Your Leadership Link

Highlights from the AACUL Winter Meeting, key advocacy updates, and what’s coming up on the DakCU events calendar.

I just returned energized after spending several days at the AACUL (American Association of Credit Union Leagues) Winter Meeting with our colleagues from around the country. This continues to be one of my favorite industry gatherings and, in my view, the most educational and collaborative event our Dakota Credit Union Association (DakCU) team participates in each year.

The meeting brings together AACUL, our national association, America’s Credit Unions, and league leaders to align, amplify, and advance the credit union difference. Credit union association professionals from across the nation, from league presidents to advocacy, regulatory, marketing, communications, engagement, and foundation staff, come together to exchange ideas, share best practices, and learn from one another. The common purpose is clear: to better serve our member credit unions and the communities they support.

A highlight of the event was the opportunity to engage directly with America’s Credit Unions President and CEO Scott Simpson, who joined us to discuss advocacy priorities essential to advancing, empowering, and protecting the credit union industry, especially following a year of significant advocacy success in defending the credit union tax status.

Simpson reflected on the power of unity within our movement:

“Last year proved the strength of the credit union family when we come together. Faced with the deepest threat to the industry in over a decade, through clear objectives and a unified voice, we were able to unite and protect the credit union tax status, in addition to achieving significant wins for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, regulatory relief at the NCUA and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and more. We showed lawmakers that credit unions are essential to our nation’s ability to thrive. In partnership with leagues and credit unions, we are committed to working cooperatively and collaboratively, from the federal level to state legislatures, to advance, empower and protect credit unions and the more than 144 million Americans who choose credit unions as their trusted financial institution.”

We were also pleased to have DakCU Board Chair and University Federal Credit Union CEO Lacey Fetsch in attendance. She shared her perspective as a first-time participant:

“I was pleased to witness the level of collaboration between the leagues, league employees, and vendor partners. It was a strong reminder of how unique the credit union philosophy is within the financial system. In good times and bad, ‘the family,’ as America’s Credit Unions' President Scott Simpson referred to the credit union system, is here to support and defend each other. “She added, “While I know this to be true of credit unions in the Dakotas, it was great to see how DakCU employees work cooperatively with their counterparts from across the country.”

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Your Association along with AACUL and Americas Credit Unions is also closely monitoring the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Legislators released text of the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Sunday without any financial services provisions impacting credit unions. 

Don’t miss the chance for more collaborative and educational DakCU events coming soon, like The Roundtable with an early bird registration deadline coming soon, our South Dakota Credit Union Legislative Day in February and our free Q4 Jackson Lewis Webinar: Labor & Employment Law Update. 

​We’re also launching a new monthly feature highlighting upcoming educational webinars and partner learning opportunities. Watch for the first In Case You Missed It coming soon. 

​George McDonald
​DakCU Interim President/CEO