Affinity Federal Credit Union

Affinity exists to improve the financial lives of our members and the communities we serve.

Board of Director Position Description

Summary

The Affinity Federal Credit Union (Affinity or AFCU) Board of Directors is directly accountable to the membership of Affinity its stakeholders: members, staff, strategic partners and the communities we serve. As a member of the board, a director acts in a position of public trust and stewardship for the assets of Affinity. Every Director is responsible for the effective governance and strategic thought leadership of the organization.

Responsibilities

Governance & Leadership

• Generative: Being Relevant, Forward Thinking, Strategic Positioning of the Governing Body
  
  
  • Engages in collaborative discussion, asks key questions about current challenges and opportunities.
  • Provides strategic oversight and forward-thinking leadership.
  • Encourages diverse perspectives and insights from peers to innovate solutions consistent with current and future member needs.
  • Attentive to the speed of change and how technology will impact the business.
  • Governing of the Board, ensures holding each other accountable, through individual and peer assessments with direct feedback for ongoing development.
  • Planning for leadership succession within the Volunteer group in conjunction with the CEO and the Board. This succession planning includes Board and Committee positions with active engagement from Executive Committee.
  • Seeks to discover relevant strategies, priorities and realities.
• Strategic: Process of Strategic Thinking, Visionary, Being Aspirational
  
  
  • Scans internal and external environments.
  • Refresh strategic framework to enlighten volunteers on market shifts, consumer behaviors and business issues / opportunities.
  • Define member wellbeing as a constant evolutionary necessity to stay connected and aware of the state of the credit union (internally and externally).
  • Envision the future, collaborate to generate a clear vision and encourage strategic thinking.
  • Actively participate in setting and revitalizing strategic direction.
  • Assess strategy performance via key success factors (KSF's), benchmarks and competitive analysis.
  • Debrief process and facilitate.
• Fiduciary: Formalized structured responsibilities required from Board
  
  
  • Public stewardship of assets (collective membership versus individual member).
  • Ensure regulatory and legal compliance.
  • Monitor financial controls (Enterprise Risk Management) and accountability.
  • Review, update and continue to set policy.
  • Regular collaboration with the CEO to define and clarify success criteria.
  • Monitor performance and evaluate results.
  • Maintain the confidentiality of all AFCU affairs.

Member and Membership Focus—Be Representative of and Represent Membership

• Understand, accept and carry-out the Board's fiduciary responsibility, and its duties of loyalty and care, including but not limited to legal, fiscal and ethical responsibilities to Affinity, its membership and the communities we serve.
• Serve the membership without consideration of individual impact or serving ourselves.
• Understand the members' experience through active engagement and use of Affinity's products and services. Build awareness of the broad array of services to better construct relevant representation.
• Consider the benefits of membership and impact on financial lives of members.
• Fully commit to the mission and the role the credit union has within the communities served.
• Demonstrate authentic representation of both current and future members, generational considerations, financial practices within a broader spectrum of geographic and diverse communities.
• Advocate for the credit union within your personal and professional sphere of influence.
• Actively participate in employee and member events to help develop the board as a brand of Affinity.

Engagement—Mindful, Prepared and Participatory in Board Leadership

• Act to improve the organization's performance and relevancy to its membership, and in accordance with Affinity's vision, mission and brand promise.
• Active participation, continued learning through outsides sources and open exchange of ideas, through attendance at board and committee meetings, planning sessions, etc.
• Exercise a high level of emotional intelligence, ask ourselves and others difficult questions in a constructive and engaging way.
• Prepare in advance for board and committee meetings. Look to add value to the collaboration based upon your life experience as a consumer, as a leader and as a volunteer.

CEO Support and Oversight

• Engage in constructive partnership and collaboration.
• Speak with “one voice” to ensure the CEO has a clear direction and communication of expectations and desired outcomes.
• With the CEO, leadership and Board, annually develop a business plan, setting measurable goals and performance metrics to achieve the organization's strategic plans.
• Assess the achievement of goals and performance results of the organization (macro level) and in accord with stated CEO objectives.

Commitment

• To continually advance the mission and value of AFCU through active service and strategic governance that emphasizes and integrates the Board's role in governance, strategy development, risk assessment, mitigation and monitoring, cultural diversity, alignment and adaptability, while maintaining the highest level of personal and corporate responsibility and ethical behaviors.
• To conduct a personal assessment of my knowledge to enhance my contribution to the demands of high-performance governance, to grow as a leader and to advance both my technical and soft skills as the nature of leadership continues to evolve at a revolutionary pace.
• To complete required training and professional development as required by the Affinity Director Education Plan.

Experience (Education/Position) Requirements

• Member in good standing of AFCU, with active member engagement, or related credit union membership and experience, with appreciation and understanding of the cooperative credit union philosophy and business structure.
• Knowledge and experience in an organizational governance role is desired.
• Demonstrated leadership, engaged at, or interaction at a strategic level, with not less than five years of progressively responsible experience in a discipline such as finance, strategic business planning, marketing, legal affairs, technology, small business ownership or financial services industry experiences.
• Bachelor's degree, preferably in financial services, business or related field, or commensurate experience aligned to required knowledge and skills.
• Demonstrated written and verbal communication skills.
• Engaged in or previously committed to volunteer service within an organization or community.
• Understanding of, or previous experience in a highly regulated industry is beneficial.
• Demonstrated team player with proven ability to foster collaboration, willingness to share opinions, debate, compromise, and ultimately, speak with one voice when the Board has made a collective decision.

Attributes of an Affinity Board Member

• Embraces and promotes organizational values of ethical actions, personal and financial integrity and proactive conduct in all matters.
• Encourages robust, collaborative discourse, not quick consensus.
• Suspends rules of logic to rely on intuition and intellectual curiosity, fostering strategic thinking and planning, acknowledging that organizations are not always logical or linear.
• Ability to collaboratively work as a team for common end goals.
• Willingness to embrace change, entertain and adopt new and innovative ideas and take on appropriate levels of risk.
• Human empathy that depicts the “people helping people” motto of the credit union philosophy.
• Leadership that represents the credit unions commitment to member wellbeing.
• Strong ethics, communication ability and understanding of the strategic role of a Board.
• No conflict of interest. Bondable. Good Credit Practices.
• Understands the credit union not for profit business model.
• Has the time to truly commit to 8 hours per month (Board meetings, education), strategic off-site and be interested in learning more about cooperatives.
• Technologically capable and well-versed in effective, remote communication.