Strategic Planning for
Credit Unions / Community Banks
Why Is Planning Essential for Your Credit Union or Community Bank?
An effective planning process is vital to the long-term success of your Credit Union or Community Bank. It provides regular opportunities to reassess your institution's vision and mission, helping you identify your strengths, weaknesses, and emerging opportunities while also anticipating potential threats in the broader macro-environment.
A strong commitment to strategic planning ensures that your Credit Union or Community Bank stays focused on actionable steps that align with your objectives. This results-driven approach encourages continuous improvement and adaptive learning, keeping your organization on track to achieve its strategic goals.
Is Your Current Planning Process Effective?
- Are you achieving the goals set during your last planning retreat?
- Are you satisfied with your institution’s current performance?
- How well did your Credit Union or Community Bank adapt to recent challenges such as labor shortages or emerging FinTech disruptions?
- Do you have the right tools in place to actively involve your staff in executing the plan?
- Is your institution positioned to succeed in an uncertain economic environment?
- How will your Credit Union or Community Bank address challenges like rising interest rates, increasing delinquency, and declining fee income?
Taking a closer look at your planning process can help ensure that your
institution is prepared to thrive in today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape.
- Prism Consulting Services focuses on the process & not just the development of a plan document.
- We help you to understand where you are today & visualize where you want to take the credit union in the next 3 – 5 years.
- PCS’s strengths include financial, market, & technical analysis, problem solving, & consensus building.
- With over 90 years combined experience in executive leadership of credit unions / community banks , our consultants have successfully lead credit unions / community banks through the challenges of improving effciency, increasing loans outstanding, asset quality, rising interest rates & regulatory change.
- PCS provides expertise in root cause analysis to understand what is preventing the credit union from capitalizing on opportunities or resolving problems.
- At Prism Consulting Services, we focus on the process, not just the creation of a plan document. Our approach helps you assess your current position, define where you want to go, and chart a clear course for the next 3–5 years.
- With over 90 years of combined experience in executive leadership within Credit Unions, our consultants bring unparalleled expertise in financial, market, and technical analysis, problem-solving, and consensus-building. We’ve successfully guided Credit Unions through challenges such as improving efficiency, increasing loan portfolios, enhancing asset quality, navigating rising interest rates, and adapting to regulatory changes.
- PCS also specializes in root cause analysis, helping you identify and address underlying issues that may be hindering your Credit Union's ability to seize opportunities or resolve challenges. Let us partner with you to achieve lasting, sustainable success.
Why Choose Prism Consulting Services for Your Next Strategic Planning Meeting
Why select Prism Consulting Services to facilitate your planning meeting
- Prism Consulting Services focuses on the process & not just the development of a plan document.
- We help you to understand where you are today & visualize where you want to take the Credit Union in the next 3–5 years.
- PCS’s strengths include financial, market,and technical analysis, problem solving, and consensus building.
- With over 90 years combined experience in executive leadership of Credit Unions, our consultants have successfully lead Credit Unions through the challenges of improving effciency, increasing loans outstanding, improving asset quality, rising interest rates, & regulatory changes.
- PCS provides expertise in root cause analysis to understand what is preventing the Credit Union from capitalizing on opportunities or resolving problems.
PRE-SESSION ACTIVITIES:
- Meet with the CEO and key leadership team to understand the Credit Union or Community Bank needs, and collaboratively define the purpose and scope of the session.
- Establish ground rules for the session.
- Develop key assumptions to inform the planning process.
- Hold a virtual meeting with all participants to set expectations.
- Design and present an agenda for approval by the board and management.
- Review financial analysis and emerging trends.
- Collaborate with key staff to prepare presentations on critical issues for discussion during the planning meeting.
AT THE PLANNING MEETING:
- Facilitate the session by guiding the group through the agenda.
- Foster an inclusive environment to encourage active participation from all stakeholders.
- Drive clarity and consensus through active listening, asking insightful questions, paraphrasing, and summarizing participants' feedback.
- Capture ideas and key outcomes from the discussion.
- Create a positive and engaging atmosphere for productive collaboration.
POST PLANNING MEETING:
- Provide support in developing financial forecasts based on the plan.
- Schedule quarterly follow-up meetings with key stakeholders to review progress and determine next steps.
“Contact us for competitive pricing”
- Pre-meeting research and phone/virtual sessions with all participants.
- 1 or 1 ½ day planning meeting.
- Summary of ideas and work output.
- Post-meeting virtual sessions with management at 90, 180, and 270 days.
Gerri Sexsion
Gerri Sexsion is a Strategy Consultant for Prism Consulting Services, Inc. She focuses on helping organizations to realize their vision through effective planning. A “big picture” person, Gerri helps management teams uncover opportunities and develop creative solutions for challenges.
During her 40 years in the credit union industry, she led credit unions through turbulent economic cycles. As a former President and CEO of a $450 Million credit union, she managed the day-to-day operations of a full-service financial institution for over 22 years. Under her leadership, the credit union successfully navigated the rough waters of the Great Recession, expanded its branch network and product offerings, and thrived in a highly competitive market. Gerri also held C-Suite positions in credit unions in Texas and Oklahoma as well as serving as Executive Vice President for Due Supported Services at the Texas Credit Union League, now the Cornerstone League.
She was recognized by the Jacksonville Business Journal as one of the Women of Influence in 2017 and has received national recognition for excellence in financial institution operations.
Gerri holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with emphasis in Finance and Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is a certified member service trainer and has extensive training in strategic and tactical planning, financial analysis, project management, process improvement, and Lean Six Sigma. Since retiring from credit union in 2019, Gerri continues to model credit union philosophy of “people helping people” as an Algebra and Geometry tutor at a local high school, and as chair of the Finance Council at her church.
“There is always a better way. Your challenge is to find it!”
Gautam Sircar
Gautam is a strategy consultant at Prism Consulting Services, Inc. Gautam served as Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY: NASDAQ) a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services for financial institutions. He was responsible for shaping and executing the strategic direction of the company and driving innovation to ensure Jack Henry & Associates remained at the forefront of the ever-evolving financial technology landscape. His forward-thinking leadership has been instrumental in guiding the company’s growth and success in rapidly changing industry.
He also has experience in consulting, mergers and acquisitions, business process reengineering, and operations improvement in a variety of industries such as technology, telecommunications, utilities, manufacturing, and healthcare. Gautam earned an MBA with concentrations in Corporate Strategy and Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. He lives in the DFW area and is married with two adult daughters. Gautam is a strategy consultant at Prism Consulting Services from Jacksonville, FL.
Notable Achievements and activities:
- Led annual Board of Directors strategy sessions
- Developed and cultivated relationships with Fintech and venture community serving financial institutions.
- Led acquisition strategy for entry into emerging markets such as digital banking and modern payments ecosystem.
- Completed 24 acquisitions of fintech firms ranging in value from $5M to $300M that resulted in $2B revenue growth over the last 23 years.
- Led efforts related to offering white labeled solutions from Fintech partners.
- Managed fintech partnerships for Jack Henry’s modern cloud-based API platform.
- Cultivated relationships with industry experts and analyst firms focusing on financial services industry.
- Responsible for annual thought leadership conference for CEOs of key customers.
- Mentor and advisor to the University of Texas at Dallas Jindal School of Management’s master’s in financial technology & analytics program.
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