Member Spotlight: Deborah Clark

CUNA Councils
December 20, 2006

Deborah Clark was born in Statesville, North Carolina, but has spent most of her adult life in Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Virginia. She has an MBA from Central Michigan University and over 20 years of diversified marketing leadership experience in a variety of fields, including telecom, optics, electronics, and banking/finance.

Deborah joined the credit union industry about three years ago as vice president of marketing for the US Senate Federal Credit Union in Washington, D.C. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia, with her husband and two dogs.

Biggest challenge for 2006

Building the infrastructure to support our marketing and business development efforts to take our business to the next level.

Best advice

Always communicate your brand identity consistently across all channels and be sure to deliver at all member touchpoints. Keep in mind that successful brands represent not just what we do, but what we believe and how we act.

Greatest benefit of Council membership

The strength of the knowledge of Council members, and the availability of information for growing and succeeding in the marketplace. I also appreciate the opportunity to network with my peers and learn from their successes and failures. The Listserv is particularly helpful, as members of the Council are always willing to share their experiences. We have made sound business decisions from input I have received from the Council.

Best part of my job

Leading the strategic marketing process, developing our brand strategy, and working with an incredible team of professionals.

Hardest part of my job

Teaching individuals within the organization on the contribution/value of marketing, and the difference between marketing and sales.

Success story

We facilitated, managed, and established a corporate-wide positioning and brand strategy, which provided the foundation for the implementation of our strategic marketing process. This process successfully contributed to credit union growth, resulting in a 2.6% increase in assets and loan-to-share ratio growth from 49% to 76%.

Hobbies and interests

Traveling, shopping, swimming, beaching, and horseback riding. I'm also very passionate about animals, particularly dogs.

People would be surprised to learn that I . . .

Used to barrel race in the rodeo.

Recent book

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown.

Life goal not yet accomplished

My doctorate degree.

Something that always makes me laugh

My cocker spaniel, Abigail.

If I had an extra hour in the day . . .

I would sleep later!