6 His passion for helping others and his authentic leadership made Dan the ideal credit union figurehead. “I like the people. I like the credit union industry. I like the philosophy. I like the idea that we are doing good by people,” he says. Dan feels honored to have had so many opportunities to engage with other credit union leaders and help script the path of the industry. He was personally involved in several key planning sessions with the TruWest Board, two sessions with the World Council of Credit Unions in Ireland and Vancouver, and many exciting governmental affairs conferences in Washington, D.C. Making History While Dan insists that every good thing over the last 30 years has been a team effort, there are a few areas where he is particularly proud of his participation. He helped convince Motorola, with approximately 22,000 employees in the state of Arizona, to do all of its corporate payroll and originate their direct deposits. “It was a big deal for TruWest to build that level of relationship.” In addition, Dan shares, “We were one of the early adopters of debit cards. Point-of-sale was just being invented. It was a pivotal time to be stepping out to lead credit unions into a new era.” Notably, Dan has been an esteemed member of the Arizona Clearing House Board of Directors, Credit Union League Board, Corporate Board, Mountain West Board and several Credit Union National Association committees. day, we used to do quarterly dividends on savings. On Sept. 30, the night before the dividends were to be paid out, the programmers were here late writing programs to balance the system. We actually hired a forensic accountant … to figure out how to balance one day’s activity to the next,” Dan remembers. “How I got through that, I don’t know. I was newly married, had a new baby and didn’t have time to go look for a new job.” With the advent of technology, those days are most definitely behind TruWest, and Dan. But he does like to remind the new folks in Accounting how easy things are for them. “I’ve been through two name changes and four computer conversions . . . when I started here there was no such thing as personal computers,” laughs Dan. “I used to have to write out the financial statements on a form and give it to my admin to type out. Now, you’re pushing a button and doing graphs and charts. It’s crazy how much has changed.” “When I started here there was no such thing as personal computers,” laughs Dan. Passion for the Mission Over the past few decades, Dan says there have been a lot of things in our industry that made life interesting and sometimes challenging. Through it all, he has always been proud to be part of an organization that isn’t focused on making money at all costs and always keeps the greater mission of helping people at the forefront. “Our motivations are pure. It’s been a good place to be,” Dan fondly reflects.
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