Becoming an industry leader
Are you ready to play a bigger role in the credit union world?
It wasn’t that she wanted to have a greater leadership profile just for the sake of it, says CUES member Kim Sponem, president/CEO of $2.9 billion Summit Credit Union, Madison, Wis. Instead, she was driven by a desire to have an impact.
“I have a lot of interests and love to be involved in making impacts,” she says. “I learn something from just about everyone and this gives me energy to work with other credit unions and community leaders. I gain different perspectives through involvement and interactions and hopefully I’m making a difference along the way, too.”
During her 16 years as CEO, Summit CU has grown from $225 million to nearly $3 billion in assets and expanded from four locations to 34 and from 110 employees to 542. In addition, membership is up 6.2 percent over last year, marking the third straight year of more than 6 percent annual growth.
“It means members like what we’re doing,” she says. “And, our growth is an important way we contribute to the overall credit union movement, building stronger communities and creating jobs. The more we succeed as credit unions, the more we can do for our members through our cooperative business model.”
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