65.5 F
San Diego
Monday, Mar 18, 2024
-Advertisement-

Trailblazers Give Accounts of Successful Journeys

If there’s a glass ceiling for women in financial services, it’s clearly been shattered at San Diego’s three largest credit unions, which are all headed by female chief executives.

Debra Schwartz, chief executive at Mission Federal Credit Union, the area’s second largest with about $2 billion in assets, took the top job in 2008 after serving as the credit union’s second in command for about a year.

Schwartz moved over to Mission Federal after working as the chief financial officer for First Future Credit Union for about two years. Before that, she worked as an executive vice president for San Diego County Credit Union for about 10 years.

She says being a woman in financial services never caused her any worries, as she saw other women moving up the ladder, and felt her hard work was recognized wherever she went.

“I’m tenacious and a hard worker and I always give 100 percent,” Schwartz said, when asked what qualities helped her get to where she is. “I’m not afraid to ask questions, or say I don’t know something. I’m also not afraid to take risks.”

Hard work and diligence were also essential ingredients to the career of Teresa Halleck, who was named as chief executive at San Diego County Credit Union, the area’s largest with more than $5 billion in assets, two years ago.

Lifelong Learning Is Key

Halleck took a more circuitous route to the top, getting a job in the court system in the District of Columbia after graduating from high school. She began as a clerk for the Superior Court’s marriage bureau, and gradually moved up to become Secretary to the Clerk of the Court at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

During her five years in the courthouse, Halleck took college classes at nights and weekends. After earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Maryland, she took a job with an accounting firm, but kept up her learning.

While working as comptroller for Maryland Federal Savings, an $800 million savings and loan, she obtained a master’s degree in financial management at Johns Hopkins University.

From the S&L, Halleck took another step up when she was hired as chief financial officer at the State Employees Credit Union of Maryland in 1992, and later became that credit union’s president.

In 2002, Halleck moved to California to become CEO for Golden 1 Credit Union, based in Sacramento and with about $4 billion in assets then. When she left in 2010, Golden 1 had more than $7 billion in assets and 27 branches.

“During my career I have always been attracted to challenges, and my personal goal is to always substantively improve the organization…and ensure it ultimately is a much better place,” she said.

Management Mentality and Mentors

Marla Shepard, the CEO at California Coast Credit Union, with $1.7 billion in assets, said she knew in high school that she wanted to be a top executive, but just wasn’t sure where.

She majored in accounting and finance at Mesa College in her hometown of Grand Junction, Colo., got her degree, and moved with her husband, who was in the Marine Corps, to San Diego in 1972.

That same year she took a job as a teller at Santel Credit Union when the tiny institution serving employees of AT&T had only $14 million in assets and eight employees.

Shepard liked the philosophy and approach of credit unions from the get-go, and showed enthusiasm for the jobs she was given. In about five years, she became a branch manager. Five years hence, in 1982, she was named Santel’s CEO at the ripe age of 28.

“I’ve always sort of had a management mentality all my life,” Shepard said, adding that she also had a good mentor in a former chief operating officer, Cindy Boyd.

“Having a mentor isn’t absolutely necessary but I think it’s important especially for women,” she said. “There are things that women have to deal with that men don’t have to, like having children and managing a household while you’re also managing a career.”

Shepard raised two children while she worked.

For the most part, the three CEOs said the credit union industry seemed to be one that provides more opportunities to move up than many others.

But the climb to the top doesn’t always come without some pain, said Shepard.

Early on, the men who dominated the local credit union industry here didn’t accept her with open arms.

Shepard recalled that she wasn’t invited to a regular golfing outing of all the local CEOs, and was a bit miffed about it.

“I felt a little left out at the time, but it was really no big deal,” she said. “But as you know, a lot of business is done on the golf course.”

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-