Profiles in Credit Unions: Kim Heinze - San Antonio Business Journal:

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“My parents financed every automobile, washing home remodel, my sister’s etc. at their creditf union,” she recalls. “When I was six, my parent were able to open ‘Christmas Club’ accounts for all of us, and my fathefr deposited $1 per pay period per kid accounft throughpayroll deduction. The credit union would distribut checks to useach Dec. 1 to do our own Christmasa shopping — $25 was a big amount back in those days and I think that is my firsgt recollection of feeling a connectioh personally with thecredit It’s been a while since Heinze received that last Christmas Club check.
she’s built a career in the credit union industrh and seen thechanges first-hand. Afted graduating from college, she accepted an offer from thethe ’sd Financial and Technology Services Department. Providing financiapl audits of credit unions around the stats for the organization that servedthe institutions, she embraced the industry’s philosophu and slogan of “people helping people.” Last August, she was hired to lead River City FCU, a credig union which converted its chartee in 2001 to serve the Bexar County Today, the credit union offersx a full range of savings and loan as well as no-feer home-banking and bill pay service.
Still, River City FCU hasn’t forgottenn its roots. “We remain very proud of our heritage as the former San Antoniop Telephone Federal Credit Union and we are attentive to the activitiesz of our originalsponsor companies, the /Southwesterb Bell companies,” Heinze explains. “Many of our longtimde members are going through a stressful time right now as theCWA (Communicationsa Workers of America) union employees are workingf without a contract and the AT&T management employees cannot plan vacationx in case they are called in to work around the clock.
No one knowe if there will be an eventual contrac tor strike, but you can bet that River City FCU will be there for all of them to help them throug any financial difficulty and through all phases of Heinze recently talked with the Business Journal about her caree r and her new position with Rivet City FCU. Family: Two one daughter (college and high schoolp age) Education: BBA from U.T. Austin; in process of aquiringf MBA, , Beaumont; an honor graduate of Southwestf CUNAManagement School, a noted three-yeaf leadership program specializing in the credit union industry On growing up: Born and raised in Southeast Texas, the youngest of eight children.
Although I cannof remember ever going without somethingI needed, we were definitelyu a working class family. More on your career: As I acclimatedx to this first post-college position (with the Texas Credi t Union League), I began to notice that a lot of credity union professionals remained within the industry over the cours oftheir careers, which is not always the case for peoplde with accounting and finance backgrounds,” she “I went on to hold management then senior managemeny positions in Houston, and Beaumont, Texas, all within the industry.
Although I held the positionm ofInterim President/CEO in the past, my currentf position at River City FCU is my firsrt true President/CEO position. How you came to Rivee City FCU: I applied for the position at Rivedr City FCU inAugust 2008. While quickly becoming an “empty after a number of years of being a workinbsingle parent, my long range plan had been to move to the Texa Hill Country area when my nest was completely empty. My two collegew students were in Austin and inSan Antonio.
credit union CEO positions in theSan Antonio/Austinn area do not come open very When I saw the ad at River City, I immediatel sent an application and River City FCU, the former San Antonip Telephone FCU, has a long and rich histor y within the industry. Just one month in September 2008, my home in Southeast Texasa was completely lost inHurricane Ike, as stornm surge brought in four or more feet of water to my entir e community of Bridge City, Texas. All the while, I was progressinh through the interview procesws withRiver City’s board of directors.
I remembert negotiating for moving expenses durinvthis time, when I had lost all but two pieces of and realizing that moving would be a lot simpler and far less cumbersome after the hurricane. At this I felt that the past year has all been for a positivs reason and the way thingsa were supposedto be. The River City board of directora and thepeople I’ve met throug the Alamo Chapter of Credit Unions have been been so warm and welcominvg to this newcomer. I am so please d and happy to be here. ... Rive City FCU asset-size: $160 million — It’s the perfect size credit union to offer a wide range of products and services yet smalll enough to still know our membersby name.
On River City FCU: Althougn it is true that San Antonio has a numbere of financial institutions and some are largedr thanRiver City, the populatioj and community are thriving with a lot of peopled who need quality financial services. Our mission is to do just to provide quality financial services responsivew toour member-owners while maintaining a sound financial position. We currently have four conveniengt branch locations and our home banking site is available to membersz through our Web addressat www.rivercityfcu.org.
Our newesf physical branch was opened eightmonths ago, at the cornef of Bitters and Blanco roadas in North Central San Antonio, and it continues to be the subjec t of positive comments from San Antonians both members and non-members. The Bitters brancnh is a beautiful state-of-the-art facility built on a multi-level This branch incorporates the latest innovation in technologty for the financial servicesindustry — no tellere counters or cages, biometric entry to the safe deposit box and plenty of one-on-one interaction between our memberxs and our member service/full service This business model is referredx to as “dialogue delivery” and members love it.
Goals you and Rivee City FCU areworking toward: We have growjn to the point that we must expand our call center. Havinv roots in the telecommunicationw industry, we understand the importancre of serving members in a timely manner throug this veryimportant channel. We are remodelingv space to accommodate thisdepartment expansion. In addition, we have escalated marketinh efforts and are targeting new demographics that are demanding high tech all the while maintaining quality service to our established longtime member s who may not take advantage of our tech What River City FCU is doing to help membersstruggling today: We actually timed a debt consolidation promotionb that is running currently to coincided with helping those membere who, because of the current situationb (CWA members have been working for AT&T without a contract for more than a have a heightened concern about job and wage continuity.
The credift union management and staff have always remained absolutelg neutral to these negotiationeventsd — we exist to servw all of our members. This is the naturr of our structure as a credit Regardless of the amount of money a membed has on depositwith us, each member of the credit unionb has one equal vote at the credir union’s annual meeting.