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Business Q&A -- Tim Alford Q&A appears Mondays on the Mail Tribune's business page. It provides local leaders a venue to address timely issues in the business community. Tim Alford, 56, is president and CEO of Rogue Federal Credit Union, which recently updated its charter so that it can expand into Josephine and Klamath counties. Alford has 32 years of credit union experience in South Dakota, Montana and Oregon, including 21 years with RFCU. He joined RFCU as associate manager and later became executive vice president. He was elevated to his present position in 1995. He and his wife have two grown children. Q: When and why did this credit union expand its scope from educators and public employees to become a bigger player in Jackson County personal finance? Primarily in the 1980s and the reason, if you remember, was a huge shift in the local economy. We were primarily serving city, county, state, federal employees and teachers. There was a shrinkage in that job market in city, county and teaching positions. We realized to be successful and to grow that we were going to have to reposition ourselves and expand our field of membership. That's when we decided to become a community-chartered credit union. We reached about $100 million in assets in about September of 1995. We have now exceeded $200 million, so we've doubled our size in about five and a half years. We anticipate that growth will continue. We look to be $300 million in probably another four years or it could be four and a half years. We know competition is getting tougher. ... To offer the services our members need and want we have to grow and accumulate the capital to amass the expertise to provide those services. To do that we've got to reach out and expand our base. Q: Who is your competition? Other credit unions throughout the state, and the competition is increasing greatly. State-chartered credit unions recently gained new powers to expand throughout the state so we expect to see additional branches of credit unions such as UlaneO credit union to come down here. Our current competition is the smaller community banks. I think they are very healthy. I see good-quality competition in this valley. We've always tried to get along and work things out and cooperate in the valley and not get into spitting matches like a lot of times happens up north. Q: What kind of conflicts arise? Where you see a lot of controversy is about fields of membership or who a credit union should serve. The local banks may have strong feelings about that, but they approach it in a very professional manner. Q: What will be your approach in expansion into Grants Pass and Klamath Falls? We are not what you would call a takeover or intrusive type of organization. What we'll do is go into the community and attract those people that are attracted to our service, products and philosophy. We like our service and reputation to speak for itself. We'll be heavy marketers and let people know we're there. We will make a presence in both those areas in the next two years. We probably, depending on the climate, will move into Josephine County next year and Klamath County probably the following year. Depending on the demand, that could change. We're already starting to receive members from those areas. Q: Is the new building on Center Drive a reflection of how far RFCU has come? To some degree it's a reflection of the success of the credit union. Without our members staying loyal to us and using it throughout the years, obviously this credit union would not have prospered and grown. We're the ninth-largest (credit union) in the state and ... receive the highest rating possible year-in and year-out. We're considered extremely-well capitalized by our regulators. We continually have strong performance figures ... . We have a strategic plan which calls for an average growth of between 8 and 12 percent per year and we're right on target. We do control our growth somewhat by pricing our loans and savings. The growth, to a great deal, is in the hands of the members, because they regulate that through their deposits and loans. Q: What have been the best and worst years in recent memory? Our best year in the last 10 years was 1997, the year when we announced we were going to build this building. The interest rate environment at the time was really conducive to borrowing on the member's part. We're pretty much driven by loan demand and since we had heavy loan demand that year, it generated good income. We had extremely good deposit growth so we grew several million in assets and we grew 2,500 to 3,000 members that year. I really can't say we've had a bad year. Every year for the last six or seven years we've had a healthy return on assets, we've been in our target for growth and have grown. Q: What attracts college finance majors to go to work for a credit union? It would be a tough decision for someone just coming out of college. Historically, credit union pay - especially for someone with a degree - has not been what you could get at a bank. That's starting to come around, because most credit unions realize if you want the professional person in your organization you have to pay competitive market wages. To suggest a subject for this column, please contact business reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.