>Board Dynamics: How Old are Your Board Members?
1) What is the average age of a board member at your credit union (or a credit union that you know)?
2) What do you think/know is the average age of a board member in the credit union industry?
I am a firm believer that recruiting new members aged 18-30 to your credit union start at the board level. Even if attracting members of this demographic fall outside your credit unions strategic initiatives, it is still important to equip your credit union with the foundation to service the needs of this generation. When members of this demographic become potential candidates to join your credit union, will your credit union be able to meet their ever-increasing demands?
I admire those credit unions that have started their Gen-Y initiatives by improving their web presence, utilizing sites such as facebook.com and holding web-based contests on youtube.com. However, reaching out to this generation should not only fall on the shoulders of the marketing or small business development team.
I recently had the chance to interview my fellow board members at the USCCU regarding how my presence has impacted board dynamics. I’ll be discussing these findings more at the YES
The worst fear of recruiting a Gen-Y board member according to my colleagues was not that the board member would lead to the destruction of the credit union mission and initiatives, but that the member would not participate or be afraid to speak up. I asked my board members (through email) if my comments at meetings were ever too blunt or offensive but they responded with a “certainly not” and even labeled them as “surprisingly straight forward and honest.”
On the other hand, a Gen-Y board member can add “youth, fresh perspectives, unexpected questions, energy, enthusiasm, and optimism” to your credit union. People that are young have a lot of time, are looking to make an impact, and are passionate about what they do. I have worked with the CEO, Marketing Staff, and IT team on various projects such as revamping our reward card programs and perfecting our web presence. However, my role on the board extends much further, as I also temporarily headed a compliance committee with members of our supervisory committee to monitor management’s treatment of regulations such as the BSA and Patriot Act.
I’m not saying that every 20-year-old board member is going to have the same impact and synergistic effects on your credit union as I have described. Recruiting is the key and there is a chance that a younger director may be lost, intimidated, or confused. However, if the worst case scenario is to have a director sit there every month and stay quiet, then I would have to say that the potential benefits outweigh the costs by a significant margin.
Please feel free to post any questions or comments that you have regarding my experiences as a board member. Board member dynamics and recruitment will make up the majority of my presentation at the YES
Justin Ho is a 20 year old board member at the USC Credit Union and also a Gen-Y/Marketing Consultant for Glatt Consulting, LLC.
>In a survey about five years ago, CUNA found that:
* The average age of a credit union board member is 52.
* Only 1% of credit union board members are under the age of 30.
I don’t imagine that either statistic has improved significantly.
>What will the industry be like when Gen Y is filling board seats in CUs across the country?
>Idealist speaking: Invigorated, daring, responsive, innovative, forward-thinking–in a word: Cool.
Realist speaking: No different unless CUs recruit invigorated, innovative, etc. young people. These qualities are not automatic attributes of youth–they must be cultivated. It’s just that young people tend to be more experimental in their approach to challenges. But I don’t expect it will be easy to find qualified under-30 board members until we routinely instill CU philosophy in the members most likely to take it to heart–the under 18s.
>Our Board ranges from 40-something to 80-something. In fact, our oldest Board member was one of the founding Board members! It’s always interesting to see the dynamic of old ways vs. new. We’ve grown so much in the past 35 years that we are a completely different organization. Sometimes it is difficult to get our older members to understand that change is necessary. That said, our oldest Board member is probably our biggest supporter!
>Thanks for all of your responses.
To Tage, Diana, Chase & Kacey, I believe that an interesting mix of old and new may be one way to ensure the movement survives for generations to come.
Jeff, you pose an interesting question. I don’t know if anyone has a definite answer….but I can say that having members of Gen-Y at the board level could add a vital perspective that equips credit unions with the foundation to service the Gen-Y and tween generations once they become the primary members/targets of a given CU. I’ll def. touch upon what adding a board member to the USC CU has done for our organization in Austin (and hopefully convince a few listeners that adding a younger board member would have helped the USCCU even if we didn’t deal with student loans or have students represent a good portion of our membership base).
From my observations, credit unions in general have been slow to change to the industry standards that banks are setting–these are standards that the younger generations have grown up with and will expect from a financial institution when the time comes.
>The average age of our board members is around 60. I have been trying to encourage a younger member be placed on our board (currently the youngest one is in his late 40s), but I have been getting pushed back from the President and VPs. They all agree in theory that we should do it, but it doesn’t happen. I would love to discuss some ways to overcome this obstacle next week! I am starting a Young Adult Advisory board but they will not be able to have as much of an impact if one of them is not on the actual Board.
>I agree with Philip that energetic, forward thinking youth need to be recruited and these qualities are not inherent in their culture; however, I disagree with the difficulty in finding qualified under 30 candidates.The whole point is to bring someone in with fresh ideas. And I do not think it takes long to teach someone the CU philosophy…
>@ Dani t – Well said, but it’s not the teaching of CU philosophy that’s difficult, it’s gaining an individual’s buy-in… and finding those who have the capacity to truly believe in the CU philosophy… that’s the hard part.
IMHO you may know about credit union philosophy, and have an understanding of the ideas behind it… but you need to believe in it to use the values and principles fostered by CU philosophy in daily actions and decisions at the branch.
>I agree with both Josh and Dani but I believe that the “right” Gen-Y candidate could provide a step in the right direction and the much needed youth perspective even without truly believing in the CU philosophy (and with just an understanding of it).
I know when I first started as a board member at the USC CU I sure did not truly believe in the credit union philosophy although I had a good understanding of it. Nevertheless, I was still able to bring fresh ideas and a new perspective to the board room (ideas that are being used by the credit union and our youth members today).
I also agree with Dani in that a youth advisory group is far less effective unless there is a representation on the board. I allude to this fact in my presentation and even have a few quotes from fellow senior board members and our CEO.
I wish you luck in your pursuits to finding a Gen-Y board member. You aren’t alone, as many other credit unions have actually approached us after finding out about the USCCU’s youth initiatives. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help the process and feel free to shoot me an email at jho@glattconsulting.com