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Roland Draper
President and CEO, Somerville’s Credit Union
Age: 63
Industry experience: 36 years
As president and CEO of a credit union with one branch and $49 million in assets, Roland “Ron” Draper wants to see small credit unions survive. Draper is the current board chair for the Cooperative Credit Union League – the trade group for credit unions in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware and Rhode Island – and his goals include ensuring credit unions of all sizes know about and access resources to stay competitive while leveraging their relationships with members.
After starting his banking career in high school as a teller, Draper had a stint at BayBanks before working at credit unions, including the institutions now known as RTN Federal Credit Union and Align Credit Union. He became CEO of the former Everett Credit Union before moving on to Naveo Credit Union. During a five-year break from the industry, Draper worked as a foreclosure auctioneer, got a law degree and briefly practiced real estate law. He has led Somerville Municipal, known by the brand name Somerville’s Credit Union, for 11 years.
Q: How did you get involved with the CCUA board of directors?
A: In previous positions at credit unions that I worked at, I had served as a director, but then I left the credit union industry for five years. When I came back, I just wanted to serve my peer credit unions, and the best way to do that is to get involved in a nonprofit volunteer board, like the Cooperative Credit Union Association. I put myself back into the rotation. I’ve probably been on the board about nine or 10 years now and moved through the different seats.
Q: What will your term as board chair involve?
A: We’re going to continue the efforts that we’ve been focusing on, which is our core membership value proposition. That includes advocacy, compliance, education – especially professional development – and social responsibilities. One of the challenges always in any trade association is trying to balance the needs of all the members. We have large credit unions and small credit unions, so that is something that I have near and dear to my heart being a small credit union CEO. Many of the people I serve with on the board are from much larger credit unions, $500 million [assets] and up. All credit unions – even the largest credit unions – have all started out small, and we need to keep continuing to support them to make sure that they remain relevant and that they can grow.
Q: What has happened recently at Somerville’s Credit Union?
A: In January 2020, which was just two months before the pandemic started, we had an acquisition of probably the smallest credit union in the country at that time. The short name of it was Pressers Credit Union; it was a Boston credit union that was just $140,000 in assets and 40 members. But it was somewhat our David-and-Goliath moment, because I was told by the former credit union chairman that our credit union was going against some much larger credit unions. They chose us, and I think it was because they felt that the fit was just more appropriate. The field of membership is what attracted most of these credit unions. The field of membership is a union group that has 10,000-plus employees throughout New England – mostly Massachusetts and New Hampshire – and also Metro New York City.
Q: Can small credit unions like yours survive?
A: I know they can. I don’t think the question is “can they” but rather “will they.” I think that really goes back toward the senior management and certainly the board of directors, because they’re the ones that are governing the credit union and governing the success. I’ve been fortunate at my credit union to have a very supportive board of directors, and they also want to make sure that this credit union survives for the long term.
Many small credit unions use a credit union service organization, which is a subsidiary of one or more credit unions. One is Co-Op Financial Services, which offers shared branching and ATM networks. Little did I anticipate that in late November to mid-December of 2020, 75 percent of my staff was going to get hit with COVID. We had to shut down. When you shut down and you have one location, that’s a little scary and a little daunting. We were able to direct members to Naveo Credit Union and a couple other local credit unions and not miss a beat. So that’s the power of collaboration and cooperation amongst people, and certainly amongst credit unions.
Q: Massachusetts has seen several recent acquisitions involving smaller municipal credit unions. Where do you think credit union M&A is heading?
A: Consolidation is ongoing and will continue to be. It’s nothing unique to credit unions, and I don’t see it reversing itself. I guess the good news is, for the credit union history at least, we see that there are 120 million credit union members worldwide, so it continues to grow every single year. Now the unfortunate part of the mergers is that you see fewer financial institutions, perhaps fewer branches. Many of the underserved and underbanked rely on these branches, and when they close, there’s a negative impact on a neighborhood. If credit unions are looking to merge, I think you have to do the hard work to stay relevant. You have to invest in your resources, your products and services, and your people, especially today when it’s so hard to attract and retain employees.
Q: Has your law degree influenced your approach to running a credit union?
A: For a period of time, I was acting as general counsel – not having that in my title, but certainly acting as general counsel. There’s so much of banking that’s tied to the law, so that helped me as well. I think the biggest benefit I got out of it is that it allows me to look at any issue, especially when dealing with people, from both sides. I didn’t always do that, unfortunately, especially in my younger years. That law degree just makes you think about the other side.
Draper’s Five Favorite Beach Getaways
- West Island in Fairhaven
- Simpson Bay in St. Maarten
- Vanderbilt Beach in Naples, Florida
- Grotto Bay Beach in Bermuda
- Long Sands Beach in York, Maine
