Member Spotlight: Dan McGowan

CUNA Councils
October 22, 2007 | COMMENTS

Dan McGowan has been senior vice president and CFO of Envision Credit Union in Tallahassee, Florida since November 2006. Previously he worked as vice president of finance and controller for Southeast Corporate Credit Union. He was also vice president of budgeting and forecasting for Regions Financial Corporation in Montgomery, Alabama.

“I'm very pleased that my career moved from commercial banking to the credit union world,” says Dan. “Credit union decision-making is free from the stock market analysts' pressure to make quarterly earnings targets, as is so often the case in banking. That means credit unions can make decisions for the good of the institution without an unhealthy concern about the short-term earnings impact.”

A native of Alabama, Dan received his MBA from Troy University in Troy, Alabama, and his BSBA from Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey. He and his wife Carol have been married for 26 years and have two sons, Daniel and James.

Biggest challenge

Membership growth and increasing the loan-to-share ratio.

Best advice

Get other people involved. A fresh set of eyes on old problems can often spark good solutions.

Greatest benefit of Council membership

The exchange of ideas.

Best part of my job

Working with the finest CEO and senior management team in the entire credit union industry.

Hardest part of my job

Being patient when progress doesn't come as fast as I would like.

Success story

Since joining Envision, the accounting department has assumed a leadership role in process improvement and business intelligence activities. We've been very successful so far, such as:

• Reducing teller activity statistical reporting from 20+ labor hours per month to about 20 minutes
• Reducing daily general ledger posting from about 4 hours per day to about 4 minutes
• Creating an easy-to-use time series analysis of general ledger accounts and accounting groupings
• Expediting data gathering and assembly for internal reporting and 5300 reporting
• Efficiently integrating internal and external financial, operating, and market data for analysis

Hobbies and interests

Programming and otherwise tinkering with computers and software to explore the practical applications of technology. Listening to books on audio.

People would be surprised to learn that I . . .

Was an award-winning radio and television news anchor early in my career.

Recent books

Einstein by Walter Isaacson and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism by Robert Murphy.

Life goal not yet accomplished

President/CEO of a credit union.

Something that makes me laugh

Anything with Bob Newhart, a comic any accountant can appreciate.

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

I would do nothing in particular—just take the time for rest, relaxation, and whatever may be appealing at the moment.