Crash events are designed to reward deserving young CU staff with a chance to experience in industry events they normally typically be able to take part in. This year, the following 12 YPs have been selected for the opportunity to Crash The Wisconsin Credit Union League’s Annual Convention, thanks to our generous sponsors CUNA Mutual Group, W.C.U.L. Services Corp. and Money Mission:

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Nathan Weiland, Branch Manager

Blackhawk Community Credit Union, Janesville

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Sarah Abrahamson, Member Service Rep.

Central City Credit Union, Marshfield

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Robert  Cribb, Branch Manager

Educators Credit Union, Racine

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Sarah Fegre, Member Services Rep.

First Community CU of Beloit, Beloit

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Kate Pahl, Consumer Loan Officer

Govt Employees Credit Union, La Crosse

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Stacie    Neuman, Team Leader/Financial Architect

Best Advantage Credit Union, Brillion

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Nicky     Hammernik, Accounting Team Lead

Northwestern Mutual Credit Union, Milwaukee

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Jessica  Reynolds, Member Service Specialist

Park City Credit Union, Merrill

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Katie      Karls, Branch Manager

Premier Financial Credit Union, New Holstein

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Mary     Moore, Senior Member Service Rep.

Prime Financial Credit Union, Milwaukee

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Nicole   Christensen, Acting/Interim President/CEO

Racine Municipal Employees Credit Union, Racine

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Jennifer Rundle, Financial Specialist

UW Credit Union, Madison

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This will be the third year The Wisconsin League has hosted a Crash event and as in years past, this year’s group of Crashers will gain the full experience of attending Convention and also participate in group activities that include small group discussions with some of Convention’s biggest names.

If you see them at Convention, make sure to say hi!

Wisconsin’s own Mitchell Michiels (Best Advantage CU) and Danielle Frawley (Fort Community CU) - along with 17 other CU young professionals – were selected from a national pool of applicants to Crash the CUNA Government Affairs Conference in DC in February. The Crash experience included nearly a week’s worth of education, networking and project work that focused on helping credit unions to better serve the needs of  small businesses and cooperatives.

Danielle was kind enough to share some thoughts about her experience:

“We stayed in a hostel. We were on the sixth floor and I could have carried on a conversation with someone on the sidewalk without opening the paper thin window. We woke up early to ensure that there was still hot water left in the community shower room. However, even without all of the comforts of home, I was happy that I was staying in a dorm-style room with five of the other “crasher” ladies.

At night we could come back and talk about our projects, share ideas to take back to our own credit unions and form a bond around the craziness of what we were taking part of. You might be wondering what I’m referring to with projects. As part of the crasher group, we were challenged by Brent Dixon and Theresa Hilinski to come up with ideas of ways that credit unions could help small businesses. While everyone else was enjoying their breakfasts, lunches and breaks, we were sitting in Salon F at the Washington Convention Center, learning about design thinking, brainstorming, applying our ideas, breaking them down, and rebuilding them.

In between our project work, we had the opportunity to have different “mentor sessions” with much admired credit union professionals including Bill Cheney. While everyone else saw him speak in a room of 4,200 people, we were in a room of about 20.

Needless to say, it was an incredible experience. However, the most prominent memory I will have from this experience is how often I heard my fellow crashers say things like “Wow-Wisconsin is where it’s at!” or “Everything awesome about credit unions comes from Wisconsin!”. All of this being said while Pat Wesenberg was appointed CUNA Chair and Paul Kundert was appointed Filene Chair. I’ve never felt more proud to be a credit union professional from the cheese-head state.”

CUNA Mutual Group was also on-site and provided some video coverage featuring interviews from Mitch, Danielle and several other Crashers:

James Marshall from the UK was also one of the Crashers – he joined us during some of our Wisconsin hill visits and shared his experience on the CUNAverse blog.

So make sure Crashing the CUNA GAC is on your radar for next year! And don’t forget to check out the Cooperative Trust, who made this Crash experience possible!

It’s that time of year again and we’re gearing up for our Wisconsin Credit Union League Annual Convention, May 8-11 at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells! To sum it up, it’s going to be 4 days of incredible speakers, great networking opportunities and plenty of entertainment (oh, and water slides, if you’re into that sort of thing). Check out full event details here.

For young professionals, Convention can be a very beneficial and rewarding experience to take part in and we at the League do everything we can to make sure it’s easy and affordable for you to attend. Over the past three years, we’ve been able to increase our young professional attendance at Convention by double and we want to keep that bar high!

So we have two ways to help young professionals make it to the Dells in May:

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1) Crash The Convention! Includes sponsored conference registration, hotel and access to exclusive events

Crash events are designed to reward deserving young CU staff with a chance to experience an event they normally wouldn’t be able to take part in. Read more about 2012 League Annual Convention’s Crash here. This year, 12 YPs will have the opportunity to attend Annual Convention at minimum cost to their CU (registration, hotel and most meals are covered, thanks to our generous sponsors). This will be the third year The Wisconsin League has hosted a Crash event and as in years past, this year’s group of Crashers will gain the full experience of attending Convention and also participate in group activities that include small group discussions with some of Convention’s biggest names.

To Crash, YPs under the age of 35 will need to: 
1. Obtain manager’s approval to attend Convention.
2. Be a registered member of the YP Network.
3. Submit an application by March 26. Applications will be reviewed anonymously by peer leaders and all applicants will be notified no later than April 3.

OR……

2)Discounted Registration for Young Professionals

All YPs will have the chance to attend the Annual Convention at the discounted rate of $99. In addition to the basic Convention schedule, they will also be invited to attend the following: 

• Special networking event just for YPs.
• Breakout session specifically for YPs.
• Meet and Greet event with the YP Network Advisory Board.

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If you have questions about any of these items, you can respond on this post or give me shout at chleminak@theleague.coop.

We hope to see you in May!

Over the years, the Wisconsin CU League and its Board of Directors have been extremely supportive of our young professionals outreach and I’m happy to announce that for 2013, the League Board will be expanding to add 2 YP advisory director positions. Here are the details:

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About the positions

Two members of The League Young Professionals Network will be selected to serve in an advisory role to The League Board of Directors. One advisory member will serve a two year term and the other will serve a three year term. Thereafter, all advisory members will serve three year terms (this is intended to prevent 100% turnover in future years).

YP board members will attend all League Board meetings with the right to participate in all deliberations, but without the right to vote.  Advisory members will be held to the same fiduciary standards as traditional directors.

Objectives

To further engage young professionals and prepare them for serving on The League Board of Directors and/or League committees and councils;  to expand young professionals’ knowledge and understanding of The League and the credit union movement; and to obtain insights from professionals who will be the future leaders of the credit union system.

Timeline

January 31: Deadline for applications to be submitted (see below)

February 8: League management selects 5 finalists

February 19: 2 YPs are selected by the League Board

May 9: New YP board members are introduced at the 2013 League Annual Meeting and Convention and begin their term

How to apply

Complete the application below and all necessary detail. Please note that candidates will need a recommendation from the credit union president or board chair:

PDF of Application: http://ds2.theleague.coop/YP/2013_App_Advisory_Member_to_Lg_Board.pdf

What we’re looking for

Qualities/characteristics to be taken into consideration include but are not limited to: years in the movement and at their current credit union; other relevant experience; service to the movement and service in their community. Creativity, outgoingness, the ability for critical thinking and a desire to learn and grow within the credit union movement are all traits the League and the Board will be looking for.

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This is a really great opportunity and I’m excited for what this means for the future of our YP program and leadership. I’ll look forward to answering any questions you have.

Young professional credit union staff from around the state are invited to join us for a first-of-its-kind YP Bootcamp at Citizens First Credit Union in Oshkosh. We’ll be talking about big ideas, the future of credit unions, professional development in the workplace and much more. It’s free to attend and we’ll look to stream a portion of the event for those who can’t make it.  But here’s what it looks like:

Agenda

Please plan to arrive between 2:30 – 3:00

3:00 – 3:30 p.m. // Welcome (and Congratulations on Working for One of the Best Places on the Planet)

We’re kicking the afternoon off with a discussion about the credit union industry and why we NEED young professionals like you to step up, get creative and make a difference.

3:30 – 4:30 p.m. // Hot Seat Panel Discussion Featuring Wisconsin Credit Union Leaders

This is a chance to ask the questions you’ve always wanted to ask. We’ll have a blend of CU executives and young professionals who have been around the block and can provide real talk on any credit union issues you may be curious about. Shyness will be frowned upon.

4:30 – 5:00 p.m. // Group Discussion: What We’ve Done and What We Wanna Do

Do you have a credit union-related product or service that you’ve worked on and are proud of? Is there an idea you want to get off the ground at your credit union, but you’re just not sure how to do that? This facilitated discussion will have us all talking about our personal experiences and goals and help us connect with other young professionals with similar interests.

5:00 – 5:30 // How to Sell You: Making Things Happen at Your Credit Union

It can be tough breaking the mold and making sure your ideas are noticed. We’ll talk about some ways you can manage your personal brand and reach out to your credit union management to increase your value and put yourself in a position to potentially turn your job into a career.

5:30 – 7:30 Meet the Crew/Food n’ Brew

We’ll end the day with quick wrap up and Citizens First Credit Union will be providing appetizers and beverages so we can enjoy some downtime as we hang out and make new credit union friends.

Make sure to register by November 1st!

The Wisconsin CU Foundation is offering a $2,000 scholarship to help WI young professionals attend a national conference of their choice in 2013. Check out the application form here and return by October 31^st, and here are some examples of what you could apply for:

-          CUNA Government Affairs Conference in Washington DC

-          CUNA’s American Credit Union Conference in New York City

-          The World Council of Credit Union’s Conference in Quebec, CA (BONUS: if you go, you’d then have the chance to apply for another scholarship to attend their conference in Australia in 2014 for free)

-          Co-op’s THINK Conference in Chicago

-          …or INSERT YOUR IDEA HERE

We’ll look forward to your applications.

We heard from many strong candidates for the advisory board – thank you to everyone who applied and was nominated. We’re fortunate to have so many YPs in the state who want to be involved on greater levels, and we’ll look forward to accomplishing that in different ways as we move forward.

Having said that, we are pleased to officially announce the YP Network Advisory Board for 2012-13:

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Don Emmer, Best Advantage CU, Brillion

Rhea Hogden, Co-op CU, Black River Falls

Heather Ristow, Heritage CU, Madison

Josh Roberts, Enterprise CU, Milwaukee

Erin Steffen, Horizon Community CU, Green Bay

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You can head over to this page to read more about each board member.  Chapter YP liaisons are still being coordinated by chapters, but we’ll be able to announce and work with them soon. In the meantime, check out our recently-updated testimonial page and, on behalf of the Advisory Board, we’ll look forward to working with you all very soon!