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John Miller
President and CEO, Quincy Credit Union
Age: 40
Industry experience: 15 years
When John Miller became Quincy Credit Union’s president and CEO in March, he was only the second person to officially hold that title in the institution’s 80-year history. His predecessor, Stewart Steele, held the role from 1979 until his recent retirement. Miller got his start in credit unions when a graduate school adjunct professor recruited him to work at TruMark Financial Credit Union in Philadelphia. Later joining First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union as chief financial officer and then chief operating officer, Miller was part of a team that led that institution through an expansion. Originally established to serve Quincy’s municipal employees, Quincy Credit Union now has about $600 million in assets and is looking to expand.
Q: What made you decide to leave Pennsylvania for Quincy Credit Union?
A: This is a great opportunity. I had been approached for several CEO roles over the course of the years, and this one really just jumped out. It’s a great credit union. I love the South Shore area here, and it was a good time for my family to move here. The board of directors is incredible – long–serving, tenured board that has such a great bond and is very supportive. The base of municipal workers has been an incredible base to grow from. I’ve never come from an institution that was based in municipal workers – such a solid foundation that they have and very supportive of the credit union.
Q: What has it been like taking over for a longtime CEO?
A: Stewart has been tremendous through this whole thing. He knew it was his time to go, and he knew that they wanted new leadership in here. He’s also still on the board of directors, so he’s there as a sounding board, has been there for me to bounce things off of him and has really been able to give me all the history of why decisions have been made over time. It’s just nice to have that continuity.
The tenure of his team has been very long, which has been beneficial during this whole crisis, because they all know each other, and they know how to work together as a team. It’s been a benefit to me during this challenging time to come in to such a seasoned team. They’ve built a very strong, stable base for us to build off of and expand in the future.
Q: What have been some of the challenges taking on this role during the pandemic?
A: I had accepted the job back in January with a March start date. Back in January none of this was really on anybody’s radar. I thought it was going to be a normal job transition – finish my role at First Commonwealth, come here, start out as CEO and hit the ground running. My first day was March 23, which was the day that Gov. [Charlie] Baker announced that the whole state would shut down for nonessential employees.
So, I came into a credit union with no open lobbies, and most of our staff was remote or on an A/B team schedule, so they were working one week, and the next shift would come in and work the next week. It’s been just tough to even meet all of my people because of the scheduling, so we’ve been doing the typical Zoom meetings and conference calls. They’ve really been doing a great job just keeping things moving, trying to adjust to new leadership, while probably tackling one of the most challenging things they’ve ever had to go through in their careers.
Q: What plans do you have for future growth?
A: We want to expand our services. We have a charter for Plymouth and Norfolk counties, so we do want to expand in both counties. I would say the pandemic has delayed the start of that by just a little bit, but behind the scenes, we’ve been working on our plans for the future anyway. Thankfully, we’ve got robust mobile and online platforms that have allowed us to continue to serve the membership digitally through the whole challenge. Our physical expansion has a great base to build off of, and we’ll be in more towns in Plymouth and Norfolk counties in the future.
Q: What will those new branches be like?
A: I definitely see more branches in a modern branch footprint. That usually means more self–service in the branches, but also with the existing high–touch service that our members need. So, it’s a smaller branch but more of them. We have members that live up and down the South Shore, and right now we just have the Quincy and Weymouth branches. People still like to come see us face–to–face, and we love that. In addition, we’re continuing to improve our digital offerings. Our mobile and online offerings are one of the best out there, and we’re going to continue to invest in those.
The one thing that COVID has changed is it has heightened our need for contactless payments. It was already in our queue, but we’ve emphasized to our vendors that we need this sooner than later. We’re hoping this fall or winter we’ll be able to get contactless cards out to our members.
Q: How has the staff reacted to having an outsider come in as CEO?
A: They’ve been very supportive. Of course, they were nervous at first about someone coming in that they don’t know. I think one of the nice things was that they all wanted to grow. They wanted someone who was looking to grow the credit union in the future and maybe ramp up some growth throughout the surrounding towns. It was nice to find that their thoughts were in line with mine and the board of directors. You really get to see what people are made of during a crisis like this, and they just jumped right in. They’ve been helpful in supporting our future mission.
Miller’s Five Favorite Major League Baseball Parks
- Fenway Park
- Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia
- Petco Park, San Diego
- Coors Field, Denver
- Oracle Park, San Francisco
