12 minute read
Instructor Bios
from 2022 Training Guide
by mwcua
Ancin Cooley, CIA, CISA
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Ancin Cooley, CIA, CISA, is founder and principal of Synergy Credit Union Consulting, Inc., which helps credit unions manage risk, increase profits, and help members. Synergy offers a suite of services, including supervisory committee and director training, strategic planning, loan review, internal audits, and regulatory compliance reviews. With more than 15 years’ experience, Ancin manages a growing portfolio of clients throughout the U.S.
Ancin honed his skills at the U.S. Treasury Department performing examinations for financial institutions ranging from $100 million to $8 billion in assets. When not advising clients, he designs and conducts training for credit unions. He is an expert contributor to myriad financial publications, most recently Forbes Magazine and Credit Union National Association.
Ancin holds a Master’s in accounting & financial management from Keller Graduate School and received a Bachelor of Science in business from Morehouse College.
David Dye
President, Let’s Grow Leaders
David works with leaders around the world who want to achieve breakthrough results without losing their soul (or mind) in the process.
He gets it because he’s been there: a former executive and elected official, David has over two decades of experience leading teams, building organizations, and working with Boards of Directors to transform their effectiveness. He is the award-winning author of 2 books: Winning Well: A Manager’s Guide to Getting Results Without Losing Your Soul and The Seven Things Your Team Needs to Hear You Say and coming soon Courageous Cultures: Building Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers and Customer Advocate (July 2020).
Known for his optimism, for making difficult concepts understandable, and for moving leaders to immediate, practical action, David’s keynotes and training programs help leaders across industries to increase their influence, solve common leadership frustrations, and improve productivity through practical leadership inspiration.
David has a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Colorado and a Master’s Degree in management from Regis University.
Melia D. Heimbuck, Esq.
Melia Heimbuck is the Vice President of Advocacy & Risk Management for the Credit Union Association of New Mexico. She possesses small credit union experience and has a consumer and commercial lending background. Melia has served the industry in various capacities for over 25 years and is an expert in compliance, financial management, and strategic consulting. Melia is a licensed attorney with a Juris Doctor from Creighton University School of Law, Master of Business Administration in Business Finance from Regis University, Bachelor’s Degree in Business Finance from the University of Northern Colorado, as well as holds the Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE) and Development Educator of the United Kingdom (DEUK) designations from the National Credit Union Foundation.
Karin Hurt
CEO, Let’s Grow Leaders
Inc.’s List of 100 Great Leadership speakers and American Management Association’s 50 Leaders to Watch, Karin Hurt helps leaders from around the world achieve breakthrough results without losing their souls.
Karin has over two decades of experience in customer service, sales, and human resources. She’s the award-winning author of two books: Winning Well: A Manager’s Guide to Getting Results-Without Losing Your Soul and Overcoming an Imperfect Boss and Courageous Cultures: Building Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers and Customer Advocates.
A former Verizon Wireless executive, Karin transformed customer service outsourcing (96M calls/year) to reach parity in quality with internal centers and developed a leading sales team that won the President’s Award for Customer Growth. Her programs inspire leaders with proven and practical leadership techniques developed over her rich career as an executive, speaker, and strategic advisor.
Karin has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Wake Forest University, an MA from Towson University in Organizational Communication, and additional graduate work at the University of Maryland, where she teaches in the Executive Education programs.
Julie Kappenman has been involved in the credit union movement since 1989. She began her career in Minneapolis, MN where she worked for Teachers Federal Credit Union as an accounting intern. She was then hired by the National Credit Union Administration, (NCUA) as an examiner, where for nine years she conducted examinations of credit unions with varying asset sizes and complexity throughout the Midwest. Next, she became an Economic Development Specialist for NCUA where her role was expanded to include training and consulting for small and low-income credit unions throughout the country. As an Economic Development Specialist, Julie assisted in starting five new credit unions, authored “The Interim Audit Procedures Manual” for Supervisory Committees, and provided one-on-one and group training sessions to numerous credit unions in a variety of areas including business development, compliance, and auditing.
Julie joined Compliance Solutions in May 2009 as a contractor. In this role, she performed on-site compliance reviews, regulatory updates for program materials, and compliance training. Julie joined the compliance team at The Mountain West Credit Union Association as the Director of Association Compliance Services in 2012 and was promoted to Vice President of Compliance Operations in 2019.
She has a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Southwest State University in Marshall, MN and holds the Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE), Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Specialist (BSAS), and Credit Union Compliance Expert (CUDE) certification.
Julie Kappenman
Anne Legg
Founder & CEO, THRIVE Strategic Services
Anne Legg is a recognized, award-winning industry expert, author, educator, member-centric data strategist who holds an MBA thesis on the credit union business model. She is the author of Big Data/Big Climb: A credit union playbook for leveraging data and talent to achieve revolutionary member relationships.
She is the founder and CEO of THRIVE Strategic Services where she has guided over 600 credit union leaders on a mission to simplify their data transformation and identify new revenue sources, lessen member friction, increase talent productivity to truly change member lives.
Anne has received numerous awards including: CUNA MBDC Professional of the Year, Credit Union Executive Society Rising 100, CO-OP ThinkPrize semi-finalist, she has also been named “A Woman To Watch” by the Credit Union Times.
Anne is currently the Southwest CUNA Management School lead faculty for Data & Analytics. And she has served as a lead instructor at the CUNA Marketing School as well as has acted as the subject matter expert for CUNA’s Credit Union marketing curriculum. Anne has also been an author for CUNA’s Environmental Scan, The Credit Union industry’s leading strategic planning guide.
Her work has been published and presented at both the 2012 and 2014 International Cooperative Summit, making her the only Credit Union professional in the United States to do so. In 2019, she climbed the tallest freestanding mountain on the planet, Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Daria Lewandowska, MBA
Sociologist, Emotional Intelligence Expert, Certified Systemic Coach, Certified Business Trainer, Constellations Facilitator
Daria holds three master’s degrees in business management (MBA), human resources and sociology and has solid educational leadership development at the Haas Business School in Berkley (University of California). Her professional experience comprises over 10 years of diverse learning and development work, including in world’s top high tech, multinational corporations, research and development center, and a privately founded training company (www.selfmakers.pl).
Daria has a broad hands-on experience and proven track record of developing, implementing, and managing diverse educational and consultancy work for business and academic sectors. She is a regular lecturer at the private and public universities in Poland and Russia. Daria conducts individual sessions and group workshops in developing leadership and psychosocial competencies, and in improving emotional intelligence and well-being at the workplace. As a specialist working with intercultural groups, she is fluent and can deliver trainings in Polish, English, Italian and Spanish.
Laura McFadden
Laura McFadden has worked in the credit union movement since 1985, beginning her career in Oakland, CA as a Front-Line Supervisor overseeing teller and lending operations, then relocating to Pasadena, CA to work for Kaiser Permanente Federal Credit Union as the Main Branch Manager directing the administration branch, back-office member service team, the proof operations, and the Call Center.
Laura continued her career in a variety of credit unions in Colorado with assets ranging from $45 million up to $9 billion and holding positions from Lending Supervisor, VP Branch Manager and Business Development, VP of Member Service, AVP, COO, and EVP. Utilizing the knowledge gained, Laura developed new product lines, established new service areas for branch operations, developed a strategic branching model, helped implement many new employee review and engagement systems, and cross trained employees to take on greater responsibility. Her greatest accomplishment has been having a dozen of her direct reports promoted into higher levels within different credit unions.
Laura joined Mountain West Credit Union Association as Credit Union Operations Consultant in 2018 and moved to the Director of Association Compliance Services in 2019. She has a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Management from Regis University. Laura holds the following certifications: Credit Union Development
Olin Oedekoven, PhD
President & CEO, Peregrine Leadership Institute
Dr. Olin O. Oedekoven has over 30 years of leadership experience at all organizational levels from first-line leader through strategic leadership. He has extensive work experience in both the public and private sectors with a comprehensive background in management, business administration, and organizational leadership.
Olin graduated from South Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science in wildlife and fisheries sciences. He received a Master’s Degree in wildlife management from the University of Wyoming and an MBA and Doctorate in business administration with specializations in management and public administration from Northcentral University. Olin also completed a post-doctoral program in human resource management.
Olin is a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College where he received a Master’s degree in Strategic Studies. His military experience includes senior staff, battalion command, and brigade command assignments. Olin retired from the National Guard in 2011 as a Brigadier General after nearly 33 years of military service. In his last assignment, he was the Deputy Adjutant General for the Wyoming National Guard, an organization with nearly 3,500 members.
Matthew Ramey, MBA
Matthew Ramey has over 30 years of experience in both the private and public sectors, ranging from construction and technology to higher education. He has held positions from technician to faculty, from first line supervisor to senior leadership. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in management and a Master of Business Administration from Franklin University. He is currently in the process of completing a Doctorate in Educational Leadership through the University of Wyoming.
Mark Robey, JD
Mark has been with the Mountain West Credit Union Association since 1992. He served as the Association’s General Counsel from 2005 to 2011 before being named Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. Mark served as Director of Information and research from 1997 to 2005. He has over 30 years of experience in many different areas of the financial services industry including accounting, member services, and commercial loan analysis.
As Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Mark oversees a team of compliance experts providing regulatory compliance assistance to member credit unions. He is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with state and federal regulators to advocate for fair and balanced oversight of credit unions. Mark was appointed by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to serve on the Uniform Consumer Credit Code Council of Advisors in 2010.
Mark holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Metropolitan State College of Denver and received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Denver. He is licensed to practice law in the state of Colorado. Mark has written multiple compliance articles for Credit Union Magazine.
United Kingdom.
Stacy Torkelson
Consultant, ERUSA Compliance Department, Ascensus, Inc.
Stacy Torkelson is a consultant with the ERISA Compliance Department at Ascensus. As a consultant, she assists clients with technical compliance questions through Ascensus’ 800 Consulting Service. She also instructs Ascensus’ webinars and various Ascensus-sponsored seminars nationwide. Her expertise incudes Traditional and Roth IRAs, Coverdell education saving accounts, 125 plans, and various employer-sponsored retirement plans, such as 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, SEP plans, and SIMPLE IRA plans.
Stacy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in marketing from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN and a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the College of Law in London,
She received the designation of Certified IRA Services Professional (CISP) from the Institute of Certified Bankers and the designation of qualified Pension Administrator (QPA) from the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA), and the designation of Certified Flexible Compensation Instructor (CFCI) from the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation.
Robert G. Wilson, Jr., JD
RGWilsonLaw LLC
Robert G. Wilson, Jr. established RGWilsonLaw LLC on January 1, 2018. Prior to establishing his new firm, Bob practiced for 40 years, eventually concentrating his practice in the representation of credit unions, credit union service organizations, and credit union trade associations.
Bob was admitted to practice in Colorado in October 1977. Thereafter, he was an associate attorney with the Englewood, Colorado firm of Banta and Eason P.C, which later became Banta, Hoyt, Malone & Banta P.C. In the spring of 1981, Mr. Wilson helped found and became a partner in the Denver firm of Eason, Sprague and Wilson P.C. In August of 1994, Bob, along with other members of his firm, joined the Denver firm of Berenbaum Weinshienk P. C. where he remained as a partner until November of 2016. In December of 2016, the attorneys of Berenbaum Weinshienk joined the firm of Spencer Fane LLP, where Bob was Of-Counsel to the firm until the end of 2017.
Bob received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Colorado State University in 1973, graduating with high distinction. He received his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Denver in 1977.
Bob served as President of the Arapahoe County Bar Association from 1991to 1992, and as a member of the Board of Governors for the Colorado Bar Association from 1990 to 1993. While at Berenbaum Weinshienk, he served on the Executive Committee for Lawyers Associated Worldwide from 1996 until 2009, serving as its Secretary from 2006 to 2009. Bob remained active in Lawyers Associated Worldwide until 2016. Lawyers Associated Worldwide is an association of independent law firms located in major commercial centers throughout the world.
