The President’s Perspective

​Wishing Amy Kleinschmit well as she departs DakCU for a new credit union role! Plus, Holiday Sweepstakes extended, and MonDak early bird expires this Friday. 

I trust you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with your family and friends. For me, it has always been one of my favorite holidays; a time to pause in our daily hectic schedules, count our many blessings, and give thanks. 

I once ran across a quote, "Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude." Gratitude is really the completion of thankfulness, which I will use as a segue into recognizing and thanking Amy Kleinschmit for her 14 years of dedicated service to association, and more importantly, to our credit unions here in the Dakotas. Her last day with the association will be this Thursday. I want to personally thank Amy for her servant leadership in supporting our members; we know she will continue to excel as she begins her new role at Dakotaland Federal Credit Union.

Congratulations, Amy, and thank you! We wish you much continued success and we’re looking forward to your continued engagement as an active member of our association. Best wishes from us all!

ViClarity webinar today.
Join our live webinar/Zoom call today, Tuesday, November 28 at 3:00 p.m. (CT) to learn about ViClarity, DakCU’s new compliance solution. Meet the ViClarity team, an experienced compliance and regulatory consulting firm that currently serves 9 other credit union leagues covering 16 states and more than 1,000 credit unions across the US. You should have already received an invite via email; however if you need the Zoom link you can find it here. Feel free to invite any of your staff to participate in the call.  

“One-size-fits-all” approach makes financial services access more difficult.
In case you missed it, CUNA Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak, our friend and advocate from South Dakota, wrote last week in American Banker that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) failure to consider the full impact of its rules is harming the very same consumers the bureau is supposed to help. As we have frequently stated, a one-size-fits-all approach is not conducive to serving our Dakota members, and ultimately makes financial services more difficult to access.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read – you can find the op-ed here.

CUPAC/CULAC Holiday Sweepstakes extended.
Because of a payments system glitch that was out of our control, we have extended the deadline for our Holiday Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes will remain open until Friday, December 8 at 5:00 p.m. (CT) and the drawing will be held on Monday, December 11 at 3:00 p.m. (CT). We sincerely hope this allows ample time for everyone who wishes to contribute and enter the drawing.

​If you have any questions about the sweepstakes, please contact Chesney Garnos or John Alexander. 

MonDak early bird discount expires Friday.
One final reminder – be sure to register by this Friday, December 1st for the MonDak Roundtable if you want to take advantage of the early bird discount! If you sign up by Friday, you will pay just $399 per person! Exclusively for senior management, CEOs, and volunteer board members, our 2024 event will once again offer an exciting, fast-paced two-day schedule of unique sessions for both CEOs and volunteer board members. MonDak is an amazing educational opportunity for regional credit union leaders to collaborate and share ideas as they are guided by a professional lineup of top industry thought leaders. I hope to see many of you there. Register today!

Have a great week,

DakCU President/CEO