Linda Hoover has been named chief executive officer and president of Racine-based Educators Credit Union.
The credit union’s board appointed Hoover interim CEO on December 4, when longtime president and CEO Eugene Szymczak died unexpectedly.
Hoover previously was the chief operations officer at Educators. She has worked at the company since 1987, and has led most of its business units over the years. Hoover recently completed a CEO Institute at the Credit Union Executives Society. A Racine native, Hoover sits on the board at River Bend Nature Center and the cabinet committee of United Way of Racine County, and also has been a director at Racine Food Bank, Family Services of Racine and Focus on Racine.
“Her passion places the credit union in a role that is central to helping our own members and the members of the communities in which we operate realize their dreams,” said Mary Lueneburg, board chair. “Linda brings her own unique set of skills and experiences to these challenges, while solidly aligning with the organization’s strategic goals and aspirations, in continuity with our late CEO Gene Szymczak. Her work ethic is second to none, as is her integrity. As a board, we see in her a leader who can inspire by example, as well as by her ability to sort through the minutiae to chart a course forward.”
“(I am) deeply honored that the board has expressed its confidence in me, and entrusted the credit union, its staff and members to my leadership,” Hoover said. “I believe that the essence of what we are called to do is to create relationships and build trust with our members in order to meet their financial needs. Our foundation has always been as a ‘People Helping People’ cooperative, and that will never change. I had the honor of working with Gene and Harold Kaeding, his predecessor, in this great legacy they created. They lived that principle. They built our culture on it. We continue to advance it each day. I look forward to working with the staff to seek new opportunities and approaches to achieve those goals.”
Educators Credit Union has 430 employees at 19 branches in southeastern Wisconsin. It has 142,000 members and $1.6 billion in assets.
