Influential CEO of City & County Credit Union plans to retire

You won t find the name City County Credit Union on a Minnesota Vikings sponsorship at U S Bank Stadium You will find it on the side of Ramsey County s TCO Sports Garden fieldhouse now known as the CCCU Fieldhouse where a group of moms meets twice weekly in Vadnais Heights for Toddler Tuesdays and Thursdays If the member-owned credit union which was founded in downtown St Paul s Ramsey County Courthouse in has flown a bit under the radar by working with smaller little leagues and district groups rather than major league sports that s by design Established a century ago to serve St Paul and Ramsey County law enforcement firefighters educators and other municipal employees City County Credit Union has undergone expansion to eight counties under the leadership of president and chief executive officer Patrick Pierce who retires in April after nearly years of state and national advocacy for his industry Pierce may be best known in Minnesota for state ordinance that allowed credit unions to seek area charters as opposed to more onerous federal charters While hotly opposed by competing banks Minnesota s charter rule change of wasn t his only big win over the years A voice for credit unions He s helped lead the modern credit union movement as former secretary of the Credit Union National Association and now as chair of America s Credit Unions following a modern merger of the two national associations When early drafts of President Donald Trump s Big Beautiful Bill included language that would make credit unions for-profit instead of nonprofit entities chosen credit union leaders came together to write Congress and urge lawmakers to reconsider As leader of the national association Pierce s name was first on the list He won that fight too As the son of a credit union board officer Pierce figured he could put his accounting degree to good use years ago at what was then called the Minnesota League of Credit Unions a job that opened up for him coming out of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls He figures he may have beat out another top applicant based in part upon his parentage He hasn t taken the opportunity for granted I ve never had accounts anywhere else announced Pierce who is poised to wrap four decades in a field he s played no small role in shaping both within Minnesota and nationally Rise and change Pierce will retire in April after years with the credit union which has been based at Robert and th streets since City County Credit Union has grown and changed with the decades and now holds nearly billion in assets up from million when Pierce came aboard in after expanding from three stand-alone locations to eight region sites across the Twin Cities metropolitan area The acquisition of General Mills Mill City Credit Union in added five more locations greater part of them within General Mills work sites from Cedar Rapids Iowa to Murfreesboro Tenn Overall membership has expanded from members to more than members during Pierce s tenure Pierce also will hang up his hat soon as board chair of America s Credit Unions a national organization that has worked to stave off efforts from the banking industry to separate credit unions from their nonprofit status Banks have generally seen the tax-exempt nature of credit unions as giving them an unfair advantage in the field To hear him recount his professional history traditional banks have been a bit of a bogeyman throughout his career which started at a time when credit union accounts were still referred to as share draft accounts because banks objected to them borrowing the use of the word checking What we do is not all that different but why we do it is comprehensively different Pierce noted Even at a time when mergers have diminished their overall numbers while acquisitions have grown members and assets the mission of client-owned credit unions as nonprofit society banking institutions remains one he believes in To become a voting member-owner for instance you have to have in your savings account to be able to vote but that s it he commented It doesn t matter if you have or million Several credit unions partner across the country allowing out-of-state customers to use their ATM machines without paying extra fees City County Credit Union has launched relief loans for customers impacted by cuts to federal food aid known as SNAP benefits as well as skip-a-payment benefits for federal workers impacted by the contemporary authorities shutdown Reaching beyond city county employees The credit union also employs a financial guidance specialist a former classroom instructor who teaches financial literacy at high schools colleges and almost anywhere he or she is invited The customers the credit union attracts are sometimes those skeptical of the banking industry he points out To that end he s been a pioneer of sorts for prize-linked savings accounts which offer lottery-style drawings with cash prizes to encourage member deposits In Pierce played a key role in helping to merge two state associations that were sometimes at odds in their messaging to state lawmakers especially when banks proposed new regulations The Minnesota Credit Union Arrangement was born or reborn A similar merger took place more in recent days among the two credit union national associations In state law allowed credit unions to launch or expand through state-approved charters as opposed to federal charters allowing City County Credit Union to expand its institution area across the metro It was a good thing too to not be so reliant on city and county employees so we weren t so affected by slowdowns or a cabinet shutdown Pierce noted Pierce who is married with three adult children and three grandchildren plans to volunteer at local hospitals alongside a chaplain from Lutheran Memorial Church in River Falls Wis where he first met his wife City County Credit Union s board of directors has chosen executive vice president of operations Thomas Coulter to serve as chief executive officer upon Pierce s retirement Coulter who has worked for the credit union for years also will serve as acting president until Pierce s departure Related Articles ideas to celebrate St Paul secondhand shopping on Black Friday weekend War fitness family concerns St Paul Optimist Club scholarship winners beat odds to make a better future Lake Elmo Elementary School property sold for M to nonprofit Overview revives alleges Minnesota fraud funded terrorists Here s what we know MN faith leaders plan overnight vigil over housing programs cuts