The Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC) successfully concluded its 2023 Midwest Sub-Council Conference held October 3-5. This year’s conference, co-hosted by Frontier Community CU, focused on important topics including speaking military, advocacy and industry updates, cybersecurity, financial management systems, and DCUC’s vision for the future.

DCUC’s Midwest Sub-Council, first formed in 1972, has a long-standing tradition of being a close-knit group of credit union leaders gathering to share their continued dedication to serving military and veteran communities. Many Sub-Council members serve installations far from population centers (aka “flyover” country). These often-underserved communities present a different set of challenges to the credit unions serving them and make gathering to discuss best practices and lessons learned important to their continued success.

Michael Augustine, Frontier Community CU president/CEO, stated “On behalf of Frontier Community Credit Union, we are very excited to cohost this year’s DCUC Midwest Conference. Each year, this conference provides another opportunity for credit unions to gain additional insights from industry leaders on topics that in turn help us better serve our members.”

DCUC and Frontier Community CU provided an impressive lineup of speakers for conference attendees and guests including Representative Chris Croft, House Majority Leader, Kansas; COL Duane L. Mosier, Garrison Commander of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Frank Farone, Managing Director, Darling Consulting Group; Roy Ross, Chief Information Security Officer, OMNICOMMANDER; Julie Murray, Administrator, Kansas Department of Credit Unions; and Anthony Demangone, NCCO, Executive VP, and COO, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU).

In addition to speaker presentations, this year’s Midwest Conference featured an advocacy panel with DCUC’s President/CEO Anthony Hernandez and John McKechnie, John McKechnie LLC. Afterward, Scott Duszynski, VP of Member Engagement, and Ann Morsch, VP Member Services & Operations, Armed Forces Financial Network (AFFN), informed the group of recent AFFN updates and industry news.

“This year’s conference, cohosted with Frontier Community Credit Union, was no exception to another successful event for our members,” said Hernandez. “There were many valuable discussions on both current and upcoming advocacy issues as well as great information to help credit unions grow their impact and service to our Nation’s military and veterans.”

The conference concluded with the Midwest Sub-Council Meeting where Joye Conklin, president/CEO R-G FCU, announced she would be stepping down as Chair of the Midwest Sub-Council's Board.