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Meritrust Credit Union Board of Directors Announces New President/CEO
WICHITA, KS—The Meritrust Credit Union Board of Directors proudly announces James Nastars as its new President/CEO, effective February 18, 2013.
“Speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors, I am very pleased to welcome James Nastars as Meritrust’s new President/CEO as we begin a new year,” said Dr. Marci Johnson, Chairperson of the Board. “With his visionary, results-driven leadership style, his commitment to member advocacy and community involvement, we believe he is an excellent choice to lead Meritrust.”
Nastars brings more than 16 years of credit union executive experience as the Senior Vice President of Lending and Collections at University Federal Credit Union (UFCU) in Austin, Texas. UFCU is a 76-year old credit union with $1.5 billion in assets, serving over 150,000 members in over 200 universities, associations and employers in Central Texas and Galveston. He has served in several senior management roles at UFCU overseeing lending, collections and internal audit since 1996. In his most recent role as Chief Lending Officer, he led 124 team members through a complete revitalization of lending and collections to restore confidence, align leadership with organizational culture and expand lending products and services under a sustainable business model. He also serves as a Board Member for UFCU Financial Services and CU Business Solutions and as Board President for North Central Catholic School Corp in Austin, TX.
“He has a solid record of building business through trust, service and relationships, and those qualities align perfectly with our business model,” said Dr. Marci Johnson. “Meritrust is committed to focusing on what matters most to our members. It’s what sets us apart from our competition and demonstrates our brand. We believe we have chosen the right leader to drive growth and industry-leading innovation.”
Meritrust was recently ranked third in the nation in the Callahan & Associates Return of the Member index, which provides a credible way to quantify member value and captures a holistic view of a member’s relationship with a credit union and focuses on three core functions: savings, lending and product usage.
In June, Meritrust was also recognized by SNL Financial, a financial services industry analysis firm, as the 20th-best-performing credit union in the country among credit unions with total assets of more than $500 million. The ranking was based on six metrics: return on average assets; net charge-offs to average loans; operating expenses as a percent of operating loans; delinquent loans as a percent of total loans; market growth; and net interest margin as a percent of average assets.
“I am very excited to join an outstanding organization like Meritrust and I look forward to becoming a part of the communities we serve. Meritrust’s reputation and commitment to its members is well respected within the credit union industry and I look forward to working with the Board and the entire Meritrust team to continue this great tradition of success,” said James Nastars.
The Board also would like to thank Interim President/CEO, Byron Stout, and the entire Executive Team for their excellent leadership over the past several months. Stout will return to his role as Vice President of Human Resources effective February 18, 2013.
About Meritrust:
Meritrust Credit Union is the leading and largest Kansas-chartered community credit union with 75,000 members and $830 million in assets. Meritrust is open to the public with 14 branches in metro-Wichita, Junction City and Lawrence, Kansas. In 2012, Meritrust was ranked third in the nation in the Callahan & Associates Return of the Member Index and was recognized by SNL Financial as one of the top 20 best performing credit unions in the nation, among credit unions with total assets of more than $500 million. For more information, visit meritrustcu.org.