Episode 14 === [00:00:00] Um, Matt: welcome back to quest exploration. This is Matt Jennings, CEO of quest federal credit union. I'm joined today by my co-host Brian Sprang. Brian, how are you? Brian: Doing well, how are you? Matt: I'm very good. Thank you, Brian. Our guest today is our board president. Sarah Wirbel. Sarah has been with our board for quite some time now. And, uh, we're excited to have her in and just talk a little bit about what the board of directors does, what their role is in the credit union, what her role is for the credit union. So Sarah, welcome. How are you today? Sarah: I am good. Thanks for asking me to come in. Matt: Very good. Well, Sarah, why don't we start with, this is kind of our. Routine, with just a little bit about you, just so people know who you are and what your background is. Sarah: Okay. Um, well, my name is Sarah Wirbel and I was born and raised here in Hardin County. Graduated from Kenton high school in 1996 and attended the state beauty academy in Marion. I have been a hairstylist for 24 years and have been a local business owner of Triony [00:01:00] Salon limited for 17 years. I've been serving quest for 14 or 15 years. I can't remember exact. First I served on the supervisory committee for seven years and then moved to the board of directors where I have served for the remaining seven or eight years. And last year I took the chairman seat. When our former president Dick Wilcox was ready to step down from the position. Matt: Very good. Well, I think that's a excellent background. I do believe you're right. I should have looked this up, but it w it's either 14 or 15 years. So yeah, quite some time, especially for a younger lady, that's a, that's really impressive to have served on a board that long it, speaking of serving on the board, I know that our board, our volunteers, they're not compensated in any way other than maybe you get a free t-shirt now. And again, And I get pizza or sandwiches or something for a dinner at the board meetings, which is not really compensation. That's just, uh, a good business. But can you explain to us a [00:02:00] little bit, what's the difference between, uh, say being serving on our credit union board and how that differs maybe from another financial institution? Sarah: Yes. See, that is a great question that I think a lot of people are curious about and want to know. So a credit union board of directors is very different from a bank board of directors because we are all volunteer. So since we are a cooperative, meaning that the credit union, we are actually owned by our members. And so we are more of a nonprofit organization and we believe in the philosophy of people, helping people help themselves. So our board members serve in a volunteering capacity for the duration of time that they are on the board. And one thing that I would like to point out that I am very proud of is that we have had board and committee members who have served for 20, 25 30 plus. And our current board and committee members have served meaning volunteered for a total of 261 years. And that is an amazing reflection to [00:03:00] me, of the dedication and loyalty that our board members have to our credit union and its members. And I feel that that philosophy of serving by volunteering. That the board has sets an example also for our staff that trickles down into the credit unions employees. Because when you look at how many of our quest employees volunteer on several different boards and organizations in our local communities, it is outstanding when we add all of that up at the number of hours that our staff is dedicating to our community. And that's what we're all about. Matt: Right. I totally agree, Sarah. And that does start with the board of directors. Like I said, zero compensation at all. And, you know, like a free t-shirt, maybe a jacket at Christmas time, a meal at a board meeting, which is nothing fancy, other than local pizza places and sandwich shops and things like that. Um, so to have given up not 261 hours or 261 days, or 261 months, but 261 [00:04:00] years of service to the credit union. And it's not easy service either. I mean, the board members, they work that. Uh, fact and, uh, you know, as well as anyone that you'll attend a board meeting that lasts what maybe an hour and a half to, if we've got a lot of things on the agenda, but there's a lot of hours put in either before and or after a board meeting. Is that true? Sarah: Oh yeah. There's so many times that we're meeting via zoom now, or, you know, just emails back and forth, communicating, looking at reports and. Matt: That's sort of a part-time job, right? It really, I mean, it really is. And all of the board members, not just Sarah, Sarah probably puts in the most time because of the role that she's in now. Um, but all of the other board members do their time. As Sarah had mentioned supervisory committee, which is a internal audit committee. Uh, those folks give up days and days in the summertime, uh, when they're in and it's mainly because most of them are school teachers and it's a [00:05:00] free time for them, uh, or maybe not free, but when there are more free in their schedule to come in and do internal audits and things like that. And again, zero compensation for that. So speaking of all of those years, Sarah, 261 years. Um, that's a lot of experience and a lot of history. And we talk a lot about how we want to preserve that history. We want to be able to hand that history down and if we don't then history repeats itself and, you know, we don't want to fall on rough times. We don't want to repeat past mistakes, things like that. So I know there's been a concerted effort over the last, um, five, six years to kind of train people and get them up to speed, to be board members. And how does, how do we go about that as a board. Sarah: So, um, director training is something that's gotten, it's very important, but it's gotten even more important to us over the last several years. As we started to see our board members maturing and getting to an age where maybe they're not wanting to put in as much time and we need to bring some youth in [00:06:00] while those older members are still there and let them kind of mentor them and bring them up in that. So we've been working on structuring our board for the future by bringing in some younger members. To what we call our board development committee. And this is a committee that we established to kind of serve as like a board in training committee. And we appointed a few individuals from the community with diverse age, diverse backgrounds and knowledge to kind of reflect the diversification that we have in our field of membership. And by them being on this committee, it allows them to observe and kind of learn the ropes as they build their knowledge of the credit union and how it runs and why we do what we do. Before they actually become a member and have to make decisions on important matters of the credit union. So we have several, also we have several different training videos and digital seminars that they can watch, or that our current board members that have been serving for years can watch as well.. You know, we watch these videos. We take tests for continuing [00:07:00] education because the rest of the world is evolving. And that is the same for the credit union world. We are constantly changing, constantly evolving, and we need to be able to keep up with all of that. And this is one way that that just allows us to be able to do that. Um, another opportunity for training that we have available is our leadership program. And that's something that we've done for years. We kind of did it for several years and then we tapered off for a while because everybody had gone through it. Now that we have this new group of individuals coming in, um, we have this program that we're going to reinstate that is designed to give our board members the opportunity to go to the various branches and observe several positions within the credit union. So one day they may be spending a few hours with Andrea, who is our chief compliance officer. To see how she monitors and updates all of our policies, as well as all of the other duties that she performs. And then the next week they could be sitting in with Jessica to learn how real estate loans work. And I think that this is a great program [00:08:00] to be able to give them all of the nuts and the bolts and all of the ins and the outs of how the credit union works. You can take each of these individual positions and kind of piece them together, like a puzzle and just see how we all fit together as a team and work together as a well-oiled machine. Matt: Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's great. Um, existing board members or potential future board members go through that leadership training, which is fashioned after Hardin Leadership , which is an OSU extension program. And I know other communities run that as well. Um, where you, you know, you learn a little bit about how government works and stuff like this, but it's great to see people go through that. And then they come back to a board meeting. And they're hearing about something in lending or collections or compliance or policy, and they have that deeper understanding like, oh yeah, I remember. I remember that. So I th I th I agree with you. I think it's great. And you know, the last year, and here we are in April of 2021, and hopefully coming out of the pandemic, but the last year, of course, that [00:09:00] was an impossible to pull off, but we're going to cycle back to that here soon and make sure that we get some of the newer board members, uh, exposed to that. And, or some of the veteran board members. I mean, things change drastically all the time. So it's, if they're interested, they're welcome to do it too. So I think that's a great program. Um, you had mentioned, you know, how board members, you know, you get on the board and, and you're listening to things in a meeting and we use a lot of acronyms and we have different stuff like. That, um, you know, you don't necessarily know what those things mean, and we kind of go at a pretty good pace. And so we've learned to slow those down, explain what those things mean uh, and you know, I'll never forget we had a board member, uh, and this, I think made it hit home for all of us in a planning session. When we had a board member who was just completing her first full year on the board and a really smart lady, who's got a PhD. I mean, [00:10:00] nobody's full that's for sure. And she said, I'll never forget. And like my third. I had to vote on spending $1.3 million to build a branch in upper Sandusky. And it was like, okay, now wait a second. That's not a fair position for her to be in. And we need to do a better job here of giving orientation and making sure that board members are comfortable making, because you have to make decisions like that. So, um, well, great. Um, moving on a little bit and I don't mean to put you on the spot. Uh, between the two of us, we can rattle this off, but who are our board members. Sarah: Okay. So for those of you who do not know our board members help me for those of you who do not know our board members. Um, we have myself serving as the president and, um, Allen Barrett, who is our vice present. We have Karen Bridenbach, who is our secretary and Cam Hammerly, who is our treasurer. And those [00:11:00] are our executive officers. Then we also have our former president, Dick Wilcox. He is still serving on our board, Ron Rogers, Jeff Beach, Nicki Haushalter, and Brandon Ramge. And for anybody who knows any of those individuals, you know, that they bring a lot of diverse education and knowledge to the table, and they're all very community minded as well. And that's something that we look for when we're looking for board members. Um, we also have two committees that help us assist, um, that assist us in the various duties for the credit union. And the first one is the supervisory committee, like Matt mentioned earlier, and they kind of serve as our watchdog. They kind of look out for our members. They make sure that our annual audits done proper. They come in and audit each branch throughout the year and make sure that everything is where it needs to be. And serving on this community or on this committee is Ed Rogers, Mark Light and Randy Buxton. And we also have a credit committee and this committee makes the decisions on [00:12:00] members, loans that are maybe not your typical loan, maybe kind of outside of the box a little bit. So these guys come in and they review the loans and make sure that every member is getting a fair opportunity for a loan. And this committee consists of David Sturgeon, Pete Gunn, and Travis King. Matt: Very good. Very good. Um, one side note, I guess, on the board, and that is Jeff Beach also serves as our security officer now in a lot of institutions, I'm sure that's probably a paid position. But with Jeff again, it's still voluntary, uh, work that he does. Uh, Jeff does work for us on the side and he's a retired Rockwell guy and, uh, does ATM checks and different things like that, um, checks in on, um, uh, the offsite ATM's that we have at least once a month, making sure that they're working proper and everything's good. Uh, but that security officer role is a board position and it's just oversight and making sure the security systems are up to. That all of our cameras are working [00:13:00] well, that those employees that do need access to buildings have proper credentials to get in and out of buildings. Um, you know, using my co-host Brian, as a, as an example, Brian's gotta be able to come and go from all of our different offices, really at the drop of a hat. And after hours during hours. And so Jeff makes sure that he has the ability to get in and out and turn an alarm off, turn the alarm off on that kind of stuff. And then he also provides security training to all new employees, sets them down, talks about proper procedure. What we do in the event of a suspicious person or heaven forbid. A potential threat or a real threat. Um, so that's a big, that's a big job that he does on the side and, and, and doesn't get a lot of credit, but it speaks to that extra work. So speaking of the extra work, um, you know, we have, and this started probably 15 years ago. About the time Sarah came on. The board did all of the committee work as a group and it made meetings last forever and ever, which [00:14:00] was causing people to not want to serve. So we started to break down the board into different committees to kind of lighten the load. You know, let's, if you're interested in this, serve on this committee. And so we have our ALCOcommittee, of course, credit committee is an elected position. We have an operations. Um, we have a budget committee, obviously we have a development, strategic development committee. Uh, we have a technology committee, which is somewhat new. I mean, we've always reported on that, but Brian and Brian and Ron Rogers lead that committee and it's just making sure. All things, technology or in a good place that, uh, we have business continuity plans in place that were, you know, latest, greatest, um, technology for our members, that kind of stuff. And so, Sarah, I knew you chair the ALCO committee. Can you talk to us a little bit about ALCO and what that actually is? Sarah: So ALCO asset liability committee, the C and the O together, I don't. [00:15:00] Um, so that's something that we all kind of, um, ha sit on because it's just easier to do it that way. And we just look at the assets versus the liabilities, you know, how those numbers mesh together to stay within the percentages that we want them to stay with it. Matt: Right. Right. And we use. Um, as everyone knows whether, you know, whatever financial institution, if you have money on deposit, you're being paid interest. If you have a loan, your paying interest to back to the financial institution. And it's really, I guess, in layman's terms, the measurement of how to keep those two in balance.. So, right. And it is a very, very delicate balance. So by default, Sarah serves on all committees, but we. Absolutely do not require or even want her to attend all of those, because that would be so much time involved. And, um, you know, Brian's on multiple committees, Tammy Sherman's on a couple committees, you know, we split that up between. Board members and [00:16:00] executive staff members to lead and, or manage those committees just to help everyone's workload and make sure we're all working together and the board and the staff, uh, in particular, the management team know, you know, what the other hand is doing in the, in the work. So, um, okay. Uh, before we wrap this up, Sarah, and I want to make sure you have ample opportunity to talk about anything you do. I guess people may be curious, you know, what, as the president of the board of directors of quest federal credit union, what does that role look like? Sarah: Well, um, I think there's a misconception about that because I will speak to people and they'll say, oh, did you see my loan went through for this, this and this? And I think they think that I am involved in all day to day activities. And that is not the role that I play at all. As president, I am responsible for overseeing Matt, our CEO, you know, we work hand in hand to be able to make sure that we're making the proper progress on achieving our credit unions, goals and objectives. [00:17:00] And then I am responsible for bringing that board and, or bringing that back to the board and helping report that to them so that they're, you know, knowledgeable about everything as well. Um, I run all of the board meetings. So obviously I attend all the board meetings and run those and try to lead the discussions that will result in a vote on issues that are related to the credit. And I also serve as the spokesperson for the board of directors. So whether that is talking to members at our annual meeting and giving those reports or, you know, different things in the community, I am the representative for the board of directors with that. Matt: Excellent. And I think, you know, that was a great point that you brought up the misconception, you know, we want, we want people to understand our members to understand. Um, your identity, your data, your information, your credit score, whatever it is that you have your account balance, your mortgage balance, that is all very, very, very highly protected and strictly confidential. And there are internal staff members [00:18:00] that don't know other people's information. You know, if you're talking to someone about alone, really the only person that knows that is the loan officer that you talked to or. Maybe the credit committee, if there's like that one-off, that Sarah was mentioning or you applied for a mortgage, that's a committee of four of us that look at those. And that's a lot to ask one person to make those decisions because they're rather large sometimes. Um, aside from that, no one else knows your business and that's the way it's supposed to be. And when we have discussions at the board, I can remember in my 22 plus years, Ever really saying a name of a member out loud. We may talk about a particular loan that we could be struggling with and updating the board on that, but really it's big broad numbers. Where are we at as a whole, not where are we at individually down to this finite member account number and person. So I think great, great point, Sarah. And I know Sarah too, you know, and I think this [00:19:00] is awesome about our credit union. That, whether it was Doug Clark back when I first started and then Dick Wilcox as the president and now Sarah, most recently, and hopefully for many years to come, uh, people identify with you. They identify the credit union with you. So here you are, I'm sure, probably at the gas station, grocery store and or the hair salon, cutting someone's hair. And they're talking to you about the credit union. I think that's really neat that people are comfortable to do that. Sarah: Yeah, I agree. It's nice to be able to answer those questions and be able to, that's one thing I like about the community, the small community, you know, you can be in getting your hair done or you can be pumping gas and you're discussing the issues with your financial institution, Matt: Right.. Yeah. I think that's wonderful. Now I know sometimes when you're at the grocery store and maybe you're in a hurry, it's not the most convenient thing, but I'm positive. You make the time we make the time, you know, anyone here would make the time to stop and chat with you for a minute. If you had a question or a problem. Um, well, Sarah, thank you so much for joining us, but do you have anything you want to [00:20:00] add about the board? Sarah: I don't think so. I think that I just want everybody to know that when we do take on the position of being a board of directors, it's something that we take seriously. And we realize that now we're holding this dual role because keep in mind that yes, we are a board on the board of directors, but we're also still a member. So we have to have that perspective of. You know, the decisions that we're making, we are making as, um, for the credit union as a whole. So regardless of what our own personal situations are, the decisions that we're making are effecting the credit unions as a whole. And we have a responsibility to sustain that. And that's something that we all take very seriously, so Matt: Very good, um, all of that was very well said, and I guess I would just like to say on behalf of myself, But in particular, the staff of the credit union, um, and our members. Thank you for your service. Thank you to all of the board members for your service and [00:21:00] past board members that have served for many, many years in several different roles, without a great group of people like you. Um, we wouldn't be where we're at today, so thank you very much. And we appreciate the time and dedication and willingness to volunteer. And I think that's the point of all of this that, um, you do this. And willingly without expectation of any kind of compensation. And that's huge. So thank you very much. Brian, do you have anything to add? Brian: I do not. Thank you very much Sarah. Sarah: Thanks for having me in. Matt: Very good. We'll look forward to seeing you on the next episode of quest exploration. And I think you're going to find that interesting. We're going to talk about credit scores, a couple of different episodes. We're going to talk about credit scores. And I think you'll find this very interesting and useful, helpful tips for people probably break it into two. One will be how to get a credit score started for younger folks. Um, and parents may be listening and how to help their, their kids get going with credit. And then [00:22:00] one on the restoration of a credit score side. So we thank you very much for listening to this episode and we'll be back soon.