2021 Board Nominees

Daniel Apfel is the Chief Operations Officer at Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union, a $30 million credit union with 4,000 members in Rochester, NY. At the credit union, Dan oversees the day-to-day operations and is also deeply involved in the credit union’s lending, partnerships, and policy work. Dan has been involved with Community Development Credit Unions for nearly 15 years: he worked as a Program Officer at Inclusiv from 2007-2009... Read more.

Tim began his career at Opportunities Credit Union in 2013 as a Mortgage Originator. He entered his role as the Sr. Lending Manager at the beginning of 2017 and currently oversees all consumer, mortgage, and business loans. Tim also serves as Vice President on the Board of Directors for the Credit Union Young Professionals of Vermont. He graduated from Bentley University with two majors, a Bachelor of... Read more.

Kathy Chartier became the first full-time employee of Members Credit Union (Members), formerly Greenwich, Connecticut Teachers Federal Credit Union, when she took the position of manager in 1987. The credit union, under her leadership, has grown from a $7 million teachers credit union to a full-service $40 million CDFI, serving not only teachers but the underserved in Fairfield County... Read more.

A visionary in the financial services space, Mr. Richard Garcia is the Chief Executive Officer at Newark Board of Education Employees Credit Union (NBEECU) - a $30 million financial services company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. With over 30 years of experience and having held a variety of executive positions in the banking and credit union industries, Mr. Garcia has been able to establish himself as a true... Read more.

Blanche L. Jackson is currently the CEO of Stepping Stones Community Federal Credit Union, with the primary responsibility of overseeing the day-to-day operations and implementing products and services that are needed to provide financial stability in the city of Wilmington. She has been the mentor of Stepping Stones since 2009 and instrumental in its chartering in 2011. She was the Executive Vice President... Read more.

Kevin Mietlicki has worked in credit unions for 30 years, holding jobs from Accounting Manager to CEO. He has been the CFO at Alternatives Federal Credit Union for the past 5 years, where he has had the honor to work for the community through the CDCU. Kevin feels that landing at Alternatives has helped bring credit unions full circle for him; he received his Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE)... Read more.

Jodi Rathbun-Briggs currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Lending Officer at Greylock Federal Credit Union. She provides strategic direction and oversight to all areas of lending, including mortgages, consumer lending, commercial lending, and loan servicing and asset quality. She is also responsible for deposit operations and facilities.  Jodi leads the Community... Read more.

After many years working as a professional serving credit unions, Tim Smith joined the movement. Since 2011, he has served as Senior Vice President-CFO and Treasurer of Workers Federal Credit Union. He led the team that began the credit union’s journey to becoming a low-income designated credit union, starting in the fourth quarter of 2014 and achieving the designation in April 2015. Less than six months later... Read more.

Richard Witherspoon is the Treasurer/CEO of Hill District Federal Credit Union, overseeing the day-to-day operation of the credit union. He provides financial counseling and assistance to the membership and facilitates the growth and strategic plan as outlined and mandated by the board of directors of the credit union. During his 33 years of experience in the credit union movement... Read more.

Whitney Anderson-Harrell serves as the Chief Community Development Officer at MSU Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU). Anderson-Harrell began at MSUFCU in 2015, previously working for Kraft Foods for 13 years. She currently oversees the credit union’s community development, diversity, equity, and inclusion, business development, and financial education departments as well as the Financial Innovation and Education Center... Read more.

Mr. Arroyo González has a BA in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus; completed all required courses for a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus; and has an MBA in Finance from the Interamerican University, Metropolitan Campus. In 2005, Mr. Arroyo became an administrative staff member of Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Jesús Obrero in Guaynabo... Read more.

As President and CEO of Kauai Government Employees Federal Credit Union, Monica Belz shapes a dynamic island vision for economic growth grounded in sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Her 20 years of experience in social impact community development complements a diverse portfolio of work that includes disaster relief, wilderness survival and first aid, documentary filmmaking, numerous humanitarian projects... Read more.

Ruben Cisneros brings over 26 years of experience in the credit union industry and within the cooperative movement. At present, he is the Chief Operations Officer for Border Federal Credit Union and is part of the credit union's senior management team. Ruben is directly responsible for overseeing all branch operations, lending, the member service and collections departments, and the financial counseling department... Read more.

Tyrone Conde is the Vice President of Marketing at Downey Federal Credit Union (DFCU), where he oversees the credit union’s marketing and community engagement efforts, such as hosting financial literacy events for over 2,500 high school students, developing the Money Smart Jr program, a financial literacy simulation for elementary aged kids, and partnering with the Berenstain Bears Financial Literacy program to... Read more.

As Founder and CEO/Treasurer of the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union (TUFCU) in Toledo, Ohio, Suzette Cowell has over 44 years of experience in the financial arena. Cowell has been a staunch supporter of the 4,484-member community development institution. She has spent the last 25 years of her career working to grow TUFCU, Toledo’s first community development credit union (CDCU) in Northwest Ohio, into the $13 million... Read more.

Dr. Joronda Crawford is a board member and the secretary of the supervisory committee for Israel Methcomm FCU. She is also the president of the Faith Based Credit Union Alliance in Chicago. She has been extremely busy since her retirement of 33 years as an educator, which included being a teacher and principal. In the community and beyond, she and her husband Dr. Hiram Crawford have volunteered... Read more.

Sue Cuevas was born and raised in Ohio. She majored in accounting at Youngstown State University, also attending Grand Valley State University and lived in Mexico while studying Christian education and finance. She has over 30 years of financial expertise working in the banking and financial industry. She has taught numerous classes on financial literacy, with a passion to help people... Read more.

Suzy Fonseca began her career at Lower Valley Credit Union (LVCU) as a teller in 1999. In the 22 years since, she has served as Operations Supervisor, Chief Operations Officer, and President and CEO. She currently serves as President, LVCU’s division of Self-Help Federal Credit Union in Sunnyside, WA. Under Ms. Fonseca’s leadership, LVCU’s membership grew... Read more.

Jama is the Chief Executive Officer of Southern Teachers & Parents Federal Credit Union in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The credit union has served its membership for 84 years. Under her leadership, the credit union has made many technological advances, expanded loan programs, and adopted a credit score analysis program to aid members in saving money, improving their credit score... Read more.

Since becoming CEO in 1991, Hank Hubbard has focused on expanding 1DCU’s presence in the community and growing the credit union’s product offerings, with an emphasis on financial empowerment and inclusion. Among his recent innovations are an auto loan bailout, which later became Refi My Ride, a loan refinancing program that has saved Detroiters more than $5 million on... Read more.

Randy Icelow is the CEO of Rolling F Credit Union, located in the California’s beautiful Central Valley. After graduating from Sacramento State with a bachelor’s in risk management and finance, he moved around the credit union industry working in Sacramento, Stockton, and now Turlock. Over the last 20 years, he has furthered his education, including getting his credentials... Read more.

Jeff Ivey is President and CEO of River City Federal Credit Union, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and Juntos Avanzamos credit union located in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 1936, the credit union serves members in Bexar County and is also designated as a Minority Deposit Institution (MDI). Ivey has over 30 years in the financial industry, working... Read more.

Jack Lawson has been member of the Inclusiv Board of Directors since 2014, serving as Board Chair for 6 of those years.  He is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Clearwater Credit Union, an $850 million credit union in Western Montana.  Clearwater is Montana’s second largest credit union and its largest Treasury Department certified CDFI.  The credit union’s 170 employees serve... Read more.

Hector Martin currently serves as the Vice President of Retail Services for County Schools Federal Credit Union in Ventura, CA. As VP of Retail, he oversees branches, accounts, and lending. He has been in his role at County Schools since December of 2019, with the goal to utilize retail services to better serve the community and the underserved within. As he interviewed for jobs, he fell in love with the credit union motto... Read more.

Gloria McClendon has held several high-tech senior management positions in her 34 years of experience in the credit unions industry. She is currently the CEO of Greater Cleveland Community Credit Union (GCCCU), formerly known as Civil Service Employees Association Credit Union, in Cleveland, Ohio. She has worked for three different credit unions located in Mississippi, Illinois, and Ohio. Gloria began her career as a teller and quickly rose to... Read more.

Terri Mickelsen is the CEO of Clean Energy Credit Union, an online-only credit union, in Centennial, Colorado. Terri joined Clean Energy CU in 2017 to help obtain its federal charter. Since chartering in 2018, Clean Energy CU has gone from the startup phase to a $25 million credit union with over 4,700 clean energy focused loans and serving over 2,000 members. Terri’s passion for helping members and... Read more.

Gary J. Perez has been the President and CEO of the USC Credit Union since 1988. Under his leadership, USCCU has grown from a limited service, $16 million campus employee credit union to a full service, $750 million non-profit cooperative serving the entire Trojan family, to include USC’s faculty, staff, students and alumni as well as the residents and small businesses in the underbanked and underserved communities... Read more.

With experience in strategic consulting, project and program implementation, and leadership development, leading and serving others is a common theme throughout Brent Rempe’s career. Rempe leads lending, marketing, and sales for Allegiance Credit Union (ACU) in Oklahoma City, OK as Chief Revenue Officer. His career began in nonprofit management with stints at schools in Portland, OR, Kansas City, MO... Read more.

Nereida Seda Vargas has a master's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting. As a professional, she has dedicated more than 25 years to public service and cooperative movement. For 7 years, she worked as an examiner of cooperatives for COSSEC. Since 2017, she has held the position of Executive President of Lajas Coop, a cooperative of $77 million in assets located in the southwest... Read more.

David is the Executive Vice President of Park Community Credit Union and has been with Park since 2015. As the Executive Vice President, David has overseen lending, finance, collections, compliance, enterprise risk management, audit, and community development. David works closely with the executive team to lead the 82,000-member Park to fulfill its mission of providing fair and... Read more.

Growing up, Terry Sloan's family followed his father from duty station to duty station while he was in the U.S. Army. This gave Terry a unique world view, one which he has been proud to bring to rural and underserved areas. His family settled in Shawnee, OK when his father retired, and Terry received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Oklahoma. He met his wife in Ada, OK, and they have just celebrated... Read more.

Rainy Thoen is an executive with a track record of crisis risk management and creating and growing a successful credit union.  She is looking for opportunities to utilize her experience and passion to be of service to the credit union industry and the diverse and underserved communities we serve. She brings a unique experience to boards and committees because of her diverse background... Read more.

Martin Valadez is currently a Board Member of Gesa Credit Union (Richland, WA) and Chair of the Compensation Committee. He has been a board member since 2012 and previously served as Vice Chair and Secretary. Martin has a passion for helping minority, low income, immigrant and other underserved and under resourced communities. Since January 2020 he has been Regional Director of the Tri-Cities Campus of Heritage University... Read more.