By Bill Anderson, President/CEO
“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk”.
-Doug Larsen, United Press
The first week of October, several of our staff and board member Patty Stell participated in the Northwest Credit Union Association (NWCUA) Amplify meeting in Portland. This annual meeting is the most attended event in the Pacific NW by credit unions, volunteers and industry partners. It is the platform for the cumulative efforts of our NW credit unions that features the best of our collaborative and cooperative efforts.
Here are some of the great things we learned in Portland:
- NCUA (National Credit Union Administration) Vice Chair Metzger Outlined his 4 Regulatory Relief Priorities
- Oregon House of Representatives Speaker Tina Kotek shared why she is a “Big Fan” of Credit Unions
- CUNA (Credit Union National Association) CEO Jim Nussle encouraged us to Engage Real People in Advocacy
- NWCUA President Troy Stang calls for 5 Million NW Credit Union Member Advocacy Strategy
- Northwest Credit Unions Raise $250,000 for NW Children’s Hospitals
- Credit Unions and CU Professionals Are Honored for Community Service
- Mid Oregon honored with an award for our community effort, One Class at a Time, that awards grants for sustainable classroom projects
Additionally, we had the opportunity to meet and network with our Regulators, Legislators, Officials and credit union industry peers to address issues and learn more about what is looming in the near future for credit unions.
Some of the topics we learned more about included:
- Technology and Product Innovation
- Legal Updates and Compliance Issues
- Leadership and Talent Retention
- Economic Updates and Forecasts
- Political Outlook
- How to Tell our Story with Impact
- Marijuana and Financial Institution Issues
- How Hackers Operate
- Building Relationships
- The Future of Healthcare
- And the Impact of Credit Union Philosophy in our communities
We are very fortunate that we can connect and collaborate with our other credit union friends in the NW, it is an amazing industry of “People Helping People” that benefits all of our members! A great deal of helpful information in a very short period of time that will help us in our planning process as we look forward to 2016.