Nussle Gives U.S. Credit Union System Actions to Narrow Gender Gap

March 01, 2017

Jim Nussle, CUNA CEO, calls US credit union industry to get engaged and advance women into leadership positions.

Karen Nussle discusses the gender gap in Congress and the need to prioritize this issue among credit unions. She also introduced husband, and event keynote speaker, Jim Nussle.

WASHINGTON, DC. – “Without more women in executive leadership positions, financial institutions cannot maintain their competitive advantage,” said CUNA president & CEO Jim Nussle. Speaking to a record number of attendees at the World Council’s Global Women’s Leadership Network (GWLN) breakfast, Nussle highlighted the statistics and called for change. “In the U.S., women make up 70 percent of the credit union workforce but only 15 percent of credit unions with $1 billion in assets are led by women. Globally, women control $12 trillion of consumer discretionary spending, yet women’s complaints about financial services range from a lack of respect to blanket solutions that leave them behind. Without more women in leadership positions, credit unions could struggle to understand and win over this crucial customer demographic,” noted Nussle.

Calling on all credit union leaders to get engaged in the advancement of women leadership, Nussle prescribed six strategies for increasing gender diversity:

• Sponsor women you know
• Serve as mentors
• Encourage women take on visible and complex projects in their organization
• Have succession and development planning for boards and leadership
• When recruiting for an open position, make sure your candidate pool is diverse
• Join GWLN and participate in an upcoming opportunity such the new “Executive Readiness Summit” that will increase the readiness of mid-tiered female staff or participate in a local Network chapter meeting

“The statistics must change. CUNA and World Council are committed to making a measurable difference,” said Nussle. Global Women is a World Council program that was established in 2009 to address and facilitate greater gender balance among leadership positions. Programs provide tangible skills, tools, and resources to advance women and offers actionable steps for organizations to follow. It is open to all women and includes the critical support, engagement, and participation of male champions.

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) is the apex association for credit unions and other global financial cooperatives. World Council promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. World Council advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.

World Council has implemented 300+ technical assistance programs in 90 countries. Worldwide, 74,634 credit unions in 104 countries serve 411 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.

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