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When Marilyn Beringer retires from her position as manager of Dow Eastern CU in December, she'll know the credit union is in good hands.
After all, she and her board hand-picked her successor from a nearby student-run CU and brought him on board a year in advance to start the training process.
"He's a young gentleman just out of college," she said of Joseph Crawfis. "He's a Kent State University grad with a finance background. We are looking forward to great things with him, especially in attracting that younger market."
It's thoughtful planning like this that she says keeps DECU on the cutting edge, despite its small asset size. The 21-year-old CU that was formed to serve employees of the now defunct Dow Chemical Plant continues to grow, prosper and plan for the future. "When Dow closed the plant in 1992, we just kept being a viable CU by taking in SEGs and other small CUs."
Last year, DECU merged with another small CU on the opposite end of the state that also served Dow employees.
Combined, they now have just under $5 million in assets and 1,700 members that include employees from area SEGs as well as original Dow employees-some of whom continue to use DECU as their primary institution despite living out of the area, Beringer noted.