GAC10: A Mood Change

The Washington Convention Center saw a great mood change this year. Spirits seemed higher and the somewhat sober 2009 version became only a memory for those attending.

Maybe the difference was a more hopeful economy as well as the fact that those going up to visit legislators actually had something to talk about and were armed with a member business lending bill. It could have been the distance from the corporate credit union failures or perhaps a determination to pretend that things were somehow better? Whatever the reason the mood was detectably different.

While the mood was improved for those in the seats, those on the stage seemed confused. Dan Mica said his goodbye, yet his board Chair said the resolution thanking him for 14 years of service was too long to actually read. NCUA Chair Debbie Matz continued to sound a warning, while we were told that credit unions were more important than ever by any number of legislators.

Even NCUA Board Member Gigi Hyland, who is very comfortable on stage, had a mixed message. She told us we were a movement, not a stationary bike - meaning we needed to move forward, yet she herself admitted her whitepaper on supplemental capital still wasn’t finished after nearly two years. Not exactly an example of movement.

Dan Mica’s effort to grow GAC was fully on display and may have been the biggest tribute he will ever receive. His success was all around us with attendance of 4,000 and the boast of the largest exhibit hall of any financial services conference.Even the cavernous Washington Convention Center was itself a big sign of Dan’s success.

It was hard not to reflect on Dan Mica’s career at CUNA as people like Paul Kanjorski took the stage. Champions like Ed Royce and even Brad Sherman are also tributes to Mica’s contacts in Washington. Those contacts were Dan Mica’s and his leaving, together with some of these guys getting older and facing difficult election challenges, make it clear that things are changing. While no mention was made of Mica’s replacement, or for that matter the possible replacement of some of our legislative champions, the future is on the way.

This year’s conference saw a steamroller effort to crash the GAC by those pushing a youth or die agenda. Thanks to CUNA they got 20 free admissions for young people, some not even credit union employees, but for most in attendance their efforts were either misunderstood or unknown.

While the youth agenda was being pushed in the conference hall, the old fashioned cyber café complete with clanking big box pc’s was barely being used in the lobby. It didn’t seem to occur to CUNA staffers that most people walk around with more computing power and connectivity in their hands than in a room full of hardwired internet connections. Maybe the future will bring the idea of free wifi for attendees. This was just another symbol of the change that needs to come.

To me GAC10 was a series of contrasts. An old world of past practices and the success of Dan Mica, an outdated cyber café and warnings and slow moving regulators on one side. On the other side we had praise from legislators for helping America, a hope for a more united future as new leadership takes CUNA forward and a small seed of a more youthful group of attendees. Times are changing and GAC10 was a study of these old and new issues.

Paul Stull is a featured author for Credit Unions Rising.  He is the Senior VP of Marketing at Arizona State CU; follow him on twitter @Paulsworld .  If you are interested in becoming a featured author, please contact Elliott Kashner at ekashner@creditunions.com.