Credit union boards must shift from oversight to strategy, governance expert says
The financial landscape is evolving faster than some credit union boards realize, demanding a fundamental rethink of governance practices. In a recent episode of the A CU Seat at the Table podcast, a governance consultant outlines three priorities that separate high-performing boards from those stuck in reactive mode.
A board chair recently sat down to review the CEO's annual performance and made an uncomfortable discovery: the shortcomings weren't just the CEO's problem.
"What they're coming to realize is, wow, if we have less than stellar feedback about the CEO's performance last year, what is our culpability in that?" said Peter Myers, senior vice president of DDJ Myers, recounting the conversation. "Where did we not specify the objectives clearly enough so that the CEO can better channel their efforts?"
That moment of reckoning captures what Myers sees as a broader challenge facing credit union governance. In an interview with Anthony Demangone, America's Credit Unions' chief membership and engagement officer, on the A CU Seat at the Table podcast, Myers argued that the rules of the game have changed, and if boards haven't evolved their governance response posture, they can get left behind.
"Yesterday's strategic opportunities and critical governance challenges are fundamentally different from today's, and they're absolutely different from tomorrow's," Myers said. Regulatory uncertainty, fintech disruption, and a shifting interest rate environment all demand boards that can move from reactive oversight to proactive, strategic governance.
Three governance priorities for the road ahead
"The purpose of governance is to support the strategy," Myers explained. When the strategy is subservient to governance practices is when organizations find themselves in trouble. Boards fall into patterns (implicit routines and explicit practices) that constrain rather than enable the organization's direction. High-performing boards, by contrast, dedicate time each year to ask hard questions: What governance practices are working? What isn't? How do we need to evolve?
Myers outlined three critical governance challenges credit union boards must address.
- Hold the CEO accountable to produce measurable, achievable results, and reward them when they deliver.
- Acquire and develop functional domain expertise within the board itself.
- Ensure long-term strategic execution through rigorous succession planning.
He offered a pointed observation about underperformance: "The bottom quartile of performing organizations, their boards don't realize that they're in that placement." Whether weak boards breed weak performance or the reverse, Myers noted, mediocrity tends to reinforce itself. Breaking the cycle requires intentional effort and honest self-assessment.
Succession planning goes deeper than the C-suite
With the National Credit Union Administration's succession planning guidance now in effect, Myers cautioned against treating it as a checkbox exercise. The real strategic conversation, he said, often gets overlooked, particularly when it comes to leaders below the executive level.
"Those VPs or those directors are actually maybe more mission-critical to the operational execution, day-to-day stuff of the organization," Myers said. "And boards are commonly not aware of that." He urged boards to think beyond C-suite retention packages and consider which mid-level leaders truly keep the gears turning.
The numbers underscore why this matters. According to Myers and NCUA profile data, the population of credit union directors at institutions over $50 million in assets has actually grown, from 18,300 in 2013 to 19,400 in 2025, even as smaller credit unions have consolidated. That growing pool of directors will need new skill sets aligned to an evolving strategic landscape.
Developing the next generation
Myers also addressed how credit unions can cultivate emerging leaders. His advice borrowed a line from author Cal Newport: "Be so good they can't ignore you." Rather than focusing narrowly on advancement, he encouraged junior employees to refine their craft until their contribution becomes indispensable.
"Leading doesn't always necessarily mean managing," Myers noted, pointing to the specialized roles that tomorrow's business models will require. For those coming up through the ranks, the path forward may look different than it did a generation ago, and that's not a bad thing. Those organizations are evolving their operations.
For CEOs and board members looking to strengthen their governance approach, Myers recommends starting with honest dialogue: What does this organization need from its board two or three years from now? What skill sets are missing? And perhaps most importantly, are we willing to put in the work to get there?
