Federation Leadership Transition
Statement by Lynda Milton, Board Chairman
(Tuesday, March 20, 2012 – Washington, DC) The following statement was released today at a press conference at CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference, and was attended by members of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions’ (Federation’s) executive committee, staff, and member credit unions.
Federation President/CEO Clifford N. Rosenthal headshot
Federation President/CEO Clifford N. Rosenthal
Good morning! I am Lynda Milton, Board Chairman of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions and CEO of Team Financial FCU in Houston, Texas. As you may know, the Federation is the only national association for credit unions serving low-income communities. Our 230 member credit unions serve nearly 1.7 million low- and moderate-income people from Maine to Alaska to Hawaii.
You have probably heard about the departure of Cliff Rosenthal, President and CEO of the Federation for more than 30 years. It is difficult, of course, to part with someone who has meant so much to this organization, and who has brought the Federation and the CDCU movement to heights that, as Cliff says, we never dared dream of back in 1980.
His accomplishments are too numerous to mention here, but I’ll just note a few:
Quadrupling the membership of the Federation
Pioneering the concept for the federal Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund
Achieving regulatory recognition for supplemental capital
Developing numerous programs to reach so many segments of the underserved population, including through African-American faith-based credit unions, credit unions serving Latino membership, forging ties with the disability community, and more
And not least, he has brought the Federation to a sound, sustainable financial footing.
Cliff will be reviewing the Federation’s accomplishments of the last 30 years at the Federation’s 38th Annual Conference on Serving the Underserved in Atlanta, June 13-16. We hope you will join us for his farewell address. By that time, he will be well into his new position as Assistant Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), in charge of the Office of Financial Empowerment.
I would like to use this opportunity to tell you what comes next for the Federation.
The Federation’s Board of Directors met this past weekend here in Washington to formalize our transition plan. At our meeting, we ratified the appointment of Pamela Owens as the interim CEO of the Federation immediately after Cliff’s last day of service, May 4. Ms. Owens, who is currently Vice President for Programs at the Federation, has worked for the Federation since 1998, developing and managing the CDCU Institute, an intensive training program for officials of CDCUs and the foremost training resource for small credit unions. She manages some of the Federation’s most innovative initiatives, including our major program to enhance the financial stability of older adults, our nationally recognized programs to provide access to financial services and employment for people with disabilities, and much more. We are delighted that she has agreed to assume the position of interim CEO, and she does so with the full support and respect of the Federation’s Board of Directors.