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My name is Larry, and I am CUES.

I joined CUES in 2007 because of the educational offerings it provided. I’m in my tenth year of volunteering and I’ve held various roles at my credit union. My role on the board has increased, triggering me to take up more continuing education. From a personal perspective, continuing education has always been important to me. Once a year, I do something for myself in terms of professional development. It’s something that I’ve gotten into a rhythm on over the last 20 years; and it’s a personal goal that I have and take seriously. It’s not always credit union related, but it’s making me a better person professionally and personally.

What I get most out of my involvement with CUES’ is the opportunity to gain a very high-level perspective. I attended the first DLI™: Governance last year at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. It was outstanding. It hit the spot for me in terms of what I was looking for as I continue to fine-tune my skills as a board member in the area of governance. It was really helpful and I encourage folks to look at this particular program, but also the other board development programs that CUES offers.

DLI™: Governance was not only a high level of education, but it was like going to an advanced graduate course for the week. It allowed me to immerse myself in the issues that we’re faced with at the credit union—and not just necessarily the credit union issues, but board issues as well. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day that you don’t often have the chance to really think through issues. I returned from DLI with greater perspective. I met people there from all over the country—from all types of credit unions—that are going through the exact same issues, or exposed me to different issues. It was very illuminating to me.

I’ve also developed better relationships with my own board members by attending CUES events together. It has given us opportunities to spend time with each other and get to better know each other. This has helped us become better teammates and colleagues. We’ve attended a few events together, including a couple of the Director Development Seminars. Those were really helpful because of the time we spent together relating what we learned back to our own situation. How often do you really have that opportunity in a classroom setting among your peers?

When the board travels together for education, I think it results in us making better decisions. Another way we’ve used this group education is in mentoring. When we have another new person come on as a volunteer, we team them up with a more senior member. It’s an opportunity to not only build on the subject matter that we’re learning, but to also help newer board members.

Attending CUES events has also allowed me an opportunity to stay in touch with colleagues over the years and help maintain my personal and business networks. I have encouraged many of my peers to join CUES.

CUES helps me focus on how to be a better board member, how to be a better advocate for credit unions and how to really get the message out about what credit unions stand for. That, to me, is the real value of CUES Membership.

My name is Larry, from Citadel Federal Credit Union, Thorndale, Pa., and I am CUES.