Online and absentee ballot voting for the State Employees Credit Union board concludes on Tuesday, with the institution’s 2.8 million members choosing between four existing directors and four self-nominated candidates.
The vote will be announced at the group’s annual meeting on Oct. 8 in Greensboro. While absentee votes must be postmarked by Oct. 1, or Tuesday, those attending the Greensboro meeting will be eligible to vote.
“It is highly unusual for any credit union, especially the second largest in America, to have an election that provides members a real choice of who will represent them,” industry consultant and former regulator Chip Filson wrote in a recent blog. SECU has more than $50 billion in assets and offices in each N.C. county.
It’s the second year in which SECU board seats have been contested. At last year’s annual meeting, members elected three new directors who were self-nominated: Michael Clements, Barbara Perkins and Chuck Stone. They were chosen by members over three incumbents favored by SECU’s board and leadership.
This year, incumbent candidates are: McKinley Wooten, an assistant secretary of the N.C. Department of Revenue; Bob Brinson, a retired state information technology employee; Mark Fleming, a retired vice president of government relations at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina; and Stelfanie Williams, a Duke University administrator.
The challengers are former SECU managers Susie Ford of Cary, Julian Hawes of Winston-Salem and Kirby Parrish of Johnston County, and Jean Blaine, the wife of ex-CEO Jim Blaine.
SECU has put a four-minute video showcasing the four incumbent members on its website, along with a video by board chair Mona Moon explaining the voting process. It has posted Facebook ads and Instagram interviews promoting the incumbent trustees.
“The power of your vote can not be overstated,” Moon said on the video. “Let your voice be heard.” Moon is a former chief operating officer of the Medicaid program for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
The challengers are also campaigning aggressively. A Facebook group, SECU For All, includes videos of the four self-nominated candidates and endorsements from former employees, current members and others. Separately, their candidacies are promoted on a website run by Jim Blaine that has clocked more than 2 million page views since its inception in early 2023. Blaine led SECU between 1979 and 2015.
The self-nominated candidates have pledged to boost rates on SECU’s saving accounts and said they want SECU to return to its historic policy of offering the same loan interest to all members. In recent years, the institution switched to a risk-based lending approach that is standard in the financial industry, with members who have stronger credit ratings offered lower rates than those with lesser financial records.
In her video shared by SECU, trustee Williams said she “is excited about continuing to serve the variety of members that we have in different parts of North Carolina, different demographics and generations and ensuring that the products and services we provide remain relevant for decades in the future.”
The three new directors elected last year have not discussed their views about this year’s election. Stone chaired the nominating committee that favored the incumbent directors.