“I feel privileged to join such a capable, experienced and progressive team at Community Savings Credit Union, especially at a strategic inflection point in its organizational growth and purposeful impact.”
Source: Ross McDonald
Community Savings Credit Union, CFO & CRO
Community Savings Credit Union is a B.C. provincially regulated financial institution with over C$600 million assets and with retail branches across Greater Vancouver and on Vancouver Island.
I feel privileged to join such a capable, experienced and progressive team at Community Savings Credit Union (‘CSCU’) as Chief Financial Officer (‘CFO’) and Chief Risk Officer (‘CRO’). Especially so at a strategic inflection point in its organizational growth and purposeful impact. It is my hope to bring expertise, curiosity and diligence to support executive aspirations and member service.
Numerous, diverse and impactful external factors are driving the Canadian credit union industry. In my view, credit unions that will thrive in the years ahead are those that have a clear purpose and strategic differentiation. In a September 2020 webinar then Tom Peters, a management guru, reiterated the fact that many industries have the capacity for just one low-cost leader … with other competitors requiring strategic differentiation to survive, nevermind thrive, over the medium-term.
Since its founding 75 years ago, CSCU has served a specific member profile. Consciously differentiated, it is “the union’s credit union” and strives to be the financial institution of choice for trade union organizations, B.C. trade union members and their families. Per Statistics Canada, there are approximately 600,000 B.C. trade union members. To CSCU then these working community families, and their organizations, represent both a raison d’etre and a target market. To trade unions, if CSCU somehow cannot serve the banking and financial services needs of your organization and its membership then I, for one, want to know why.
Purpose
Community Savings Credit Union is proud to serve, and to support, its members. They are mostly essential workers such as healthcare workers, teachers, retail staff, and members of the public service.
The pandemic has highlighted the tremendous value that essential workers bring to Canadians and to British Columbians. Essential workers consciously put themselves in harm’s way every day, in their selfless determination to serve British Columbians. They are everyday heroes in society. Next time you see a healthcare worker, a teacher or another essential worker then please look them in the eye and thank them for their service.
And yet extreme income inequality is at record levels. Recent related research on US consumers by PitchFork Economics found that, since 1975, the top 1% had diverted US$50 trillion of wealth from the bottom 90%. CSCU’s 7:01 movement is an example of a purposeful program that boldly strives to build-back-better from the pandemic, by seeking fair wages for healthcare workers on an ongoing basis rather than just during the 7:00 appreciative banging of pots and pans.
If ever there were a time for society to recognize the value of essential workers then it is now. For those interested in related matters, I encourage the book by Zeynep Ton – ‘Good Jobs Strategy: How the smartest companies invest in employees to lower costs and boost profits’. An MBA professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, Zeynep Ton frames the sometimes unintuitive argument that living wages, fair employment terms, predictable working scheudules and proper training ultimately creates positive impact to customers, employees and society.
Credit Unions
Cooperative principles make credit unions special. They are driven by purpose, not by profit. They serve members, not pay shareholders. They regard employees as people, not as costs. They strive for sustainable stakeholder returns, not relentless economic efficency. Given common principles, they act together to make a positive impact to the world and to their member owners. Stronger together.
I have been a member of financial cooperatives in Canada and the UK for decades. In a world increasingly characterized by uncertainty, politics and division then credit unions are a force for good in the economy, workplace and society.
B.C. Credit Union System
Over recent years, I have provided advisory to credit unions with a focus on challenging, unglamorous but fulfilling work of stabilization following regulatory focus; and in assistance to the B.C. financial regulator. It is my hope, in time, to meaningfully contribute to the success, resiliency and governance of the B.C. credit union system.
To industry peers, future peers, and CSCU colleagues – I look forward to sharing experiences, practices and ideas. My consultative days have starkly imprinted the benefit of collaboration toward a common goal. For those that wish, please call. My ‘door’ is open. I may well not have the answer, but I perhaps know someone that does. Regardless, it is always a pleasure. Stronger together.
2022 Update
In April 2022, Ross resigned from Community Savings Credit Union. It was an honor to join the credit union as Chief Financial Officer CFO and Chief Risk Officer CRO. Delightful to help drive exceptional commercial growth. Stimulating to restructure, refocus and expand the Finance team. Progressive to proactively lead initial transformative projects on functional maturity, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance. Enjoyable to engage with the Board of Directors and multiple Committees through new regulatory and functional matters. Regretfully, Ross ultimately lost complete trust in its CEO. Between 2020 and 2025 then five different executives, at least three of which left the credit union, led the Risk Management function.
