Member Spotlight: Pam Pantelakos

CUNA Councils
July 19, 2010 | COMMENTS

Pam Pantelakos is vice president of finance and CFO for Members First Credit Union of New Hampshire in Manchester. Born in Norwood, Massachusetts, she moved 16 times before she was 18 years old.

“People ask if I was a military brat and I tell them I was a management consultant brat,” she says. “I grew up in small towns from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont to the Jersey Shore, finally settling down in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I have lived for 30 years and raised my children.”

Pam joined the credit union industry in 1988 when she hired on as the accounting manager at Service Federal Credit Union in Portsmouth. She worked there until July 2005—by that time the credit union had reached $1 billion in assets and “the challenge was gone and I wanted to advance my career,” she says. After working with a private firm for five years she accepted the CFO position at Members First Credit Union in January 2010.

“It was kind of like coming home,” she says. “We are a $135-million shop, a little smaller than SFCU was when I started there, and I am looking forward to helping guide and grow this credit union to a billion dollars in assets as well.”

Biggest challenge

Regulatory compliance and excess liquidity.

Best advice

Your attitude is the only thing you really control. Keep it positive and believe in yourself and there are no limits to what you can do.

Greatest benefit of Council membership

Networking opportunities and information-sharing. Being able to access other CFOs as a sounding board is priceless.

Best part of my job

Teaching the people who work with me and letting them find out how good they really are.

Hardest part of my job

Helping my staff deal with the difficulties in their personal lives and minimizing the impacts on the work environment, but still making sure that they are okay.

Success story

Our credit union has had several senior management changes in the last few years: Our CEO has been here nine months, and I have been here six, and for the first time since 2006 we have had six months running of positive net income.

Biggest misconception about my job

That I am done working when I leave the office. I spend a lot of time reading trade-related papers, magazines, and websites.

Hobbies and interests

Travel, reading, quilting.

Recent book

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

Life goal not yet accomplished

Travel across the U.S. by train—first class, of course.

Something that always makes me laugh

When people say, with conviction, they think this politician or that politician cares about anything other than themselves.

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

I would spend it sitting on the rocks at Rye Beach, listening to the ocean and appreciating the quiet place inside me that is so often drowned out by the cacaphony of life.

Favorite quote

“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.”

Musical favorites

Blackmore's Night, Andrea Bocelli, Garth Brooks.

If I could spend a day with anyone it would be...

The Dalai Lama, because he gets it. He understands that the only way to solve the problems of the world is with compassion. Unless we have sufficient compassion to feel another person's pain, we will continue to inflict pain upon them out of ignorance.

How I would explain the credit union difference to a potential new member

I find that explaining the common bond, the lack of stockholders, and the benefits of higher dividends and lower loan rates usually gets people on board pretty quickly.