SECU Board - Individual Accountability - Stelfanie Williams and Jennifer Haygood

                     

Ms. Stelfanie Williams

Dr. Williams joined the SECU Board of Directors in 2017. 

Ms. Jennifer Haygood

Jennifer Haygood was appointed to the SECU Board of Directors in 2019.

 

[link to SECU Board profiles]

 

Resuming the profile of the current SECU Board, here are two additional members who have strong educational credentials and are leaders at two of North Carolina's most important universities.  Many members held out great hope that these two talented leaders -  younger, intelligent, independent thinkers - would be open to public, member-wide discussion of critical issues and would make a positive difference on the SECU Board. So far, that hope has not been visible.

 

✅ So, let's try a little different track in this post and get back to an important, specific issue - risk-based lending (RBL) - with these two new SECU Board members. 

 

But first, lots of fuming and fussing going on with commenters, which tends to distract. Listen, if the SECU Board has "unanimously gone corporate" with an open disdain for the opinions of the membership, then employees in IT, the call center, and the branches shouldn't be surprised that they are receiving the same treatment - and shown the same lack of respect. New operating policies, employee scheduling/pay practices, and the "our way or highway" leadership style reflect that "new/new" corporate mentality.  Employees - at all levels, by the way - simply become just another lump of  "raw material" or "micro-economic input" for that (a bit of a joke) "Strategic Grand Plan". Didn't realize that you had become "canon fodder" ? Well c'mon, what part of "our way or highway", do you not understand?

👍 Dear Ms. Haygood and Ms. Williams,

 

✅ As members of the SECU Board of Directors, you have approved the introduction of risk-based lending (RBL) at SECU, effective March 1, 2023. Risk-based lending unjustly empowers discrimination against African-Americans, younger North Carolinians, university students, hospital workers, and North Carolinians of modest means, who seek to borrow from SECU.  

 ❓ 1) ✔ Do you personally endorse discrimination in lending against these members? (Of course not... but you have!)

 

✅ That risk-based lending is discriminatory is proved by SECU's own financial data and in publicly recorded statements by SECU's senior lending staff (see "Fireside Chats", multiple RBL posts above)? 

❓ 2)  ✔ Why have you chosen to disregard this actual data which confirms RBL discrimination? (Any possibility you may have been misinformed and misled... any downside to revalidating your decision, just in case?)

 

✅ The former CEO of SECU, Mike Lord, has vigorously and directly advised you that risked-based lending is discriminatory and unfairly, financially punishes the majority of SECU borrowers. I personally join Mr. Lord in that admonition of your approval of discrimination in SECU lending. Hope you will acknowledge that with over 80 years of experience in consumer lending that Mr. Lord and I may have a clearer understanding of lending discrimination than either of you - despite your great expertise in other areas.

 ❓ 3) Why have you chosen not to seek the reasons for this opposing view? (Do you believe that hearing other expertise will harm your credibility as a Board member? Think again...)

 

✅ The University for which you work has many SECU members - on the support staff, in the Duke/UNC hospital systems, graduate instructors, active students, and among the faculty. Many are adversely affected by risk-based lending - none support discrimination by race, age, or against North Carolinians of modest means.

 ❓4) Do you believe that UNC-CH and Duke University would support you in adopting discriminatory lending at SECU? (Of course not... so don't you agree that you owe the members of SECU, the Universities, your co-workers - and yourself! - the courtesy of publicly discussing and affirming if RBL is fair?)

 

✅ Ms. Haygood and Ms. Williams, you have a duty to the membership on RBL - you have a choice!  (And no it won't wait... nor will it go away until resolved). It's time for you to act - intelligently, independently.

 ❓ 5) Ms. Williams and Ms. Haygood, if the SECU Board has been advised that a mistake may have been made with risk-based lending wouldn't you at least want to hear that concern? Would you publicly speak out against RBL, if it was unjustly penalizing SECU members - and your co-workers at the University?

 

 😎 Lastly, I would be delighted if wrong (won't speak for Mr. Lord!) to have the opportunity to be proved a liar, shown to be loosing my marbles, forced to apologize, publicly humiliated, tarred & feathered, and driven from the State - if wrong. And as an extra bonus - I will SHUT UP!

("tarred & feathered, driven from the State"?)... Hey, better him than you, right?!

 

 

SECU Board - Individual Accountability - Ben McLawhorn, Part 2

  

Ben McLawhorn

Know that Mr. McLawhorn is "unthrilled" to be mentioned twice in this blog; but need to make one more point about the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and it's prohibition against snooping around credit reports without a business purpose ... i.e., it's illegal.  

 

 ❓ Did the SECU Board realize that such a search was illegal? [see 7/8/23 post - link - The SEANC Mess]

 

✅ It would appear the answer is unequivocally "Yes".  How so?

 

✅ Because the SECU Board "unanimously" approved the following in its New Election Procedures (April 13, 2023):

 

"2. Candidate Information. Members may email the Assistant Corporate Secretary at board.corporate.secretary@ncsecu.org to request a State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) Director Candidate Questionnaire, Certification of Information, and Notification and Authorization Form for Employment Consumer Report (together, the “Candidate Package”) and submit them to SECU by the deadline in the current year Election Procedures Schedule for forwarding to the Chair of the Nominating Committee. "

 

✅ As part of the approval process for selecting potential candidates for the Board of Directors, the SECU Board and Nominating Committee evidently want to review applicants credit reports and credit score (guess they want to make sure only "A-paper" type folks are at the Board table!).

 

✅ The SECU Board knew that legally the candidate had to give them written permission before a credit report could be requested by the Nominating Committee. 

  

 ✅ As the Consumer Federal Protection Bureau (CFPB) says:

"No one should request your credit report without a valid purpose allowed by the law. Anyone who uses or obtains a copy of your credit report under false pretenses may be subject to civil and criminal penalties."

 

  ... guess that's why you have three attorneys on the SECU Board... to make sure you don't break the law!

SECU Board - Individual Accountability - Ben McLawhorn

Ben McLawhorn 

Ben McLawhorn recently retired as the Audit, Risk, and Compliance Service Director for the North Carolina Office of the State Controller, where he had the primary responsibility for managing EAGLE - the State of North Carolina's governmental accountability and internal control program. Mr. McLawhorn received a B.S.B.A. degree in accounting and information systems from Appalachian State and an MBA from Campbell University. He also holds numerous professional certifications in the areas of information systems security and auditing, and in internal controls and fraud examination. Mr. McLawhorn joined the SECU Board in 2022 and has served on the Audit and Loan Review Committees and advisory boards.

 

 

In profiling my experience with the SECU Board, I noted I had worked directly for only 3 of the 11 current members (Mr. Brinson [link 7/4], Mr. Wooten [link 7/5], Ms. Sanford [link 7/6]. I do however know several of the other Board members; and, given the current "new/new" deterioration have an opinion and questions about each of them - and the separate, individual accountability of each to the 2.7 million members of SECU. Believe most folks agree that remaining silent when a wrong is committed, even as part of a group, confers neither defense nor excuse... nor forgiveness.

 

✅ As you will note from the bio above, no one understands accountability better than Ben McLawhorn. He has fashioned a distinguished career and a statewide reputation out of leading the effort to assure the integrity and responsible control of operations within North Carolina State government - and thereby enhancing the confidence of citizens in their State government. 

 

One memorable experience with Mr. McLawhorn was traveling to App State to speak at the Boyles Distinguished Lecture Series at the Walker School of Business - an invitation suggested to the University by Ben McLawhorn. For those unfamiliar with Harlan Boyles, he was North Carolina's State Treasurer for decades - the State's top banker, the "keeper of the people's purse". Here's what folks said about Mr. Boyles:

"As State Treasurer and as a public servant in other positions, Harlan Boyles earned the respect of colleagues and peers throughout North Carolina and the nation for his financial acumen, his knowledge and wisdom, his strength of character and especially for his great sense of personal integrity." 

 

✅ The theme of the lecture was "Stewardship", which is that personal responsibility of public servants to maintain their "great sense of personal integrity" despite the pressure, despite the fear, despite the personal costs, despite "what others think". Ben McLawhorn understands accountability, he inherited the mantle of public servant from people like Harlan Boyles! Mr. McLawhorn is - as an SECU Board member - the financial steward of the welfare of 2.7 million North Carolinians.

 

✅ Under the "new/new" over the last 2 years just in the area of internal controls: 1) the innovative and effective SECU system of internal audit and control (never a scandal, an unblemished streak of clean audit opinions, and never sanctioned by regulatory authorities over 85 years!) has been dismantled and discarded, 2) in 2022 the internal candidate selected to lead SECU audit functions - after a nationwide search - was "forced out" and replaced by the "new/former" CEO's internal auditor from Andrews FCU (you really can't make this stuff up folks!), and 3) the availability of full monthly financial statements to members and staff has been stopped. Let alone the very evident lack of transparency by the Board on issues such as the "no formal formal merger" proposals, "CU Updates" legislation chicanery, open membership, refusal to disclose loan rates to members prior to application on risk-based lending (RBL)...

✅ But this post has gone on far too long, sorry... given that mention of RBL, let's segue to the clincher which hopefully will outrage everyone including Mr. McLawhorn. Recall that the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC) back in February, 2023 requested the SECU Board to rescind the introduction of RBL, until a discussion could be held. SECU disregarded the request and went ahead and introduced RBL on March 1, 2023. 

 

But SEANC pursued the meeting which was held on March 23, 2023, without effect. Prior to the meeting SECU investigated the credit records and credit scores of the meeting participants coming over from SEANC. 

 

❓What could be the purpose of that sort of look up, especially when the Fair Credit Reporting Act limits access to your credit report by SECU to a "legitimate business need"? What was the "legitimate business need" for SECU in this situation prior to the meeting?

 

✅ In the past, SECU internal audit and control folks - all employees for that matter - were advised to pursue the following in their work: ✔ Always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. and ✔ Telling the truth takes discipline, telling the whole truth takes grace, and telling nothing but the truth takes courage. 

 

In summary just: "Do the Right Thing!"

 

Mr. McLawhorn, why is this happening at SECU? 

 

... and how much longer can a good steward remain silent?