Vice President of Credit

CLIENT SUMMARY

Ascentra Credit Union was established in 1950 when credit was a luxury not available to many, and buying a home or car was very difficult to do. This moved a few dedicated employees of Alcoa Davenport Works – now Arconic – in Riverdale, Iowa to organize and create Alcoa Employees Credit Union, Ascentra’s original name, in a room in the factory’s basement.

These hard-working volunteers put in extra hours so that they could help each other with small loans for employees and their families. In some cases, the loans were used to put a down payment on a home or to purchase coal to warm up their homes in the winter. In 1961, the credit union hired their first office manager and eventually reached $1 million in assets in 1966. Through a variety of mergers, and a change in charter in 1998, Alcoa Employees Credit Union became a community-chartered credit union, changing its name to Alcoa Employees & Community Credit Union.

In 2007, the credit union underwent another name change to emphasize that their membership is no longer restricted to Alcoa employees. The naming of Ascentra Credit Union helped to drive home that membership was open to anyone who lived or worked in the counties we served.

Today, Ascentra Credit Union has 180 employees and 9 branch locations with assets of over $575 million. The culture at Ascentra is one that focuses on having a positive impact while also looking for ways to improve their members, staff, and local communities. Ascentra has undergone several changes in recent years from building a new state-of-the-art office in 2019 with expansions completed in 2023, and the completion of a core conversion that took place during the summer of 2022. With these changes, along with others, Ascentra is committed to making a continued impact and never settling.

POSITION OBJECTIVE

The Vice President, Credit Officer will provide strategic leadership for Ascentra's credit administration and enterprise credit risk management functions while protecting the organization's strong credit culture and member-focused mission.

This key position will oversee consumer, business, and special assets credit administration, establish consistent underwriting standards, guide portfolio risk management, strengthen credit policy, and provide leadership across multiple lending support teams. Long-term, this individual will help shape the future direction of credit strategy as the role expands to include additional mortgage functions and ultimately evolves into a strategic leadership position.

POSITION KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide leadership for all credit administration, underwriting governance, and special assets functions.
• Lead and develop four direct-reports overseeing a team of approximately 13 employees across multiple departments.
• Develop, maintain, and continually improve credit policies, underwriting standards, lending authority, and risk appetite frameworks.
• Monitor portfolio performance, delinquency trends, concentrations, charge-offs, and emerging credit risks.
• Oversee commercial credit administration, loan review processes, portfolio management, and risk ratings.
• Guide complex loan decisions, exceptions, restructures, workouts, and problem loan strategies.
• Present portfolio performance, risk metrics, and credit quality reports to Executive Leadership and the Board Credit Committee.
• Partner closely with Consumer Lending, Mortgage, Business Services, Internal Audit, Compliance, and Executive Leadership.
• Ensure regulatory compliance with NCUA requirements, bankruptcy laws, fair lending, and consumer compliance regulations.
• Lead internal and external examinations, audits, and remediation efforts.
• Build scalable credit administration processes that support future organizational growth.
• Coach, mentor, and develop department leaders while fostering collaboration across the lending organization.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE NEEDED

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or related field (or equivalent professional certifications).
• Five to eight years of progressive financial institution leadership experience.
• Significant experience within credit administration, credit risk management, or commercial credit.
• Strong background in portfolio management and credit policy development.
• Experience overseeing special assets, loan workouts, and collections.
• Working knowledge of commercial and small business lending.
• Deep understanding of NCUA regulations, CECL/ACL methodologies, credit risk frameworks, and regulatory compliance.
• Proven ability to balance member service, loan growth, and sound risk management.
• Executive-level communication skills with experience presenting to senior leadership or boards.
• Demonstrated success leading and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and decision-making skills.
• High personal integrity with the confidence to make difficult credit decisions while remaining collaborative and humble.