The Responsive SECU Board Strikes (Out!) Once Again...

    ... and every SECU member!

Well, it has been two weeks since a polite letter was sent to Ms. Mona Moon, Chair of the SECU Board,  Ms. Leigh Brady, CEO, and all SECU Board members.  

The March 31, 2025 email [see below] requested information on SECU's established procedures for SECU member-owners to submit resolutions for 2025 Annual Meeting consideration and balloting. 

To date there has been neither acknowledgement nor response to the request from any party at SECU.

SECU is an organization, owned and controlled by over 2.5 million North Carolinians, each with one vote and a legal right to be heard. SECU is a company with a market value of over $5 billion - a $2,000+ ownership right for each member - that's you and me.   A lot is at stake for the member-owners and all of North Carolina.  The SECU Board does not have the legal right under North Carolina law to bar member participation in their cooperative. 

Despite the law, the SECU Board seems to believe it is unaccountable to the SECU membership. That's unheard of:  "...  companies must comply with stringent legal requirements governing shareholder meetings and resolutions, guaranteeing transparency, accountability, and protection of shareholder interests. Adhering to notice and disclosure obligations, quorum and voting requirements, and proposing and adopting resolutions are imperative for conducting legally compliant shareholder meetings."

✅ The Letter: March 31, 2025

Ms. Mona Moon, Chair

State Employees' Credit Union

119  North Salisbury Street

Raleigh, North Carolina 27601 

 mona.moon@board.ncsecu.org,

 

Ref: 2025 SECU Annual Meeting

Dear Ms. Moon:

In anticipation of the 2025 SECU Annual Meeting, would you please provide or publish the approved SECU Board procedures for the presentation of several substantive, member-supported resolutions in the notice of the 2025 Annual Meeting?  

In compliance with "Rule 6" of the SECU Board's 2024 annual meeting rules, several substantive motions will be submitted for consideration by - and for a vote of -  the SECU membership. 

 

Would like to salute the "every member" voting procedures adopted by the SECU Board in 2024, which enable all SECU members to vote on candidates and issues. A very positive precedent for maintaining the democratic principles at the core of SECU.

In that a contested election is anticipated once again this year, the additional member voting opportunities on substantive issues should not add to the cost nor complexity of the voting process.

Please forward the approved policies and procedures requested at your earliest convenience. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Jim Blaine, Member SECU

cc: Ms. Leigh Brady, SECU CEO leigh.brady@ncsecu.org,

 

 

😎 The SECU Board proclaims: "We are SECU!" ... but "they" aren't.

 

Unfortunately,  here "We" go again!

How CU Trade Associations Sometimes Miss What's Really Important.

    There is a Difference!

As noted in yesterday's post [link], sometimes patience is a virtue in politics. With the word of the day in our world being "uncertainty"- in all things apparently!; a bit of caution, a bit of wait-and-see would be prudent ... especially for credit unions.

But prudence and caution have not been the hallmarks of the "H.187 - CU Update" bill in North Carolina - nor has frankness, directness, credibility. If credit unions earn a reputation for seeking self-interest above all else; there will be a reaction, resentment, a price to pay in both politics and public perception. Yet the Carolinas Credit Union League (CCUL) continues to push a bill it claims is little more than an "update"!? 

✅ Trade associations occasionally lose sight of what's really important. A horrible example occurred this week with two rival, national CU trade associations -  the Defense Credit Union Counsel (DCUC) and America's Credit Unions (ACU) - jockeying for primacy at the expense of all credit unions. Both associations "coincidentally" scheduled national webinars on the same date, at exactly the same time to discuss taxation and regulatory consolidation. Here's [link] how it went:

"Both the DCUC meeting and ACU event started Monday at 1 ET and ended at 2 ET. That led one league president, who stated, on the condition of anonymity, that ACU's timing of Monday’s meeting was an unfair move, calling it “copycat.” DCUC set its meeting date last Wednesday."

"DCUC was not invited to take part in ACU's meeting, so I cannot comment on what was discussed,” said Hernandez [DCUC Chair]. “However, I do hope ACU's meeting was meaningful for those who dialed in at the same time and missed DCUC's meeting."

Not sure which trade association won this "ego-round", but pretty sure who lost - all credit union members! Y'know politicians, lobbyists, and credit union adversaries can and do read! The lack of unity among credit unions could not be more clear.

✅ Which brings us back to the "H.187 - CU Update" bill.  Is CCUL's persistence in the best interest of North Carolina's 3 million+ credit union members? Or is it primarily in CCUL's own interest? It's been made clear that not all N.C. credit unions support H.187. Why risk a minor "update" in the midst of such great national uncertainty?

😎 What gives? Is it that the CCUL hasn't found the time to do a credit union legislative update "since 1975" according to the CCUL's CEO? Or is H.187 really about trying to find a way to justify those association dues dollars?

North Carolina's credit union members "heading under the bus"?