see the votes flood in. We had well over 5,700 votes this year,” he said.
The competition is hosted by CUES, in partnership with DDJ Myers and Currency, and features several phases of competition.
Cahoon is developing a turn-key tracking system for measuring the profitability of programs like financial education, business development, community outreach, second chance accounts, and more. She is currently on the board of the Northwest Young Credit Union Professionals, a member of the Executive Committee for the National Youth Involvement Board, and a contributing blogger for CUNA’s Guides to Money blog.
Murdoch is introducing the idea of “People Providing Hope”, a collaborative effort between credit unions and other community groups to combat the crisis of teen and young adult homelessness through financial education, specialized banking programs, and job experience. Michael has planned and directed dozens of successful community growth fundraisers, including those for the Portland Kitchen, Lines for Life, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
The Top 15 will now submit a blog post update about their project to www.nexttopcreditunionexec.com. And to provide additional value to the competition experience, they’ll each receive an executive coaching session from DDJ Myers, a CUES Supplier member and strategic provider. A judging panel of two CUES members and Deedee Myers of DDJ Myers will then score the Top 15’s applications and blog posts, narrowing the competition to the Final Five, who will move on to the finals.
Follow along in later issues of Anthem and on social media with hashtag #NTCUE and support Shannon and Michael!