Parker Cann to leave Columbia Credit Union

Parker Cann to leave Columbia Credit Union to Join BECU as Senior Vice President and Corporate Counsel Columbia Credit Union and Boeing Employees’ Credit Union (BECU) announced today that Parker Cann, the current President and CEO of Columbia Credit Union, will be leaving to join BECU as Senior Vice President and Corporate Counsel. Cann will stay on at Columbia Credit Union through April 30th and will start his new position at BECU on May 4th.

Cann comments, “Columbia Credit Union is considered well capitalized, has good liquidity and will continue serving the community with a strong management team and caring staff. The core values of service, convenience and community will not change with my departure. Taking a personal interest in the people we help is the right thing to do – something you can count on from Columbia. Delivering a positive member experience is important today and will continue to be so in my new role at BECU.”

Columbia’s Board has already formed an Executive Search Committee and expects to select the recruiting firm for their nationwide search by next week. The search process is expected to take a minimum of three months.

For the past four years Parker Cann has been the President and CEO of Columbia Credit Union. During this time Columbia has become a community leader in sustainable practices recently earning a City of Vancouver and Clark County Community Pride Design Award for branches built to the US Green Building Council’s LEED Gold standard.

Under Cann’s leadership, Columbia focused on managing loan portfolio risk while still providing affordable loan options to both individuals and businesses. Current successes include:

Columbia Credit is the only credit union in western Washington and the Portland Metro area with the Small Business Administration’s prestigious Preferred Lender status.

o Columbia Credit Union is a top-20 business lender in the Portland/SW Washington market.

According to January 2009 RMS Information Services data, Columbia ranked:
o #1 for Clark County home equity loans and lines of credit
o #3 (out of 50 lenders) for Clark County first mortgages.

According to public records, Columbia Credit Union continues a legacy as the County’s #1 auto loan provider.

Cann has nearly 30 years of financial industry experience, as well as experience working with many financial and non-profit boards. Before joining Columbia, Parker served three years as Arrowhead Credit Union’s executive vice president and chief operating officer and seven years as the head Washington State credit union regulator. As Columbia Credit Union’s CEO, he has been active in many organizations, including as a member of the Downtown Vancouver Rotary Club, as Treasurer of Identity Clark County’s Board and as Secretary of the Columbia River Economic Development Council’s Board.

Cann is a member of the Executive Council of the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors (NASCUS) and serves on the NASCUS Legislation and Regulation Committee. Cann also serves on the Governmental Affairs Executive Committee of the Washington Credit Union League.

In his role as Senior Vice President and Corporate Counsel at BECU, Cann will oversee the division that manages the legal affairs of BECU and influences the legislative and regulatory environment for BECU.

“With Parker’s proven leadership skills and thorough understanding of credit unions as well as the regulatory and legislative issues that we face, we are excited to have a person of his caliber join our executive management team.” said Gary Oakland, BECU President and CEO. “With the addition of Parker we will be able to create a regulatory and legislative environment that has a positive influence on the experience we are able to deliver to our members.”

Regarding the move to one of the nation’s largest credit unions, Cann states, “I’m looking forward to joining BECU and playing a role in shaping public policy at both the state and national level. It certainly will be exciting in these interesting times.”