Newport News-Area Credit Union CEO Wins State Award for Service to Members, Credit Union System

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Janet Harris received the prestigious Farley Award for her service to Virginia's credit unions. Virginia Credit Union League President Rick Pillow presented the award.

LYNCHBURG, VA (04/14/2011)(readMedia)-- Janet Harris, a champion for small credit unions and a proponent of small credit unions' use of technology to better serve member-owners, has been honored with the Virginia Credit Union League's prestigious Eugene H. Farley Jr. Award of Excellence for her service to Virginia's credit union community. The award was presented April 8, at the League's 77th Annual Meeting in Norfolk, Virginia.

Harris serves as CEO for the $8 million Riverside Health System Employees Credit Union, which is headquartered in Newport News, and which boasts 3,200 member-owners.

"I think I've been so inspired to fight for the future of small credit unions because I believe that we're still the folks making the $300 loans and who are still very much in touch with our members," says Harris. "That's what I still enjoy about my job; I still do the numbers, I do the big picture planning, but I still have contact with our members. I drank the credit union 'Kool-Aid' and found the 'People Helping People' philosophy that built the credit union system to still be the real mission of credit unions."

Riverside Health System Employees Credit Union has long been recognized as a technology leader among smaller credit unions, having deployed a biometric-based, member service kiosk in 1998.

Members can print a check payable to anyone, print statements, transfer funds, apply for loans and even send the credit union e-mails. The credit union is also among the few smaller credit unions with a robust homebanking system to facilitate member service.

Under her leadership, the credit union has also been recognized for innovative programs like the one she established with the credit union's sponsoring hospital to help her members and the hospital system's employees break free of payday lending debt.

Harris has also put her experience and passion for small credit unions to work on the national stage, having served on various volunteer committees covering technology and small credit union issues. She's also been a speaker at a host of banking technology and credit union conferences, sharing her credit union's experiences in leveraging technology to better serve member-owners.

"Technology, I believe, can be the savior for small credit unions," says Harris. "Our credit union's motto is, 'We are big enough to go wherever you need us to be, 24/7, but we're small enough to know you.'"

Today, RHSECU receives more than 85 percent of its loan applications via its webpage. More than half of its members receive their account statements through e-mail, and the credit union boasts a 35 percent penetration rate for its debit card product.

All of those together provide savings -- in mailing costs, form costs, and in the fact the credit union processes far fewer paper checks. RHSECU's membership-to-staff efficiency ratio is 857-to-1, a remarkably good rating considering the number of services being offered that are usually reserved for much larger financial institutions.

"I guess we focused on what we know and do well," says Harris. "We don't get into things we don't understand, mortgages being a prime example in our case."

Harris says she also fears external pressures brought on by the financial crisis may pose the most significant challenge to small credit unions' ability to thrive in today's ever-evolving marketplace.

"The future for small credit unions, I would hope, is mostly still in their own hands," says Harris. "They can find ways to provide the services to their members, cost-efficiently and certainly in a 21st Century environment. Our trade organizations, I think, need to work to ensure that the regulation pendulum doesn't swing too far to the 'numbers' side of safety and soundness, which would negatively impact our ability to focus on our mission of service to members."

Most small credit unions are not a risk to credit unions' share insurance fund, Harris notes, but they'll need time to mend balance sheets that have taken a hit the past couple of years following the financial crisis and owed to the extraordinary assistance provided by credit unions to the corporate credit union network.

"I think regulatory overload is a real concern for small credit unions right now, and we're faced with regulators who perhaps are scared of making a misstep," says Harris. "But, I think, it's important they understand very few small credit unions pose a risk to the insurance fund."

Harris notes that she genuinely believes small credit unions have a bright future and much of her optimism is owed to the close relationships small credit unions have with members and their ability to quickly adapt to a changing marketplace.

"Small credit unions are listening to their members," says Harris. "I doubt any bank sees us as real competition; I doubt we're even on their radar. But what I think we do have going for us is the fact we can be much more nimble, turning fast and adapting as the environment and marketplace change. It's terribly difficult to turn an elephant, but it's a far easier proposition to turn a mouse!"

The Eugene H. Farley Jr. Award of Excellence is given annually to a credit union professional or volunteer official in recognition of his or her outstanding contributions to an individual credit union or to the credit union movement. In particular, the award seeks to recognize achievements that exemplify credit unions' 'People Helping People' philosophy.

It is named in honor of retired League President Gene Farley, who served the League and Virginia's credit unions for more than 40 years until his retirement in 1999.