Chip Filson
The Seated Boxer, an iconic ancient Greek work of art, shows a grizzled veteran of the ring, equal parts resigned and ready to spring into action.
What I like is a sense of respite from competition, the powerful athletic physique and the tiredness that surrounds his humanity. Is he a winner this day? Are there more fights to go? How will his efforts be remembered?
These are questions that all of us encounter, in literal or figurative ways, in our daily efforts.
This is a CEO’s statement from the monthly staff update:
Our credit union is in a very commoditized business of financial services, most of our products and services can be purchased elsewhere. So our difference is you, how we treat each other and our members to truly change lives one person at a time in our community.
And then a reminder of two guiding principles: Every person has a story-do the right thing.
Recently consultant Ancin Cooley in a LinkedIn post described why doing the right thing happens rarely to employees in a merged credit union.
His recent blog should be posted in the employee lounge of every credit union office. Mergers of well- run credit unions not only eliminate a local grounded financial institution. They also end employees’ investment in their professional future. Following is his analysis of the impact of mergers on the most important “difference makers” in every credit union.
The consolidation cheerleaders talk about member impact, technology investments, and competitive positioning.
The executives advocating loudest for mergers built careers in an industry that had room for them. They were given opportunities for hashtagCEO, hashtagCFO, and hashtagCLO roles at shops, and VP positions at institutions that no longer exist because they’ve since been absorbed. Those jobs paid mortgages, put kids through college, and built retirements.
The Ladder They Climbed Is Being Pulled Up Behind Them
Every merger eliminates leadership positions—CEO, CFO, CLO, and VPs. Two credit unions become one, and half the top roles vanish.For early-career workers, this means fewer rungs up the corporate ladder to reach for. The CEO role at that $350 million credit union that could have been theirs in fifteen years? Absorbed into a $1 billion merger. Gone. “Good luck bud…”
For mid-career professionals who’ve spent a decade building expertise, the chair they were positioning for no longer exists. They did everything right.
The “Efficiencies” Folks Celebrate Are Your Career and Your Money.
When merger advocates toast economies of scale and eliminated redundancies, translate that: they’re toasting eliminated people.
Early-career workers lose the broad exposure that builds future executives. The young professional at a $200 million credit union who might touch lending, compliance, member service, and strategy? At the merged $3 billion institution, they’re a specialist in a silo, building narrow skills with no line of sight to leadership.
Mid-career professionals find their expertise deemed “redundant” when two departments become one. One compliance officer survives. One lending director. One marketing lead. Senior professionals get offered early retirement packages or the dignity of reporting to someone who was their peer last quarter.
The Mission Is Being Sold Off by People It Already Paid
Many younger workers chose credit unions over banks because they wanted work that meant something. The idea that finance could serve people rather than extract from them. Now they watch executives who built wealth and reputation on cooperative principles abandon those principles for scale and extraction. The same leaders who gave conference speeches about “people helping people” or “Main Street Values” now give conference speeches about “competitive positioning” and “Market Forces.”
To the Millennials, Gen Z, and future Gen Alpha workers in this movement: the path is narrower than it should be. And they owe you more than a picture with a politician and the ability to “crash” an event. But the mission that drew you here is still worth fighting for, and you might be the generation that reclaims and rebuilds it.
Every proposed merger of a sound credit union depends on the overt support or quiet acceptance of staff. In these situations, they are the first line of defense for “doing the right thing” for members and their communities.
Remaining obedient or quiescent as leaders plan the demise of their institutions’ integrity and future will compromise the values underpinning both personal and corporate purpose.
Speaking up is never easy. But that is what makes a democracy work in a credit union or a country.
Yesterday’s scripture reading was from the Sermon on the Mount. The lesson includes Jesus’s multiple teachings (Beatitudes) beginning with Blessed are the meek. . . Blessed are the poor in spirit….
On the sign in front of the church, the sermon title was Blessed are Those Blowing Whistles.
Individuals are doing more than making noise. People are recording and publishing videos, interviews and pictures of federal troop immigration occupations-and the resulting abuses and cruelties -in towns and cities across the country.
The people have become the press, taking their first amendment rights of freedom of speech seriously. They have used virtual channels and networks to post their stories and pictures. It reminds one of the pamphleteers during the Revolutionary War.
But citizen journalism is not limited to tracking immigration abuses. Individuals are finding ways to raise concerns about their credit unions.
I am a three decade member of XYZ Credit Union. I was shocked by the proposed merger with YYY which was sprung on our community and membership without warning or advance notice.
I attended the annual membership meeting and there was zero mention of this. The Board of Directors has acted in secrecy and this sellout is now presented as a done deal.
These kinds of deep worry are sent to my blog address two or three times per month. Sometimes the opening will begin: As a former employee and long-time member of XXX I am deeply concerned about . . .
These members want to know how to amplify their voice. And that is the first goal of the member-journalist, to make their concerns public and bring transparency to situations.
Several CEO’s even embrace these individual voices. One publishes Net Promoter Score comments in the monthly staff update, but not just the 9 and 10 ratings, also the 4s and 5s which are often complaints about a service, policy or member disappointment.
The credit union press primarily relies on the publicity releases of the industry. Rare are the occasions for member comment except when picked up from a news story. Or very occasionally from member comments opposing mergers.
Both credit union media as well as the public press rarely have the resources to pursue individual cases of self-dealing orworse.
In a democracy, and especially in organizations claiming to be governed by their members, they will find ways to speak out. It is the American way. And ultimately it will lead to organized opposition should their concerns be ignored.
With the emergence of local digital media, these stories are now receiving greater coverage. Here is an example from the Baltimore Banner, an online non-profit news source for the greater Baltimore community.
Project Salt Box: How citizen sleuths are monitoring ICE in Maryland
First they unearthed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts for 42,000 ready-to-eat meals coming to Maryland.
Then they built a data map of how the federal Department of Homeland Security was distributing its funding.
Last week, two-month-old Project Salt Box and its seven-person team revealed what some say is a sign that an ICE surge could be coming to the state.
The group, which works to unearth and explain the public documents behind federal immigration enforcement, was the first to report on Tuesday that DHS had purchased a warehouse near Hagerstown. In correspondence with Washington County officials, federal officials described how they could retrofit the space to become an immigration detention facility. . . .
The American citizenry is finding its voice. It will not wait for elections. Rather it will seek to change leaders’ behaviors now.
Credit unions were nurtured in the grassroots of local activism. They found sponsor support to create new collaborative options for their community.
This latent activism is just below the surface. In the transfer of hundreds of millions of member equity and billions of assets to third party control, their voices will rise. And they should.
Blessed are those cooperators who use whistles of words to rouse their fellow members to stand for economic justice for all. Future generations will honor them.
Last three nights the low temperature was in single digits: 6 degrees. High during daytime is in mid 20’s. No melt at all.
Schools still closed. Roads open but too cold for kids to walk to school.
Potomac started to freeze. So you want to be careful about using the phrase, “Until hell freezes over”-it could happen.
Ice on snow, hard as iron. Only way in or out. Even mailman missed two days.
A Japaese snow lantern in its true setting.
Roads open, but snow on sides will be there for weeks. Solid ice.
A local ice fort. Note how walls have been made like stone slabs.
Cleaning walks and porches is a three person effort. Snow blowers no good on ice packed snow. Use dirt shovels. spades and even pick axes. Normal snow shovels not strong enough, laying on ground.
Essential work.
No tennis today. Have to go to Florida.
Plant covers could save some bushes and flowers.
But power is still on in area. Just need more hot air.
Here’s the link.
2. Explosion of new banking applications at OCC.
This BankingDive article says the eighteen new charter applications in 2025 exceeds the total of the prior four years.
Applicants include Nissan and PayPal for industrial bank charters, the license that Thrivent FCU converted to in 2025. (link)
Other applicants include fintechs such as checkout.com. Six applicants have received conditional approval.
The article includes this quote from the OCC head:
Gould has said the influx is “a return to the norm” for the agency, and that it “signals healthy competition, a commitment to innovation, and should be encouraging to all of us.”
3. Tired of News about Greenland’s Future?
Here is an AI generated video about the Greenland’s territorial defense force that should put to rest all US concerns. Composed by some cheeky Irish balladeers.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOpymCZ0PAU)
Have a productive weekend watching or shoveling the fluffy white stuff.
The golden calf in biblical stories is a symbol of idolatry. In these tellings, the statue is worshipped by a people or nation that has forgotten the values they held together. These idols include the temptations of earthly riches, political domination and worship of false gods.
Currently, Trump literally holds court with the public and press in a gilded Presidential office.
The credit union system also displays the appeal of glitter. Every week there is a new PR release of a credit union climbing the never ending ladder of state or national asset rankings. These steps upward are not from internal growth, but from a just completed external acquisition.
Credit unions’ exemption from state and federal income tax implies an obligation of public duty. The cooperative option was not intended as just another financial choice. But instead, an alternative to the for-profit system driven by ever greater market share and superior financial returns.
Here is an AI generated Edward Filene critique of credit unions’ tendency to adopt banking practices. Created by a concerned coop CEO. (link)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lBPV3tx_WM&t=21s)
In this time of misplaced or lost public purpose, some feel called to be truth tellers. They seek to transform the priorities of wayward coop activities. Some of these credit union believers are member-owners. They call out the abandonment of member value being replaced by institutional glory. And the frenzied search for more golden calf acquisitions.
They speak the truth that credit unions were formed to provide consumers a financial home that would avoid the excesses of the for-profit sector. Today, some coop leaders believe that to beat the competition, a credit union must become the competition.
With coops, the owner-customer design can be an unmatchable competitive advantage. That is, until members are treated like customers whose relationships are routinely bought from or sold to third parties.
The American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
She emphasized that significant cultural and institutional shifts always begin with a few individuals who act as catalysts, demonstrating new behaviors and inspiring others.
Coop strength is an example of Mead’s observation. A credit union’s viability is from roots planted by a small committed group and nurtured with generations of member loyalty.
Some of these member-owner voices are being raised to challenge their institution’s monopoly of corporate power, not subject to their governance.
They are raising alarms in their local press and sometimes in national media. Some concerned CEO’s are no longer willing to follow their industry’s call to be still about their objections with their predatory peers.
In multiple institutional pillars today (media, universities, military, business) democratic norms are under attack. Voices are reminding credit unions of their purpose– to offer each member a financial home where their “daily bread” is the priority versus an insatiable drive for growth.
Even in the uncertainty of misdirected events these individuals are joining hands and linking arms to return the coop model to its counter-cultural economic responsibility.
Credit unions will once again be recognized as a safe place where people, even when on the edge, can find hope.
This cooperative public spirit has transformed lives and the well-being of millions. It is an option that has attracted over one hundred million Americans as member owners and billions of their savings dollars.
But will this effort to rekindle credit union purpose succeed?
Martin Luther King stated the challenge this way: Truth when crushed to earth will rise again. This is the credit union’s public promise, even as some bow their knee to the altars of gold.
American democracy has a unique capacity for creating and then honoring martyrs for its freedoms. This weekend we celebrate one person who gave his life for our professed ideals.
This vigil honors a current person’s sacrifice. It is a community gathering to remember a woman who also believed in America’s promise.
One of America’s most powerful patriotic anthems was written by a woman Julia Ward Howe in 1861.
For the persons gathering above, they will sing, as she died to make us holy, let us live to make all free.
Renee Good’s truth will cause millions to march on.
A mother of three.
Went on a christian mission to another country.
Stood up for her neighbors with whistles.
Was shot three times by a federal government employee, gun in one hand, cell phone in the other.
She made herself vulnerable to protect the vulnerable.
A presbyterian who followed her conscience with faith.
In death, she inspires hope and conviction in us.
Power cannot silence her witness.
Her name will call forth the best that America represents.
And the ideals that its citizens will sometimes die for. Unasked and never forgotten.
She was indeed good.
One of the joys of the holiday season is receiving cards and messages from friends near and far.
These life updates tell of the many family ups and downs of our generation. Occasionally they include special words of insight.
The following is an annual poem created by husband Joe for his wife Zuki. It reflects on the traditional effort to find just the right Christmas present, which is the same theme in O Henry’s short story The Gift of the Magi.
The final stanza honors the most important gift we have, which is each other.
by Joe McLaughlin
I gave you a walking stick
Like the one you used to own,
And you gave me two turtlenecks
Like the ones that I’ve outgrown.
And so our Christmas gifts this year
Were ones each knew the other needed
Not new additions to our store
But useful ones that we’ve repeated.
O’Henry’s lovers’ gifts were rare
But useless, which was their surprise.
Though they were young, they learned that year
How foolish love confounds the wise.
Our useful gifts are small but add
To what we can’t have too much of,
For years behind and years ahead,
Reminders of our life-long love.
Christmas Day, 2025
Most of us bristle a little bit when we feel our agency is really limited and there’s nothing we can do about it,
One of the potential advantages of credit union democratic governance is that each person has an equal vote on the annual election of directors and mergers which end a charter’s life.
In both cases this potential for a single member to make a difference often creates anxiety and pushback by those in power. A current example of this fear is the reaction by the board of SECU (NC) to former CEO Jim Blaine’s repeated critiques of the credit union’s direction and lack of transparency.
After two years of contested board elections in 2023 and 2024, SECU’s Board made sure in 2025 there would be only the number of candidates as there were vacancies, thus ending a brief span of democratic member choice.
SECU’s conduct is not alone. It is the SOP for most large credit unions. And in mergers, the process is even more controlling as there are billions of dollars up for “change of control.”
So can one person make a dfference when all the traditional forces are aligned against democratic practice, when regulators are AWOL and the members seduced by their unrequited loyalty to their coop?
History shows again and again that one person can change the world, one event at a time. Here is the story of Bernard Devoto as told in Garrison Keiller’sThe Writer’s Almanac from Sunday, January 11, 2015.
It’s the birthday of historian Bernard DeVoto, born in Ogden, Utah (1897). He loved the wide spaces and big skies of the West, but he felt like an outsider in his hometown — he was raised Catholic in a Mormon town, and he was too bookish and unathletic to feel comfortable there.
He studied English at Harvard. After graduation, he taught at Northwestern and then at Harvard, although he never succeeded in his goal of becoming a full professor there. He wrote a novel, The Crooked Mile (1924), and dreamed of writing the Great American Novel. Then he wrote a book on one of his literary heroes, Mark Twain, a book called Mark Twain’s America (1932). It blended literary criticism and history, and DeVoto found he had a knack for nonfiction, and especially for history.
In 1935, he began a monthly column for Harper’s, “The Easy Chair,” which he wrote until his death. He covered a huge range of topics: the evils of McCarthyism, detective novels, the Civil War, railroads, the Western landscape, the best way to make a martini, and international politics. . .
In the summer of 1946, DeVoto took a three-month road trip through theWest. He had been writing about the West on and off for years, and had just finished two books set there — a novel and a history of fur trading. He wanted to revisit the place in preparation for a book on the Lewis and Clark expedition, and he thought he would write some essays during his trip.
He was horrified by the land abuse that he discovered there. The novelist Wallace Stegner, who wrote DeVoto’s biography, said: “DeVoto went West in 1946 a historian and tourist. He came back an embattled conservationist.” Commercial interests — especially cattle grazers and big timber — were attempting to take back huge amounts of public land, and DeVoto coined a phrase to describe it: a “land grab.”
Instead of the lighter travel pieces that he intended to write, he wrote a series of essays for Harper’s criticizing the assault on natural resources and the exploitation of wilderness. He described how politicians and businesspeople were conspiring with cattle ranchers to open public lands for grazing, and how timber companies were trying to clear-cut national parks.
In one of these essays, “The West Against Itself,” DeVoto wrote: “So, at the very moment when the West is blueprinting an economy which must be based on the sustained, permanent use of its natural resources, it is also conducting an assault on those resources with the simple objective of liquidating them. The dissociation of intelligence could go no farther but there it is — and there is the West yesterday, today, and forever.”
The preservation of Western land and resources became his life’s work. DeVoto lived for just nine more years after his summer road trip, but in that time he published more than 30 essays about Western conservation. . .
I chose this eample of one person’s influence because of the many parallels with today’s credit union’s practice of exploitive mergers.
In almost all these transactions now, members are showered with promises of future benefits while their legacy heritage is taken away and given without compensation to unknown third party control.
Credit unions like the natural wildness on public lands, grow organically from the ground up. They must start with a core group of common interest to be chartered. Afterwards it will take a generation or two of member loyalty to become self-sufficient.
Today these merged firms with millions and billons of dollars of asset growth funded with public purpose and tax exemption. are routinely chopped down after generations of growth and prosperity.
These naturally created dynamic organizations are broken apart for their individual pieces of market value. The member-owners who supported these “forever” institutions are left with nothing except the rhetoric of marketing and PR phrases never defined and quickly forgotten. And the financial spoils are dispersed among the arrangers.
The question remains. In a democratic institution can one person make a difference, sound the alarm and mobilize others to oppose this predatory behavior?
I’ll give an example of one who had the tenacity to throw back the covers on mergers. Then see who else might be willing to come forward.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a war that is now longer than America’s participation in WW II. Or Russia’s fight against Nazi Germany in the war.
Ukraine is defending itself, its European democratic neighbors, and all who believe in freely chosen political leadership. Winston Churchill said it best during Great Britain’s “finest hour” when that country stood alone after Germany had subdued the entire European continent: “We are fighting by ourselves alone, but we are not fighting for ourselves alone.”
A local Ukrainian support group in Bethesda, MD sent packages of excess Halloween candy to Ukraine for school children’s gifts at Christmas. Here is one report and a picture:
Our Halloween candy was distributed in Christmas gift bags. Comments from teachers indicate that sometimes small children often don’t know what to make of these gifts. Seeing photos, I couldn’t understand why so many of the kids weren’t beaming with unbridled joy.
Then, I realized how many have had to adapt to a life of sleepless nights in shelters, with wailing sirens. Now, many also have to contend with the constant cold in sub zero temperatures. This is the 4th winter in these conditions for these children. They often just stare at the Christmas candy bag and ask hesitantly “I can have this? This is for me?”
Amid a prolonged, harsh cold snap (low of -16C/high of -10C) and lack of heating, Ukrainian Railways has deployed “resilience carriages” in powerless parts of Kyiv region. Inside, they offer a place to warm up, charge gadgets, use Starlink. Plus tea, coloring books & cartoons for kids, food/water for pets.
They’ve been heroes in the eyes of the Ukrainian people since the start of the war – literally a lifesaver during the country’s darkest times. In the Kyiv region, more than 1,000 buildings are still without heat for 3rd day after massive Russian attacks. Source: January 11, World Briefing
How some observors are thinking about this year’s priorities. And how these ideas may influence credit unions.
I am longing for a community built on shared purpose and effort.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiRsApI2Zxg)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWV2lr-xT-M)
[The] strategic capital built over decades is now being squandered. And in the long run, an America (read credit unions) that behaves like an utterly self-interested predator on the world stage (in the coop system) will not grow stronger; it will grow lonelier.
Allies will hedge. Partners will search for options. Neutrals will inch away. And the rebalancing that history predicted all along may finally arrive — not because America (credit unions) became weak, but because it (they)forgot the real source of its (their) strength.
Dangerous Memories, Royal Consciousness, and Galactic Empires