There’s something to be said for sticking around, learning the ropes, and slowly getting better each day – and David L’Ecuyer’s career at Central One Federal Credit Union said it. After starting at the credit union as a loan officer straight out of college, he rose through the ranks to becomes CEO in 1995, and has overseen the institution’s growth from a closed shop open only to electrical and power plant workers to a community credit union with several branches and hundreds of millions in assets under management.
L’Ecuyer said he took to the work right away. Being a loan officer “was a good fit for my personality. I was good at math, I liked finance, I liked helping people,” he said. “Credit unions really do a better job of being fair to the consumer, and I think that’s the way it should work. The credit union philosophy and my philosophy were consistent, and I thought it was a good fit, and I’ve been here the whole time.”
After Central One transitioned from a closed shop to a community credit union in the late 1990s, L’Ecuyer used his time in the top job to reach out to the Central Mass. communities the credit union serves, carving a niche in the communities though the credit union’s charitable partnerships.
“A lot of credit unions have transitioned from closed shop to community, but not all of them have done it successfully. And the way you do that is you have to show people you have a real commitment to these places, that you’re not just there to donate money, but your time,” he said. “You have to be there for the schools, the kids – those are the kinds of things that mean something to people.”
Today, Central One works with more than 100 charitable and service organizations, from art museums to the Red Cross of Central Massachusetts, Veteran’s Inc., You Inc., Rotary Clubs, and the Councils on Aging, as well as state, local and national Credit Union Leagues. It takes a special interest in financial education for young people, operating two branches in local schools and providing work experience as well as financial education classes.
All that work ties into L’Ecuyer philosophy on customer service. “We didn’t really have a growth goal when I started as president – it was really about making sure we had all the products and services to meet our members’ needs and were profitable, so that we could offer a certain amount of security to our members,” he said. “We make customer satisfaction the number one priority. I think a lot of people profess that, but what we do is we actually measure it.”
Every month, the credit union surveys customers on their experiences with its service. But the results don’t go just to L’Ecuyer’s desk – they also go straight to the institution’s board of directors.
“The answers to those questionnaires go directly to my bosses. I challenge you to find any bank in the country that would ask their customers what they thought of their bank and have the Reponses go directly to their board of directors. It’s certainly rare,” he said. Making sure Central One’s staff make customer satisfaction a top priority is something “we’ve been doing consistently for over 20 years, and I think it’s been a key driver of our success.”
Today, Central One has expanded to nine branches with approximately $400 million in assets under management and a headcount of almost 100, compared to about 12 or 13 employees and $55 million in assets when L’Ecuyer began at the institution.
“We’re stable, we’re healthy, we’re safe, and we have a high level of loyalty from our membership. We just want to continue to grow,” he said.
