CUES 118: Governance Gumbo—an Interview With Ancin Cooley, CIA, CISA

Ancin Cooley, CIA, CISA, is originally from New Orleans and likes to think that he’s a decent gumbo cook. He even distributes his mom’s gumbo recipe to audience members when he speaks, which he will do at CUES’ Directors Conference in Florida this December.

Principal of Synergy Credit Union Consulting, Chicago, Cooley says in this episode of the CUES Podcast that “one of the things that's unique about gumbo is that you combine a lot of different ingredients to make an amazing, flavorful dish.”

Similarly, he notes, governance isn't just composed of any one ingredient. 

“It's made up of enterprise risk management,” Cooley explains. “It's made up of board relations. It's made up of interactions that happen between the board and the CEO. It's comprised of different ingredients. But when combined together and seasoned properly, it makes for an amazing credit union.”

In this show, Cooley touches briefly on some top “ingredients” for a great dish of governance. These key considerations include the relationship between the board and supervisory committee, the value of having an enterprise view of risk, the difference between process optimization and strategy, the connection between good governance and strong executive compensation programs, and when and how mergers might fit in the context of a cooperative credit union movement.

Knowing more about which of these ingredients would help your credit union improve the flavor of its governance gumbo? Listen to the whole show, sponsored by CUES Supplier member Plansmith, for more on each or download the show transcript to find timestamps for the start of particular sections.

Links for this show: