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Executive Profile: John M. Tippets

John Tippets

RESUME

Name: John M. Tippets.

Company: North Island Credit Union.

Title(s): President/CEO.

Assets: $1.1 billion.

No. of employees: 287.

Year founded: 1940.

Education: BA, University of California Los Angeles — 1966; MBA, UCLA — 1967

Birthplace: Anchorage.

Age: 70.

Current residence: University City.

Family: Four married children (3 sons and 1 daughter) and 13 grandchildren.

Hobby: Doing presentations of the story from my book “Hearts of Courage,” an account of my father’s 29-day (Jan/Feb 1943) ordeal as a survivor of an airplane crash in Alaska.

Prior career: 42 years associated with American Airlines Inc.; the final 17 years as president/CEO of the $5.0 billion American Airlines Federal Credit Union; retired from that position in 2008.

John M. Tippets is the president and CEO of North Island Credit Union. North Island Credit Union was founded in 1940. It is a member-owned financial cooperative which is ready to serve all San Diegans. It has 287 employees.

BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY

Guiding principles: Everyone has different DNA, experiences, strengths and weaknesses. Do not judge another until you have walked long in his moccasins.

Yardsticks of success: Improving the lives and welfare of as many employees and customers (credit union members) as possible.

JUDGMENT CALLS

Best business decision: Choosing in 1967 to have a career with American Airlines. Of several airlines that I considered all but one other, are no longer in existence (and even that one has had a bankruptcy).

Toughest business decision: Reductions are not a long-term survival strategy, but tactically for North Island Credit Union to recover from the consequences of the 2008 recession, we needed to reduce assets, branches and personnel to get down to a smaller and sounder base.

Biggest missed opportunity: I saw and understood the mid-decade real estate bubble and the poor lending practices of many in the credit union industry. As CEO of American Airlines Credit Union, we largely avoided those kinds of loans, but if I had thought more about the possible consequences of what was happening, perhaps, some others in the industry could have been helped.

Mentors: Many, including my father, Joseph Tippets, an extremely effective leader throughout his life; and Marion Sadler, a vice chairman of American Airlines with a great combination of business perspective and “country boy” common sense.

Greatest assets: An extremely competent and dedicated North Island Credit Union Leadership team and, in my life, Bonnie, my wife and companion for 44 years.

TRUE CONFESSIONS

What you like best about your job: Being here in San Diego and having a specific connection where my dad trained with the Navy, and with Naval Air Station North Island where he served on board the USS Saratoga in the 1930s.

Most important lesson learned: Do the relevant homework then “have a bias towards action — let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first steps right away” — Indira Gandhi.

Persons most interested in meeting:

  1. On the other side of the veil: Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln.

  2. In the here and now, Condoleezza Rice.

Three greatest passions:

  1. Reading of and learning history.

  2. Writing about my parents’ life histories and family.

  3. Great books.

First choice for a new career: A writer of history.

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