CUES® Next Top Credit Union Exec Judges Announced

The judges for the 2016 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec competition have been announced: Deedee Myers, Ph.D., CEO of DDJ Myers, CUES Strategic Partner and challenge sponsor, Phoenix; Matt Levandowski, president and CEO, Heritage Family Credit Union, Rutland, Vt.; and Ashley Kohlrus, chief operations officer, Allegacy Federal Credit Union, Winston-Salem, N.C. and 2012 Next Top Credit Union Exec Winner.

After a public vote and a judging panel of previous CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec participants reduced the original applicants to a Top 15, a judging panel of Myers, Levandowski and Kohlrus evaluated and scored each member of the Top 15. Judging was based on their original application video, their two blog posts and the value their project brings to their credit union and to the credit union industry as a whole. The five highest-ranking applicants were named as Finalists.

Judges are responsible for keeping up-to-date on the projects each of the five Finalists are reporting on at NextTopCreditUnionExec.com, and for viewing the final presentations with a critical eye toward the criteria of creative thinking, content/idea, and style. Each Finalist will be given seven minutes to recap their project in a presentation face-off event at CUES' CEO/Executive Team Network™ in Savannah, Ga., October 23-26, 2016.

According to Myers, “I’ve judged Finalists for a number of years. Each year, the quality of the Finalists seems to improve. Their project ideas are wide-ranging and yet always share the idea of improving their credit union or the credit union industry.”

Levandowski added, “Based on some of the information presented, I believe the credit union movement will be in good hands for years to come.“

The judging panel is just one of the ways the Finalists’ presentations on Monday, October 24, will be evaluated. Audience members at the conference will be able to vote for their favorite on the spot, and the public will also be able to vote online October 24-25. The Finalist with the highest score based on audience votes, online votes, social media interaction, as well as the judging panel results, will earn the title of 2016 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec.

The CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec competition is powered by Currency Marketing and in partnership with DDJ Myers Ltd. Visit NextTopCreditUnionExec.com and check out the five Finalists’ projects. To register for the conference, visit cues.org/cnet.