The President's Perspective

​Early Bird Summit Discount extended to this Friday! Plus, ND Democrats endorse congressional candidates; and Summit donations are needed now! 

Greetings,  
 
March is on the way out (like a lamb in most areas across the Dakotas) and that means we are just 43 days away from our Annual Summit (May 10-11) in Rapid City. The good news is that we have extended the Summit Early Bird Discount through April 1st. No fooling, you can register early and save $30 per person! The agenda and breakout sessions are finalized and you can check out the entire agenda, speaker line-up and register on our DakCU Event page.
 
Our Dakota Credit Union Foundation will be sponsoring several activities during the Summit and will once again will be coordinating the Foundation Wine Pull Fundraiser during the conference. I have teed up the first donation of $100 and am challenging all CU Leaders and professionals from across the Dakotas to consider a donation as well. All donations will help our Foundation purchase the wine prizes. Only 100 Wine Pull tickets will be offered during the Summit and each ticket is a winner! Plus, there will also be two grand prize drawings for Wine Country Gift baskets valued at $100 and $150 which I have personally donated.

Any contribution is helpful, corporate contributions are acceptable, and any personal contribution is a charitable gift and is tax deductible. All personal contributors will receive a donation receipt for their records. DONATE HERE and feel free to share this link with your leadership teams and volunteers.

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party Endorses Congressional Candidates.
North Dakota is one of only two states that still convene and sponsor endorsing conventions. This past weekend the ND Democratic-NPL party met in Minot and the 170 delegates endorsed their congressional candidates that will challenge for the U.S. Senate and U.S House this November. Katrina Christiansen, Jamestown, received the nod for the U.S. Senate seat and Mark Haugen, Bismarck, received the endorsement for U.S. House seat.
 
A native of Pender, Nebraska, Katrina Christiansen is an assistant professor at the University of Jamestown and is a self-described creative and engineer in the agricultural marketplace. Mark Haugen is from Bismarck, and he is the president of the North Dakota EMS Foundation.
 
Conversely, the North Republicans are expecting over 2,200 delegates this weekend in Bismarck for their endorsing convention. The only contested endorsement challenge is for U.S. Senate between Senator Hoeven and State Representative Dr. Rick Becker (District 7). Congressman Kelly Armstrong does not have a challenger at the convention.
 
South Dakota Republicans and Democrats will be holding their respective conventions after the primary election in June.
 
CUNA Awards Now Open
Today we are announcing that applications are open for CUNA’s National Awards for 2022. These award programs are designed to encourage and recognize distinguished credit unions that demonstrate social responsibility (Dora Maxwell Award), the credit union philosophy (Louise Herring Award), and financial education (Desjardins Awards). We have had several national level winners of the past few years, including University FCU (Dora Maxwell 2021); East River FCU (Desjardins 2021) and Riverfork FCU (Dora Maxwell 2019). Be sure to check out the related story in today’s Memo or find more information here on the DakCU website.

Summit Donations Needed
Speaking of the Summit, our Dakota GAC Committees are seeking donations for our Silent Auction which raises money for the Roger Heacock Scholarship Fund. These scholarships provide financial assistance to our Dakota credit union professionals who attend the CUNA GAC, and our fall Hike the Hill advocacy events. We are asking each credit union to donate an item valued between $75 and $100 (or more.) If you have any questions or need are looking for donation ideas, please reach out to Jay Kruse.
 
Reminder: DakCU CEO Town Hall April 5th
Just a reminder to join us for the next CEO Town Hall on Tuesday, April 5th. Tony Budet, newly elected chair of the CUNA Board of Directors, will be our special guest. He will provide an exclusive CUNA update for our Dakota CEOs. If you haven’t received the link/invite to this meeting and would like to attend, please contact me.
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No Memo on Friday this week.
There will be no Memo on Friday, April 1st. (No, this is not an April Fool’s joke!) We will be back on Monday April 4th and return to our regular schedule. Keep sending your news items so we can share your good deeds and other announcements! Email to Shawn Brummer at [email protected].
 
Congratulations to Sioux Valley Coop FCU
Finally, I would like to say congratulations to Sioux Valley Coop on their move to the beautiful and newly remodeled building at 712 9th Ave. SE in Watertown. So exciting to watch our members succeed and continue to grow!
 
Have a great week,

DakCU President/CEO 
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