Cultural shifts and organizational alignment breed success

 Steve Foley, a first-time CEO at Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union, walked into a tough situation four years ago. The then-$55 million credit union needed a makeover, both financially and organizationally.

“A lot of smaller credit unions are merging away,” Foley said. “We had to decide: Did we want to maintain the status quo, or did we want to move forward?”

Forward, the board decided.

When Foley came to the credit union, payday loan alternatives were the credit union’s bread and butter, however, the credit union could not scale and grow on small loan products and relationships. The credit union had experienced rapid loan growth, but that growth plan was flawed due to the lack of lending experience in the senior management levels. Personnel changes were made, and Foley was hired several months later. He then began the process of reorganizing management and taking the credit union back to basics to meet members’ banking needs.  

“We needed to reorganize how we did business, and we needed to keep it logical,” Foley determined.

Over his four years with Bragg Mutual, the credit union made significant changes by focusing on growing the auto and real estate portfolio, increasing training to improve member service, introducing cross selling, and diversifying its product and service offerings. As a result, Bragg Mutual has grown to $110 million in assets and averaged in excess of 20% annual loan growth. The credit union’s current ROA stands at 1.01%, double its peer average. In 2022, Foley was also named NAFCU’s CEO of the Year for credit unions with less than $250 million in assets.

“We’ve positioned ourselves for growth and that’s where we’re seeing fantastic numbers,” Foley said. “My best advice as a CEO is to know where you want to go and examine whether you have the right people to get you there.”

As part of Bragg Mutual’s reorganizing, Your Marketing Co. joined the team. The credit union previously had a piecemeal arrangement with a non-credit union focused agency. Your Marketing Co. collaborated with the Bragg Mutual team to develop a plan, and then executed, Foley explained. Your Marketing Co. understands credit unions, takes the time to understand an individual credit union’s situation and stays in constant contact to ensure the credit union has the best possible chance for success.

“We got a whole team for the cost of one person, and they’re really good at what they do,” Foley said.

“Steve and the team have done tremendous work to right the ship at Bragg Mutual,” Your Marketing Co. CEO Bo McDonald said. “They’ve made the tough yet necessary decisions to ensure the credit union will be around to serve its members for a long time to come. Bragg Mutual is a shining example of why I formed Your Marketing Co. – to help solve for the critical challenges facing boutique credit unions today and bring a different perspective built on our work with dozens of credit unions over the last 15 years.”