😣😣😣 I truly apologize for the length of this post, but hope you will knuckle down and plod through it. This one will give you the "OMG" not again panic which you witnessed in the "Inside Job" documentary.
Please get some coffee, go slow. Thanks for your patience as an SECU member...it is important!
🔆 The Q&A below was sent from the "happy campers" above to all staff, advisory boards, and members @ June 1, 2023 - a week before "this Board" received a "take this job and shove it" note from the CEO:
"❓In evaluating CEO candidates, was the Board of Directors aware of Jim Hayes's time as CFO at Wescorp
when it went into receivership? "
"✔ Yes. The Board of Directors retained Russell Reynolds to conduct a national candidate search and extensively
investigate all CEO candidates, including Jim Hayes. 1) The investigation included conversations with regulators
and others with first-hand knowledge of the Wescorp receivership and related litigation. Through those
conversations, 2) it was clear that not only did Mr. Hayes have nothing to do with the issues that put Wescorp into
receivership, 3) the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) retained him as the CFO because they trusted
him to stabilize the situation and wind down operations in an orderly manner. 4) The Board concluded that the
same leadership qualities that NCUA recognized 5) when it asked Mr. Hayes to navigate Wescorp through
receivership as CFO, stood as concrete examples of an SECU leader "Doing the Right Thing," 6) particularly in the
face of adversity."
🔆 Let's parse this one too...
✅ 1) It would be interesting to know who those "conversations" at NCUA were with - who had "first-hand" knowledge of Wescorp (only a handful of suspects exist, promise!)? If you a) watched "Inside Job" about 2008, b) read the NCUA Inspector General's (OIG) own internal condemnation of the regulatory incompetency of the Office of Corporate Credit Unions (OCCU), and c) noted NCUA's forced removal of the suing credit unions from the Wescorp litigation - you might detect a strong whiff of "odeur d'skunk"
✅ 2) Believe the NCUA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) might also be interested in who at NCUA is endorsing CEO candidates for a major credit union like SECU. Not exactly what one would expect from an arm's length, impartial, independent regulator, is it? Suspect it is an outright violation of NCUA's Code of Conduct and agency ethical standards.
And, in his 10 years at Wescorp as an onsite examiner and Senior VP leader, Mr. Hayes had "nothing to do with the issues that put Wescorp into receivership"? [Am I the only person reading that statement who wants to run from the room screaming and yelling in outraged disbelief?]
✅ 3) It is beyond dispute that Mr. Hayes had @ a 10 year career at Wescorp, including @ 3 years as an onsite "capital markets specialist"examiner under OCCU from @ 2000-2003, then 6+ years in the "C-suite" at Wescorp . It is also beyond dispute that Wescorp CEO Bob Siravo hired Mr. Hayes as Wescorp CFO, not NCUA. Cynics believe he pleaded with his former buddies at NCUA to "hang around" as CFO after 6 years of mismanaging Wescorp's "ALM" into bankruptcy; because he wanted a shot at... remember that possible little $14 million "cash out" on the "benefit plan"? [... 'course you don't! Because you're going to read about "benefit plans" in tomorrow's post!]
As you watched on "Inside Job", greed and self-interest ran rampant everywhere else in 2008. Wescorp was obviously ripe too, with some "ethically flexible" senior leadership, weren't they.
✅ 4) Would simply hope that "this Board" would apologize now to the entire SECU membership for this lack of good judgment. And, then individually do what is well-mannered and necessary for the membership and long range integrity of SECU.
✅ 5) Any knowledgeable professional knows that Mr. Hayes wasn't chosen to "navigate Wescorp through receivership"... that job went to a gentleman named Phil Perkins, who was chosen as the new CEO - look it up.
✅ 6) Lastly, it comes as the sharpest of insults to the staff to see that "this Board" thought it needed a leader "qualified" in receivership and adversity "to stabilize the situation and wind down operations in an orderly manner" - at SECU? [Sorry have to leave the room again!]
😎 Okay, so now for the "Inside Job", conspiracy theorist paranoia, "coup de grace" ... you thought it couldn't get any worse, right?
✅ Who would you think the SECU Board CEO Search Committee might have "conversations" with at NCUA about their "best on the planet" CEO candidate?
Well, I can't say (now!) for sure, but one might consider talking with the person at NCUA who was the top regulator of SECU. ✅ Wouldn't you go to the top if you were seeking CEO candidate advice and guidance - why shoot lower?
✅ The NCUA federal regulatory group which supervises SECU is called the Office of National Examinations and Supervision (the "ONES"). The ONES is only involved with the supervision of credit unions with assets greater than $10 billion and - wait for this! - corporate credit unions! [..what a coincidence!]
✅ The director of the ONES is a gentleman named Mr. Scott Hunt - the chief federal regulator over SECU!.
✅ Here take a look at Mr. Hunt's LinkedIn profile, but before you do, note...
- 1) Mr. Hunt too was a "capital market specialist" examiner early in his NCUA career with his friend _______ [fill in the blank],
- 2) look at what Mr. Hunt was doing at NCUA in 2008 (Head of OCCU!) when Wescorp went down,
- 3) take a look at his primary "portfolio endorsement" [a person who modestly proclaims he is "highly skilled at this"] and then...
- 4) "connect the dots".
... Fast Cash?
✅ BTW, would y'all tell us (we're member-owners y'know) why you sent Andrews FCU a check for $6.5 million in September, 2021? The rumors floating around Andrews FCU about buying out his contract, paying off his loans, signing and recruitment bonuses can't be true, can they?