Friday, May 19, 2023

Why The Leadership Ability And Judgment Of Chairman Chris Ayers And The Entire SECU Board Is Being Questioned

  Will let you read and judge the following email information for yourself. Would say that although I do not know the true identity of the sender of the information, I can verify for you that the source articles and publications are entirely legitimate (you may not be able to read entire article without a subscription. Will try to get full copies and post.).

Would also note that the financial debacle caused by the failure of Wescorp in 2009/2010 (a $6 billion insolvency!) is well known to "legacy" employees at SECU - and to every CU in the U.S. - who had to deal with the economic fallout. In fact, former SECU CEO Mike Lord was the chief financial officer at SECU when the Wescorp collapse occurred.

As I understand it, Mr. Lord was not, shall we say, amused, when current Chairman Chris "Mr. NFPP*" Ayers - with this "strategic move" - led a divided Board to the precipice, and then "bungy jumped" SECU, its staff, and its membership into the abyss...

 

Better pour yourself a strong one before proceeding... you may not need to hold your breath, but you'll certainly want to hold your nose!

 

✔ Incoming Email 5/14/2023

Jim, 

Are you familiar with Hayes' past as CFO of WesCorp? And all the shadiness around underreporting of losses, the federal lawsuits, the c-suite corruption, etc? If not, I can expand and provide some news articles and other sources.
 
✔ Reply Email 5/16/2023
 
Have limited knowledge of Mr. Hayes, have never met him, have little insight into his personality, capabilities, and detailed work history.

So yes, more precise info would be helpful...always a lot of snarking about any CEO, so facts/references help more than plain old disgruntlement.

Thank you. Sorry for the delay in response.
 
✔ Incoming Email 5/17/2023
 
Cool! Apologies if any of this is redundant, obviously I'm not aware of what you do or don't know (vis-a-vis Wescorp), and don't want to leave anything out. I've put links to sources throughout my email. If it's in bold, it's a link. 

First, per Hayes' Linkedin page, he was Chief Financial Officer of WescMr. orp from April 2008 to October 2010. This article corroborates that timeline. 

Western Bridge Corporate Federal Credit Union, aka Wescorp, was a corporate credit union with $23 billion in assets. At the end of March 2009, about a year after Hayes became CFO, NCUA placed Wescorp into conservatorship, removing their board of directors and CEO. Somehow, Hayes survived that purge and remained with WesCorp for another year. It was ultimately dissolved in 2012. I could be wrong but I believe I read somewhere that in terms of assets, it's the largest failure of a credit union in US history.

The credit union was severely mismanaged, and was over-leveraged with poor investments. James (Jim) Hayes was named as one of the defendants in a lawsuit after the credit union's failure. The lawsuit alleged neglience and breach of fiduciary duty (sound familiar?).  The suit specifically addressed their 2008 and 2009 investment losses - when Hayes was CFO. An interesting tidbit from the page I just linked: "defendants failed to recognize economic conditions and take steps to protect assets, instead reassuring members that "finances were sound" and that "WesCorp's 2008 financial performance would be its best year ever." 

Speaking of deception, here's an interesting article.  Your recent blog post about the SECU financial report reminded me of this. Obfuscation and deception is the name of the game with Hayes. 

Here's another article mentioning the lawsuit, which refers to him as Jim Hayes, rather than James (just in case there was any doubt). 


I can't find it now - it may actually be mentioned in one of the links above - but when doing research on this before, I noted a section that said that part of the reason they were being sued was because the c-suite executives had changed employee benefit packages at the credit union to enrich themselves at the expense of the regular employees. Big time levels of corruption at the executive level. 

This is a running theme with Jim Hayes. I leafed through some employee reviews from his time at Andrews Federal, and a lot of the employees expressed a concern of c-suite corruption. (But that's not something that I have evidence for. I haven't researched his time at Andrews that much. Might be worthwhile to explore further?).

The point is, Hayes has already been closely involved in the failure of a large, multi-billion dollar credit union, and if you read through these sources, it all sounds eerily familiar to what is being done at SECU now, as well as what they're planning to do in future (particularly in a world where H410 passes). I do not believe, with Hayes in charge, that SECU is too big to fail. 

 It's possible you, or people you know, are smarter than me and can dig a little deeper into his history to find more juicy information. But clearly something stinks here. 

Lemme know what you think! Is this a big nothingburger? 
 
Here's the thing I said I couldn't find. I found it. I didn't fully remember the details:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-sep-02-la-fi-credit-union-20100902-story.html

It doesn't directly mention Hayes, but he was CFO at the time of this happening. Is this not something that would have gone across his desk? Maybe not; I don't know how things work at the C-suite level. (That's why I thought it would be worthwhile to reach out to you!)

"The defendants accused of fraud are Robert A. Siravo, who was WesCorp’s chief executive, and Thomas E. Swedberg, who was vice president of human relations. Reached by phone Wednesday, they declined to comment on the case.

The lawsuit says improper changes were made to WesCorp’s retirement plan for executives, causing the credit union to pay Siravo $6.8 million in May 2008 instead of the $4.5 million he would have received under the original terms of the plan.

Swedberg received more than $1.2 million in January 2009 rather than the $535,000 he would have received if the plan had not been changed, the lawsuit alleged." 

... can't wait to hear a little "Fireside Chat spin" from Chairman Ayers and the SECU Board on this one. 

*"NFPP" - the Ayers "no formal proposal proposal" (to merge LGFCU)

71 comments:

  1. What will the process be for us members to nominate and then vote for replacement members for all of the Board Members that are up for re-election this year?

    Can someone break it down for me?

    Also, we need to begin looking for qualified trusted replacements for each member. Get them to agree and then work hard to get the word out to be able to pull this off at the end of the year at the annual meeting.

    I fear that not understanding and also mobilizing now will make it harder if we wait to long.

    Anyone know the process?

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    Replies
    1. https://www.ncsecu.org/PDF/AboutSECU/Election-Policies-and-Procedures.pdf

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    2. Getting 500 in person signatures is so unlikely. But worth a shot. Best best would be to create meetup type locations that people could drop by.

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    3. They should resign in shame. Period.

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  2. Jim Hayes should be a man and explain this to all of his employees because this is one of the big talking points right now with employees. Why in the world did the BOD hire him with this big blemish on his record? If this were a credit report, his career would be E tier.

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  3. How much did NCSECU have to pay to help bailout WestCorp when it failed? think the members could get it back from Hayes and the totally, fiscally irresponsible Board? Either the Board didn't do it's homework, or they wanted to hire a crook? Now WHY would they want to do that?

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    1. Big perks and More! Let's ask them when they get back from Hawaii on SECU's dollars. Sounds like the Board and Exec Team are living the dream at the members' expense...while many members struggle to buy their weekly groceries. Really good look for a non-profit or perhaps you all forgot the not -for -profit part of credit unions.

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    2. Does anyone reading this blog know how many Millions it cost NCSECU when Westcorp went down because of poor management?

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    3. Hawaii? They are irresponsible with our members’ money and that is inexcusable.

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  4. Banking commissioner Folwell needs to get off his "A" and remove this board now. Tell him to quit campaigning and get back to work!

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    1. No. that's Rose Conner's job as CU commissioner. Write her a letter. She could deal with it before she retires June 1. her email is
      rose.conner@nccud.nc.gov

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    2. Rose Conner will not deal with this, nor will NCCUD. If SECU fails or turns into a Federal Charter, NCCUD would not have the budget to continue in its existence. NC would have to create one regulator for state chartered banks and credit unions. It will have to be a clear and present danger to the public trust for any action. The only cure to this infection would be member governance through the election of new board members.
      My question is what is the volunteer board of SECU getting out of this headache? Why stay the course? It has to be something more than hubris or ego.

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    3. Conner and Schlime from CCUL are two of a kind. Will kiss any body part SECU asks.

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  5. Hayes has been proven to be untrustworthy to both employees and members. That's it, it's over. Once a leader loses trust he's DONE. It is THE most important quality of a leader.

    Yes, he's a narcissist (it's all about me and saying one thing and doing another); yes, he's screwed members with Risk Based Lending (Discriminatory Based lending); yes, he's taken member's money and used it recklessly with exhorbitant salaries for Exec outside hires (including four and five figure signing bonuses), expensive consultants (think millions and millions), and extravagant trips (hear everyone is headed to Hawaii again soon) to name a few; and yes, he's vindictive towards Legacy employees.

    But at the end of the day being untrustworthy is the Endgame - can't survive it. The vast majority of employees have recognized it for a while and they have bailed on him. And if the Board can't see it they won't survive either. Someone on the Board needs to have the courage to say, "Enough!". It's time to stand up, ONE person can make a difference.....before it's too late.

    A wise man once told me when I was a young and thought I knew it all...

    "Honesty isn't the BEST policy, it's the ONLY policy".

    The Members Deserve Better.

    #GiveUsOurTiesBack
    #GiveUsOurCreditUnionBack

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    1. Oh no. Not AGAIN.... Hawaii? Hope it's not a drain the money and runaway one-way ticket.... Won't be surprised with any stunt these retreat in Sanderling resort, on a private jet charter to Atlanta, we are in cahoots with each other guys pull.

      Of course the sun and the surf is better in Hawaii than in Sanderling resort. And Hawaii sounds very posh...

      Is Hawaii trip a private jet charter too? Is it sponsored by/courtesy of SECU members or a vendor like NCR to catch a bigger whale (contract)?

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    2. You just don't understand. SECU is much stronger than we thought. It's taking a lot of effort to tear this organization down. We need to refresh and regroup for the next round, Hawaii sounds like the perfect place to get some much needed R & R.

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    3. Agree with the last point. Everyone seems down. But it’s taken him almost 2 years and he still hasn’t defeated SECUs prior culture. That’s what needs to be remembered. They are weaker than what you realize. They won’t win, but we won’t necessarily will either. This isn’t a win win situation for either party. Jim and his cronies will eventually fall, but no telling what the damage will have been done. If we can get the right BOD back in there and a SECU insider as the ceo. We may could get it back on track

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  6. These facts are extremely worrisome! What can we as members/owners/employees do to save our beloved organization?

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  7. Seems like we are the ones in a hazey daze. This guy is worse than a slippery eel. Survived the purge and retained his job for a year, kept moving up the ladder and ultimately got to be the president. All the self-promoting, proud holier than thou emails pretending to be a full on credit union guy and giving advise & tips on how to move up the career ladder..... Wonder why he didn't write about all his shady crooked actions that went hand-in-hand in his rise..... Ashamed? Hmm.... Can't be that right???

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    1. oh I imagine he'll write a book and make more money, EVERYONE has a book deal now-a-days

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    2. It’ll just end up being a coffee table book of selfies. We’ve all read his writing, so……

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  8. Let's say the BOD wakes up and fires Hayes. First off, they will have to pay him out of his contract. Probably worth it. But the longer this fiasco continues, the harder it will be to find a replacement. Who would want to take the role with the damage that has been done? It would have to be internal and I wouldn't trust any of the executive team that has been hired or promoted under Hayes.

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    1. We have internal that are still here that could step right in! If they aren’t pushed out first!!

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    2. And this will take an SECU insider to get our credit union back on track.

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  9. I’m also concerned with the talent drain we’re seeing throughout the credit union. Most legacy employees I know feel like there is no potential for growth here. If we want go to advance in our careers we’ll have to do it somewhere else. Morale is low because it’s clear that upper management is not interested in our experience or knowledge. Change isn’t necessarily bad, but how can we have meaningful change when you don’t understand where we are now?

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    1. Morale has never been lower. As a ‘legacy’ and loyal employee, it’s hard to watch this happen. Why did the board feel this was appropriate and what did they think he brought to the table. Did they even vet this hire?

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  10. I am writing to bring to your attention a matter of great concern regarding recent schedule changes implemented at our credit union, specifically at the Contact Center. As an employee directly affected by these changes, I believe it is crucial to shed light 
    on the adverse impact they have on the majority of employees and the overall work environment.
    Without any warning or input from the employees, the management at the  credit union announced schedule changes that have disrupted the regular 
    business hours and shifted many employees to erratic schedules or night  shifts. This sudden and unilateral decision has created significant  challenges for the affected employees and has not been received well by the  workforce.

    Furthermore, the responses provided by supervisors, Vice Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents, and district managers have been disheartening, as they 
    essentially convey a lack of concern or willingness to address the situation. Responses such as, "There is nothing we can do, but you can feel  free to put me down as a reference," demonstrate a disregard for the 
    well-being and satisfaction of the employees.

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    1. Believe it or not, there is not a whole lot SVP’s in any department can do at this point… they too have been stripped of many powers and quite honestly are in fear of their jobs like so many others…. There is already discussions that so many VP’s/SVP’s aren’t needed with everything being centralized and done less on the local level

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    2. This is because Jim isn't going to fire anyone. He going to make it to where you want to quit. It has been stated numerous times he thinks SECU has too many employees. He also wants less branch staff. All digital. Less to pay employees more to pay himself and upper management.

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    3. so is Hayes/Board gameplan to run off all call center employees and outsource the call center to India?? Let's outsource Hayes and keep the jobs in North Carolina.

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    4. Makes sense. Half the VPs/SVPs at SECU started at the call center and worked their way up. Almost everyone I know who is a VP or higher started at the call center. Now that promoting from within is no longer valued, neither is the call center.

      Now they just use recruiters to hire bankers for managent positions.

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    5. Well..the BOD did use a recruiter to hire Jim Hayes and the BOD must believe the results were so spectacular that thy now use recruiters for all positions!! Pray that H 410 remains stuck in the Rules committee in the Senate. Might be time to send those senators another round of letters!!

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    6. And they’ve hired some real gems into SVP and EVP roles. And these people have minimal/if any relevant experience.

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    7. Is that why Robert Half was at Creedmore road on Thursday? They even brought breakfast from Chick-fil-A.... Employees were invited to that meeting. Anyone know what it was all about?

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    8. Robert Half is a recruitment company, right? I asked the AI chat bot why a recruitment company might be brought in to have a meeting with current employees, and it said:

      "If your company is going through restructuring or downsizing, they might have brought in a recruitment company to provide outplacement services. This means they're helping the employees who are being let go to find new jobs."

      Wouldn't put anything past the current administration.

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    9. His treating his employees like rats essentially. You can’t just displace us like we are trash???

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    10. Guess all those employees who were invited have a reason to worry. Even though they have no stake in this game and are innocent folks trying to do their best every single day. So much for the all employee emails repeatedly promising I am not here to downsize, only enhance this place and the lives of employees and members. Empty words.

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    11. Which employees attended the meeting?

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    12. How is it right to get rid of the labor that helped built this company for years? How does a man who is not even a NC native is allowed to just come in and displace workers because he believes in something else? Why him? What makes him better than anyone of us? It’s just a title. He is no better than anyone of us. If the majority of the membership, employees disagree with the current direction then it should be end of discussion. Case closed. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. If employees are happy as well as the membership…why change? Only reason to change is for it to benefit the bottom line. It’s truly sick. This place has been outstanding for years. It doesn’t deserve this. All for money…I just don’t understand how greed creeped in so quickly into the company.

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    13. People have families to feed. Terrible job market and terrible economy. Yes… let’s kick our employees(who are members and have family that are members) to the curb with no paycheck to feed their family and no health insurance….another reason why secu loved the prior culture. Management use to try to help employeees become better people and cared who they were outside of work..and understand there is more to life than work and money…..Now that has changed. Cold hearted greedy leadership

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    14. This man has never even ran a loan application for a member, but yet he gets to exploit our labor and find ways to displace workers so he can bring others that will comply with his theology. And yes I used theology. Mr. Hayes is a God to himself and has created his own religion/cult beliefs and expects us to follow it. You earn respect Mr. Hayes..you don’t come in and demand it especially when you have been very unsuccessful in the past. Please stop sending desperate emails to the employees and address the points employees are making in the blog. Step up and be a man

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  11. any way to get rid of them all now? this is a legitimate question? Can the members call a membership meeting before October?

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    Replies
    1. Great question! Anyone reading this blog know how we, as members can legally do to get rid of Gym and his elect group? Members want our credit union back!

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    2. Changing the board is the only sure fire way that I know. The issue is going to be having someone to self nominate themselves. Then they have to not be chosen to be on the ballot and then after that they have to get the signatures of 500 current members (in person) then they can go on the ballot to be voted on at the next annual meeting.

      Getting that many names will be hard unless they try to be at some SEANC meetings. This will need to be done by the same number of people as we have Board Members with terms expiring.

      Now there is no mention that the signatures need to be gathered by the candidate so I would think that a team of people could help canvas the state to gather the signatures after the interested parties have been determined and they have gone through the application process to self nominate.

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    3. Can we call for a vote of no confidence in the board and president?

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    4. I want to know what we can do now too. It's just getting worse. Vote of no confidence sounds good to me.

      As far as the Board elections go, I think we need to put up more than the number of candidates, if possible. And, I read the same about the signatures... It doesn't say the candidate has to get them. And, why would they?

      If we post who the candidates are, we can all get signatures and send them to a central P.O. Box. I think we'd get 500 signatures pretty quickly that way. I know I can easily get 30 myself.

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    5. More than the number of candidates necessary sounds good just in case they eliminate someone for a hanging chad or something. But, we don't want a situation where the vote is split in the final election.

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    6. It says the 500 signatures will be verified as members. Well, there are over 2 million members, so we can do this. Just have to make sure they use perfect penmanship. We don't want members names crossed off because it wasn't a proper cursive Q. I can see this board crossing names off for other reasons.

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  12. Apparently the board didn't know how to search Glassdoor for reviews. One employee specifically warned the world in August of 2021:

    "What makes a good organization is a true leader, not someone with a checked past and who will manage top down!!! Treat the people on the low levels as well as the top. Get back to Andrews core values!!! Do not hire anyone that is current acting as CEO to be your next CEO aka your last CEO and find some one with good vision. Not vision for them self!!!"

    It's easy to find. Just google "Andrews Federal Credit Union Glassdoor Reviews" and then sort from lowest to highest. Make sure you look at the dates of the reviews and keep in mind that Gym was the Chief Ego Officer from 2013-2021

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    Replies
    1. Lord please don’t let us be stuck with him for 8 years like they did

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  13. Wonder if SHERA has had her meeting with SEANC yet? Supposed be this month some time. Be interesting to see how that goes over.

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  14. I cannot imagine how the BOD failed to see or whether they simply ignored any red flags in past of Mr. Haze. A snow job by a slick, divisive, nimrod. I don’t mean Nimrod in Biblical meaning, but in the modern day term used to describe Elmer Fudd buy both Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. For those on the BOD that are starting to think about sticking your head in the sand, running or just sitting there sweating, do something!! A least apply the BRAKES before this gets any worse and you find that you have become much better known for all the wrong reasons.

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  15. Getting even clearer Jim Hayes was exactly the ticket some of our Upstanding-Member Representing Board of Directors wanted. Pretty clear Ayers was pack leader, he does leadership so well.

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  16. So many employees are hanging on until October, im afraid what will happen if something doesn’t change at that time…

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  17. all these moves are what banks do .... my wife worked for 3 different banks and this is exactly how they operated ....

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  18. We should rebrand to 'ISCU'. Industry Standard Credit Union.

    ISCU - There isn't a difference, we're industry standard.

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    Replies
    1. So tired of hearing industry standard as a reason for us to do things. We didn’t get to where we are by following the industry. We bucked those standards and showed there was a better way to do things.

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    2. Silicon Valley Bank/First Republic standard ....

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  19. Haze is "The Emperor's New Clothes" leader...no substance. Starting to believe Board has same depth of character and ability.Staff needs to tell the /board and advisory boards...he ain't wearing anything!

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  20. Please stop posting how low morale is amongst employees, as true as it may be, it lets them win, conquer & divide us even more, don’t give them what they want-we need all employees to stick together if we are going to make it through this!

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    Replies
    1. Agreed. And it’s very possible to win. They are beatable. In 2 years the entire state hates him. He won’t survive much longer

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    2. I think it’s possible to have low morale and be a united front, I think we are still very strong together despite

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  21. West Coast Hazey IPA should do a live Q&A to answer these questions, but he won't. He's a coward and not fit to lead SECU.

    BUT, If you've dedicated 10-plus years of your life to SECU, then you're the bad guy/girl for upholding SECU values and there goes your job.

    Sound about right?

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  22. I'd hope that Royal Caribbean wouldn't hire the Captain of the Titanic (if he were available).

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    Replies
    1. Hard to imagine what SECU's board of directors were thinking when they chose Hayes.

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  23. Do I have this right? (NCUA alleged) WesCorp officers and directors were grossly negligent and breached their fiduciary duties (when they invested heavily in risky mortgage-backed securities). One of the key WesCorp people likely involved in that negligence, was put in charge of one of the most successful and consistently responsible financial institutions in the nation (SECU).

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    Replies
    1. Yes, yes you do.

      Unmitigated malfeasance by SECU's Board of Directors.

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  24. Yes you have it right. This (NCUA alleged) Wescorp person "likely" involved in grossly negligent and breach of fiduciary duties who then took a step up to become the CEO of Andrews credit union was - once again - "likely" involved in high level C-SUITE corruptions as per the rumblings in Andrews and was "allegedly" "let go" from there by an online post by one of the employees there. After these 2 "back-to-back" successful stints of "allegedly" and"likely" involvement in negligence, breach of fiduciary duties and corruption, the SECU board "handpicked" this person to be put in charge of one of the most successful and consistently responsible financial institutions in the nation (SECU).

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  25. Anyone who has read Harry Potter knows that Voldemort was referred to as “He Who Shall Not Be Named”. Well, since Hayes was hired the running joke among older SECU employees was that Wescorp was “The Credit Union That Shall Not Be Named”. At least not while on the job.

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