CUCorp has partnered with Mark Lynch to provide consulting services on Board Governance. Mr. Lynch has been a credit union member for 28 years and a credit union board director for 22 years. Prior to moving to the U.S. from Australia, he was the Deputy Chairman of Australian National Credit Union, Australia’s largest credit union and the Volunteer & Resources Manager with the Australian Credit Union Foundation. Mark has also served on the board of a Friendly Society Cooperative, and a national discount shopping cooperative as well as the Academic Council of the Australian subsidiary of an International Business College. While serving on the three boards, Mark was instrumental in promoting the concept of higher standards of corporate governance. Two of these boards successfully introduced leading edge governance standards and the third is well on the way to achieving this.
Mr. Lynch has developed a comprehensive tool, GEARS © – Governance Evaluation and Ratings System, to assess and rate a credit union’s governance system. The program includes:
- Assessment of current governance practices – The credit union would provide the consultant with documents relating to their current practices. The consultant would meet with the CEO and then the Board to gather all relevant aspects of their current practices. The consultant will prepare a detailed report including the consultant’s findings, available options, recommendations for improving their process and the associated costs. This report would be presented to the CEO and Board.
- Implementation of a comprehensive governance program that addresses all governance issues including training – Once the assessment phase has been completed and the board has decided on a course of action, the consultant will work with the credit union to develop a working plan to undertake the required work to implement the new processes.
- Consultancy service – This service would apply when a credit union identifies its own governance issues that it would like to address them through a consulting service. Proposals would be developed by the consultant to address the issues and presented to the Board and CEO as described earlier. Some issues may include:
- Board performance assessment systems
- Creating Board development and education policy
- Help in creating a governance policy manual
- Help resolve issues between Board and CEO
- Training – The consultant may provide training for an entire Board or recommend league training events for board members
For more information about CUcorp’s Board Governance Consulting, contact your Business Consultant at 800-262-6285, ext. 534 or contact us online.
