The Board of Directors of Connects Federal Credit Union is pleased to announce the selection of James McBride as the credit union’s new President/Chief Executive Officer. Mr. McBride will succeed Ms. Evelyn Dowdy, who is retiring after serving in the role for nearly 26 years.

“On behalf of the Board, I want to sincerely thank Evelyn for her many years of devoted service she has given to Connects,” said Dan Vandervort, Board Chairman. “She has worked ceaselessly to help us successfully navigate the many challenges our credit union has had to face over the last 26 years and we are grateful to have had her at the helm. We wish her and her husband the best as they move into a new chapter of their lives. We also look forward to welcoming James, with full confidence in his ability to help us meet the challenges of growing Connects into the future.”

For more than 20 years, McBride has been serving credit union members across multiple states in small, medium, and large organizations. He has worked with credit unions with $70 million in assets to those with more than $1 billion. His expertise lies in staff and organizational development, coaching, accountability practices, and goal attainment. He has most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of Lion’s Share Federal Credit Union in Salisbury, NC where he has grown the organization by nearly 20% in the last two years. Prior to Lion’s Share FCU, he served as the Executive Vice President at The Tennessee Credit Union. McBride holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tennessee.

“I am thrilled that the Connects Federal Credit Union Board of Directors has selected me to lead the credit union into the next phase of its great legacy,” said McBride. “It is an honor to be the CEO of a credit union with such a long history in Richmond and I cannot wait to serve our volunteers, members, employees, and community.”

The search was completed in partnership with Humanidei. Humanidei brings decades of credit union system experience to the recruiting process, ensuring executive placements that will carry organizations forward in fulfillment of their mission. www.humanidei.com.