Featured Speakers

Nancy Baker
Nancy Baker is a business development representative for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s Homeownership Division. She is responsible for developing lender and realtor relationships on the western side of Michigan. Nancy has worked for the State of Michigan for over twenty years in both economic and housing development. 

Charles Ballard
Charles has over 20 years of experience as an economics faculty member at Michigan State University. In 2007, he was the proud recipient of the College of Social Science’s Outstanding Teacher Award. Charles has served as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Treasury, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Ronald W. Boehnlein
As the chief financial officer of Central Corporate Credit Union, Ron has an extensive and diverse background in management, accounting and finance. Ron’s credit union experience spans over 30 years and includes positions as CFO, auditor and consultant.  He has a master’s degree in finance, a bachelor’s degree in accountancy and is a certified public accountant.
 
Brent Dixon
Brent is an interactive designer and new media consultant from Dallas, Texas. He is the co-author of Open Source CU, a leading industry blog on credit unions and social media. He is the esteemed winner of several marketing awards and has been internationally featured for his advertising and design work.

Jim Fournier
Jim is the executive vice president and COO for the Salus Group, a Michigan-based CUSO owned by several credit unions and CUcorp. He started with MCUL/CUCorp in 1993, managing the League’s human resources department and the CUCare Group, a division of CUcorp. Jim graduated from Spring Arbor University with a bachelor’s degree in management and organizational development.

Denise Gabel
Denise is the chief innovation officer at the Filene Research Institute. She oversees Filene’s innovation efforts—most noticeably the prestigious i3 program—and works to ensure a pipeline of solutions is in place to connect the past and the future for credit unions and consumers.

Denny Graham
Denny is the founder, president and CEO of FI Strategies, LLC. Though he has an amazing background in financial services – both as a practitioner and consultant–his real strength is the ability to facilitate, listen and propose practical solutions. He applies a unique combination of experience, interpersonal skills and sense of humor to craft a solution for each client.

Ken Gronbach
Ken is an expert demographer, futurist, generational marketer and author of several books on the subjects. He is recognized internationally for his uniquely accurate theories and capability for predicting and forecasting marketing and societal phenomenon. Through demography, he reveals how our largest generations, the Baby Boomers and Gen-Y, are redefining how companies market.

 
Timothy P. Harrington
Exploding the stereotype of his profession, Tim Harrington is a certified public accountant who is also a dynamic speaker. Tim is president of T.E.A.M. Resources, providing consulting, strategic planning and training to credit unions from coast-to-coast.  Twenty years of credit union experience and a rare ability to make even the most complex topics seem simple make this certified public accountant a dynamic speaker.

Kim Irwin
Kim is vice president of Invest in America at CUcorp where she is responsible for developing and promoting exclusive credit union member discounts on products and services offered by American owned companies to provide increased credit union membership satisfaction.

Scott Knapp
Scott Knapp is the vice president of retirement services and strategy for CUNA Mutual Group. He serves as a financial services industry expert and strategist focusing on the rapidly growing challenges associated with retirement in America. Scott is a frequent contributor to the credit union trade press, writing about economic and investment issues.


Todd Mason
Todd has been with the Michigan Credit Union League since 1994. He leads E-business partnerships and services, internal technology operations, corporate web site development, Internet-based services, sales and marketing, and manages the operations of CU Village.com. He is also heavily involved in strategic planning and service development activities.

Russ McGuire
Russ  is a leading strategist and visionary in the telecom industry. As vice president of strategy for Sprint, he is responsible for developing the strategic vision and strategic framework for the $40B+ telecommunications giant. He has 20 years of experience in the telecom industry plus experience in the defense and nuclear power industries.

Scott Paulson
Scott is regional director for CUDL’s Midwest business unit based in Itasca, Illinois. With over 25 years experience in the financial services industry, he is an authority on the credit union lending marketplace with an expertise in indirect lending, consumer and residential mortgages and commercial mortgages.

David Reed
David is the founder of CU Doctor, a full service credit union consulting practice. He is also an experienced attorney, author and certified compliance officer. David lectures nationwide on consumer lending, bankruptcy, collections and regulatory compliance.  He completed his undergraduate studies at Virginia Tech and earned his juris doctorate at George Mason University School of Law.  

Rory Rowland
Rory has been presenting high energy, fun and entertaining programs in the United States, Mexico and Canada for over ten years. He is one of the highest rated speakers at national and state association conferences across North America.  Rory’s goal is to have every one of his audiences walk away energized, entertained and focused.

 


Nancy Short
Nancy is an outreach coordinator for the Center for Michigan, a nonprofit “think-and-do” tank devoted to heightening citizen engagement in public affairs and implementing bipartisan public policy to improve Michigan’s long-term economic prospects. Previously, she worked for the MCUL, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Congressman John Dingell. Nancy has an extensive background in political affairs and fundraising.
 
Jayni Sech
Jayni has twelve years of sales, marketing and public relations experience in the credit union industry.  She started a credit union marketing consulting firm in 2001, fulfilling her vision of building a company to assist credit unions with their marketing needs, regardless of the credit union’s size and budget.

Mitzi Taylor
As owner & president of Not So Basic Training, Mitzi combines her education and years of experience to provide a valuable service and keys to success. She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and organizational communication. Mitzi’s diverse experience in retail, manufacturing and finance provide her with the ability to understand how quality training plays a key role in the success of any business.

 
Barry Thompson
During his career, Barry was involved with the investigations and prosecutions of over 900 security cases.  He has testified before grand juries, county courts, bankruptcy courts, family courts and the New York State Supreme Court. Barry is also a nationally-recognized speaker and a regular instructor at CUNA’s Security Institute.

William A. Walby
Bill became chief executive officer of CenCorp in August 2000. He was first employed by CenCorp in 1990 and has held various positions ranging from controller to chief operating officer. Bill received his bachelor's of business administration in accounting from the University of Detroit-Mercy.

David Wheatley
David has been facilitating and coaching leadership teams within manufacturing companies and credit unions for 15 years. He specializes in strategic planning and framework development using values-based commitment and stakeholder mapping. David is a graduate of Hendon Police Academy in London, an honor’s graduate of Lancaster University and he holds a master’s degree in organizational management from Spring Arbor University.

Michael Williams
Michael is a nationally recognized expert on the global economy, capital flow and market dynamics. He prides himself on consistently being able to advise his clients about “what’s next” in the world of finance by enabling organizations to clearly see where they’ve been, where they are now and what lies on the horizon. Michael is the founder and CEO of Genesis Partners, LLC, a research and investment firm that furnishes key market information and analysis to individuals, organizations and corporations around the world.

 Robert Zalewski
A native of Michigan, Robert received a bachelor's degree in economics from Eastern Michigan University. His background in compliance includes extensive work experience with financial institutions as well as a position with the U.S. Department of Treasury. Robert is currently a compliance consultant with CUcorp.

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