Judy McCartney talks about her retirement, CEO succession, and mentoring
OMA: You first came on board at Orange County’s Credit Union as a VP in 1982, and retired as President and CEO earlier this year. What are some of the most significant changes you saw during your 26 years at OCCU?
JM: The addition of money market accounts, credit cards, CUSOs, expanded fields of membership, real estate loans and securitization of those mortgages, overdraft loans for checking accounts, IRAs, ATMs, ATMs moving online, shared ATM networks and shared branching.
OMA: Baby Boomer CEOs are nearing retirement age. What are the best ways credit unions can find new leaders?
JM: Many of our future leaders are already working in the credit union industry today. Hopefully credit unions are preparing existing VPs to move up. Not within that same credit union, but to another credit union. How many CEOs and VPs came out of working for Stan Hollen? Rudy Hanley? We have talent, and it needs to be encouraged. There are also good people in the peripheral industries that work with and serve credit unions.
OMA: Do you think it would be in a credit union’s best interest to recruit talent outside the industry?
JM: It’s always good to bring in some talent from out of the industry. A mix of internal and external is the perfect balance as long as those “out of industry” can adopt the credit union philosophy of what is best for the membership.
OMA: What do you think are some of the specific qualities credit unions should seek in new CEOs?
JM: New leaders should work through their team members and be more collaborative. They should be politically savvy from the local level to the state and national level, and even on to the International level, and be involved in their community or communities. They should be good business people and financially savvy, and be able to work with volunteers, where time is a premium for everyone. They should be a change agent, be a life long learner, and even more importantly, have the ability to use that learning for the benefit of credit union members.
As there are fewer and fewer credit unions, this puts the burden of participation on fewer and fewer leaders for the entire credit union industry/movement. CEOs can no longer leave it up to a small group of industry leaders. Everyone must participate: comment on rules, regs, participate in league and national committees, CUSO boards, and all while still doing a good job in their own credit union. Which means that CEOs must be able to balance everything, including a personal life.
OMA: What do you think are some of the biggest recruiting mistakes credit unions make when searching for a new CEO, and how can they avoid making these mistakes?
JM: First, many credit union boards start too late. Sometimes you can’t fill a position in six months, especially if the winning candidate has to serve out a contract time period. This can leave the credit union with someone acting as CEO who knows they didn’t get the job, and it can create a bad situation for the new CEO to inherit. It then takes a good six months for the new CEO to gain acceptance.
Another situation is when the boards do not take the time to see what works with the retiring CEO. It’s also important to consider the credit union’s climate or culture, and try to find a new complimentary CEO. Here’s a real life example: an outgoing CEO had a culture of openness and communication, and was replaced by a CEO who was a loner, and did not communicate with the management team. Within the first year, 75% of the senior team left because of the culture change.
OMA: In the ‘old days’ credit union CEOs did it all—do you think that is still the case or is everyone a ’specialist’ now?
JM: While we old timers started that way, you either learned to delegate, or ended up a workaholic. You can no longer know everything about all areas of the credit union, so you must work with your team members who you have to trust to be experts in their area of the credit union. More and more, that group needs to work together to run the credit union and participate in the decision-making.
OMA: In anticipation of the Baby Boomers retiring, does it pay for credit unions to create ways to develop and retain replacements now? Is mentoring one of these ways?
JM: Yes, keeping your good talent is a challenge and will get harder as more people retire. Golden parachutes long put in place for the CEO will need to be extended to the top talent of credit unions. Not competing with this will mean the turnover costs will be great.
OMA: As you were coming up the ranks, did you have a mentor?
JM: Yes, I was fortunate to have several mentors. Allen McNabb was such a great mentor to me, and many other CEOs helped me along the way. Unfortunately, I have lost track of Allen in recent years and would love to hear from him.
Some credit unions have formal mentoring programs, and the Women’s Symposium that was started 12 years ago by Grace Mayo is another good way that women have mentored other women, even though informally. Several in the group have gone on to be credit union CEOs.
OMA: As a CEO, whom did you mentor?
JM: While we never had a formal program, I think as a CEO we have a chance to recognize talent and potential in people. Personally, I always thought that was the best part of my job — convincing people of what they could be, and watching and helping them become that person. Shruti Miyashiro is the CEO at Orange County’s CU now, and I’d like to think that I had an influence on her career. Also Adam Denbo, Laura Thompson, Jeff Harper and there are lots of others.
OMA: Finally, are you enjoying your retirement?
JM: When planning for retirement, I thought I would have time to garden, take some art lessons (badly needed), take some classes, and do a lot of reading. It seems that I am even busier than when I worked, constantly traveling, active in some of my hobbies such as investing and speaking, and doing a bit of writing.
So, I think I will do the closer to home things in another 10 or 15 years, because I am too busy right now. My 28-day around the world trip is in November, and before that, I plan to travel to Switzerland, Victoria, British Columbia, and make several trips to Mexico. And I have 3 big trips already scheduled for 2009.
People ask me if I miss work, and I can honestly say there has not been one day or even one hour I wished I were back at work. The only things I miss are some of the people.