Member Spotlight: Laurie Kusch

Mark Crawford, CUNA Councils
July 17, 2006

Laurie Kusch was recently promoted to senior vice president of Member Services for Columbia Credit Union in Washington ($720 million; 60,000 members). Her previous position had been vice president of Quality Service.

Laurie has been employed by Columbia since 1975. In her 35 years of total credit union experience, she has worked in every area except accounting and ITS.

Laurie is a member of the Executive Committee and a founding member of the CUNA OPSS Council (she also chaired the Council from 1998 to 2002). She also graduated from Western CUNA Management School in Pomona in 1995.

A Washington native, Laurie and her husband John have two grown children and three grandchildren. She also serves as the treasurer of the Southwest Washington Medical Center Foundation Executive Committee and is a board member of the Fort Vancouver Lions Club.

Biggest challenge for 2006

Maintaining and growing our market share in a highly competitive market place. We are exceeding our loan growth goal, but struggling to attract new members and deposits.

Best piece of OpSS advice

Get Involved! Join a committee and attend a conference! The experience is so valuable and it will definitely enhance your career!

Greatest benefit from being a member of the council

Networking, networking, networking—and making new friends. I can’t say it enough.

Best part of your job

Working with a wonderful staff, and being a part of a great team. After 30+ years they are my second family!

Hardest part of your job

Part of my responsibilities is the oversight of 11 branches and our call center. With that come a variety of personnel issues, which usually involves turnover and trying to replace several open positions. We do not have a lot of unemployment in our area and the talent pool is shrinking.

Best OpSS success story

Watching the growth and success of the council over the past few years has made me proud to be a founding member. The OpSS Council was the last council formed. We really struggled getting it off the ground and identifying our audience. The Council went through a few name changes until it found its identity. The tragedy of 9/11 occurred during our 2001 annual conference in Orlando. We took a big financial hit and I was worried we would never get out of the red! But with the support of the other councils and the dedication of the Executive Committee members, the OpSS Council has come full circle! There are a lot of people who I am sure are as proud as I am to have played a part in the success of the Council.

Hobbies/interests

Golf, reading, traveling and having fun!

People would be surprised to learn that you . . .

Fulfilled my dream of doing something wild before I turned 50 by bungee-jumping with my son a few years back.

Most recent book

A Cheese and Tomato Spider by Nick Sharratt with my seven-year-old granddaughter, Katie. Her favorite character was the spider and mine was the gray-haired man with the bun on his head!

Life goal not yet accomplished

Retirement and spending my days, golfing, traveling, and seeing my grandchildren more often.

Something that always makes you laugh

My husband. He has been my rock and light through some difficult times. The man just knows how and when to make me laugh!

If you had an extra hour in the day

I would sleep!