Our beloved President and CEO, Dan Desmond, is retiring in January after 30+ years of service to TruWest. We want to raise a toast to his amazing contributions, so it seemed fitting to sit down with him to discover more about his legacy and his vision for the future of credit unions. Humble Beginning Travel with us back to 1981 and walk through the doors of Motorola Credit Union with Dan, where at just 26 years old, he was hired as the Accounting Manager. In a year’s time, the credit union underwent its first name change and became Motorola Employees Credit Union – West (MECU West). As the organization continued to expand, Dan was also growing in his role, as he quickly showed the capability and desire necessary to advance into the role of Vice President. “I had different responsibilities over time, in areas like accounting, investments, insurance and IT at MECU West,” recalls Dan. The 1990s brought more success to the pair. The credit union expanded to Austin, Texas, and reached membership of more than 50,000 while Dan continued to rise in leadership within MECU West. He was promoted to Senior Vice President and served as Chief Financial Officer until March 1997, when he became President. This was a bittersweet opportunity, as he had to bid farewell to the previous President and CEO, Peter DiSylvester, who passed away from cancer. In the years following, Dan led the credit union through many transitions, including the name change to TruWest Credit Union, expansion of its membership service areas in both Arizona and Texas, membership growth to more than 70,000 and celebrating more than 60 years of service excellence. In an age when many people switch jobs every couple of years, it’s amazing to think that Dan has been TruWest’s President and CEO for 18 remarkable years. And, in witty Dan fashion, he quips that, “It’s a long time to go without a promotion.” Weathering the Bumps It wasn’t always smooth sailing for this go-getter. In the beginning, Dan admits he wasn’t sure how long his tenure at TruWest would last. This was due to difficult computer conversions in January 1984 (where the new system actually had to be rolled back) and August 1984 (when the system was overhauled in such a way that there was, literally, no turning back). “Being the Accounting Manager, balancing the system after a hiccup, was a disaster. Back in the 5
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