Stay Open to the Options in CEO Succession and Mergers

Episode 137 of the CUES Podcast tells a story of CEO succession that includes two leaders splitting the president and CEO roles for about six months;  doing additional planning for the expected retirements of the longtime CFO and CIO; consideration of several merger options; and a merger. 

This is the story of Charlotte Metro Credit Union, which just as we were about to publish this episode announced its new name will be Skyla Credit Union. Our guests for this episode are CUES member Bob Bruns, retiring president/CEO, and Eric Gelly, incoming president/CEO for the $1 billion institution in North Carolina.

“It was quite a learning experience for our board to be very open-minded about what the options were,” in terms of choosing a new CEO and leadership team through either a recruitment process or a merger, Bruns says in the show. In the end, the board decided to hire Gelly and merge with a credit union of similar size, Premier Federal Credit Union, Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Gelly describes the handoff from Bruns as very well done. 

“I've compared it before to it’s almost like he had a dimmer switch,” Gelly says. “And he was making the light brighter on me and reducing the light on him and doing it in such a well-orchestrated way that I didn't really notice until we got through the process that he had handed everything essentially over to me.” 

Gelly talks in the show about how all these big changes were communicated to staff in a way that helped secure their buy-in. 

“We drove home what we were trying to build with, we call it, the new credit union,” he explains. “And the whys of bringing our two very healthy and strong, thriving credit unions together. And what we would have with that achieved scale. 

"The staff really bought into what we were building and the rationale for why we were doing," he adds. "Both shops, being in that 300 million to 500 million size, know the frustrations of that no-man's land. So, the concept of being larger, more robust, eliminating some redundant expenses, and in turn, just … serving our members to the best way that we possibly can. 

“They bought into it, and they believed in it,” he says. "And they’re very excited about the credit union that we've put together.” 

The show also gets into: 

The impact the pandemic had on this transition Why and how having co-leaders worked so well in this transition How leaders can leave a legacy by facilitating succession planning The economy of scale that can be gained from merging The value of open-mindedness about big decisions as part of the learning process  The value of dialog among leaders, such as at CUES Symposium 

Links for this show: 

TranscriptCUES Symposium Our commercial sponsor CSI Podcast 130: Mergers Have ‘Roots and Wings’ Podcast 117: Merge for the Right Reasons