Team Financial FCU’s Lynda Milton Elected as New Board Chairman

Lynda Milton, CEO, Team Financial FCU (Houston, TX) and Chairman, Federation Board of Directors.

(July 29, 2011 – New York, NY)  During its recent 37th Annual Conference on Serving the Underserved, the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (Federation) held elections for its Board of Directors.  The elections resulted in five new directors representing two of the Federation’s regions and the at-large (nationwide) category, and re-election of incumbents in the remaining two regions.

This year’s elections also marked a transition of leadership, with Randy Chambers, President of Self-Help CU (Durham, NC) ending his tenure as Chairman. He is succeeded by Team Financial FCU President/CEO Lynda Milton, who has been serving as Vice-Chair for the past several years. Milton is a Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE) and is Ex-Officio of the Texas Credit Union League Small Credit Union Committee.

“It’s an honor for me to step-up as Chairman of the Federation,” said Milton. “This is the only organization working nationally to promote and preserve credit unions serving the most disadvantaged communities across America, and its services are needed more than ever.  Since joining the Federation’s board in 2005, I have seen first-hand the amazing work CDCUs do day-in and day-out, and I am confident that we will continue to do even more to help credit unions serve the underserved in the coming year and beyond.”

The Vice-Chair position is now filled by Deyanira DelRío, Board Chairman at the Lower East Side People’s FCU (New York, NY); Edgar Cosner, President/CEO of The United FCU (Morgantown, WV), has been selected as the new Treasurer; Shirley Spruill, Manager & President of Renaissance Community Development CU (Somerset, NJ), will remain as Recording Secretary; and Michael Chan, Board President of Northeast Community FCU (San Francisco, CA), will serve as Corresponding Secretary.

The Federation is also proud that its Board of Directors continues to be among the most diverse in the credit union movement by gender, race, asset size, and institution type. There are currently 9 females and 6 males on the Board of Directors; 8 are African-American, 1 is Asian, 1 is Latino, and 5 are White/Anglo.  Directors represent community development credit unions (CDCUs) ranging in size from less than $1 million in assets, to one of the nation’s largest CDCUs, with $539 million in assets; and the CDCUs represent a variety of credit union types, including faith-based credit unions, community credit unions, state and federally-chartered credit unions, urban and rural credit unions, and credit unions dedicated to serving specific ethnic groups, including Asian, African-American, and Latino communities.

Additional information about the newly elected board members is available below:

In Region 1 (East), Shirley Spruill, Manager & President of the Board at Renaissance Community Development CU (Somerset, NJ) was re-elected by acclamation to serve a 3-year term.  Chartered in 1996, Renaissance CDCU has just over $1.1 million in assets and 704 members.

In Region 2 (South), Permelia “Pam” Murphy, President & Board Treasurer at Citizens Choice FCU (Natchez, MS) and Mignhon Tourné, President/CEO of ASI FCU (Harahan, LA) are newly elected to serve on the Federation’s Board of Directors.  Murphy begins her first 3-year term, while Tourné will complete the final year in a 3-year term that had been left vacant. Murphy’s credit union was chartered in 1966 and has just under $1 million in assets and 536 members. Tourné’s credit union was chartered in 1961, has $310 million in assets and serves over 70,000 low- and moderate- income residents throughout the greater New Orleans area. Tourné was also one of this year’s Annie Vamper “Helping Hands” Award winners, the highest honor given by the Federation to heroes of the CDCU movement.

In Region 3 (Mid/South West), Lynda Milton, President/CEO of Team Financial FCU (Houston, TX) has been re-elected by acclamation to serve a 3-year term.  Milton, who previously served as Vice-Chairperson of the Board, will now serve as Chairperson, replacing outgoing Chairman Randy Chambers.  Milton has been a Federation board member since 2005 and is beginning her final term. Milton’s credit union was chartered in 1970 and has more than $5.7 million in assets and 1,747 members.

In Region 4 (West), two new board members were elected by acclamation. Gary Bell, CEO of Cooperative Center FCU (Berkeley, CA) begins a 3-year term and Robin Romano, CEO of MariSol FCU (Phoenix, AZ) has been elected to complete the remaining 2 years on a 3-year term that was left vacant.  Both Bell and Romano are new board members.  Cooperative Center FCU was chartered in 1942, and has grown to over $87 million in assets with nearly 11,000 members, including students of the University of California Berkeley.  MariSol FCU was chartered in 1954 and became low-income designated and CDFI certified in 2008.  MariSol FCU has nearly $29 million in assets and serves over 7,300 low- and moderate-income members in Phoenix.

In the At-Large (nationwide) category, Sheilah Montgomery, President/CEO of Credit Union of Atlanta (Atlanta, GA) was newly elected by acclamation to serve her first 3-year term.  Chartered in 1928, Credit Union of Atlanta has more than $61 million in assets and serves over 15,300 members throughout metropolitan Atlanta.

Federation directors may serve up to three, three-year terms. Board officers serve one year terms and are elected among their peers.

A full listing of the Federation’s Board of Directors is available on this site, by clicking here.

Community Development Investments Committee Gets New Chairman

The Federation’s Community Development Investments Committee also had a transition in its leadership, with committee member Barbara Stephens, CEO of Houston Municipal Employees’ Credit Union (Houston, TX), replacing long-time committee member and Federation supporter, Jeff Wells.  Stephens’ credit union has $36.6 million in assets and 12,639 members.

“I’m honored to succeed Jeff as Chairman of the Federation’s Community Development Investments Committee,” Stephens said, “The investments we make on behalf of the Federation have helped hundreds of CDCUs implement innovative programs to assist their predominantly low-income members remain financial strong. Since inception, the Federation’s investment program has invested over $90 million in CDCUs nationwide, and it’s very exciting to be a part of that.  I look forward to helping the Federation break the $100 million mark in investments during my tenure,” she added.

Jeff Wells was an organizer of the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union (Santa Cruz, CA) back in 1977 and served as a Federation board member from the mid- to late-90s.  The credit union he helped start, has grown to become one of the Federation’s premier CDCUs with $89 million in assets and nearly 10,000 members.  Wells is also Vice President & New Markets Fund Director at the Opportunity Fund, a CDFI loan fund based in California.

To ensure objectivity, the Community Development Investment Committee is an “arm’s length” group, consisting of experts in credit union management and community development finance. No voting member of the Committee may come from the board, staff, or membership of the Federation, and the committee meets four times each year to review applications from credit unions, monitor the investment portfolio, review program policies, and assess overall performance of the program. With few exceptions, all awards must be approved by the Committee.  

Other Community Development Investment Committee members include: Bob Hoel, Filene Fellow in Residence at the Filene Research Institute and Professor Emeritus of Business at Colorado State University; Chris Kerecman, former Senior Vice President at California CU (Glendale, CA) & former Vice President of Governmental Affairs at the California Credit Union League; Carl Stewart, CEO of Water & Power Community CU (Los Angeles, CA); and Mike Vadala, CEO of The Summit FCU (Rochester, NY).

© 2011 National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions.