Member Spotlight: Linda Darling

Mark Crawford, CUNA Councils
May 23, 2006

Linda Darling is currently the executive vice president and CFO for Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union in Tampa, Florida. Suncoast serves public and private school employees and a large number of select employee groups within a 15-county area on the west coast of Florida. Suncoast has over 400 thousand members with 41 branches, 200 ATMs, about 1000 employees; assets exceed $5 billion.

With more than 25 years of credit union experience, Linda is involved in strategic planning and executive management of Suncoast Schools FCU. She is directly responsible for lending (consumer, mortgage and business), marketing, card services, ACH/direct deposit, accounting, records and imaging, item processing, purchasing, and mail/supplies. She also serves as secretary/treasurer on the Committees of Managers for Suncoast Schools’ wholly owned subsidiaries, Members Title Agency and Members Insurance Center.

Linda is charter member/officer with the CUNA CFO Council. She received a BA in accounting from the University of South Florida (USF) and began her credit union career with the University of Kentucky FCU in Lexington. Prior to that, she worked in the telecommunications industry. She is a Master Graduate of Discover U, a leadership training series that focuses on building high-performance teams. Linda is married to John, an engineer, and is the proud mother of Shawn, 26, and Ryan, 23.

Biggest challenge for 2006:

Balancing and prioritizing quality time—professionally, personally, and spiritually.

Best piece of CFO advice:

Join the Council and be active! Regularly attend meetings, subscribe to the Listserve, and volunteer to help in some way.

Greatest benefit from being a member of the council:

Getting to know dedicated knowledgeable CU professionals, learning from them, and sharing.

Best part of my job:

Enthusiastically encouraging employees to excel and focus on serving our members. I love meeting new employees, visiting branches and departments, and learning of their challenges and ideas. It’s also very rewarding to observe someone excel beyond their expectations; we primarily promote from within and occasionally must convince someone they are ready for that “next step.”

Hardest part of my job:

Knowing the right questions to ask; allowing people to make and learn from their mistakes.

Best CFO success story:

Employee Appreciation Day, 2006: Our afternoon speaker concluded his talk by jumping from the stage and “we” carried him off the stage and around to the other side. When I went on stage to thank him and conclude our day, our employees started chanting my name, asking me to “trust them” . . . and so I did – a wonderful “high” and a great connecting moment!

Hobbies/interests:

College basketball (Kentucky Wildcats, Florida Gators, USF Bulls), professional hockey (Tampa Bay Lightning), college and pro football (USF Bulls, Florida Gators, Tampa Bay Bucs) – we have season tickets to four teams/sports! I also love reading, bicycling, movies, plus time with sons and sweetheart.

People would be surprised to learn that I . . .

Drive a really cool sports car – 2006 Mercedes SLK 350 (mocha black – looks like chocolate metallic); however, four weeks after purchase, someone pulled out in front of me and CRASH, the car was in the shop for 6 weeks. . . .

And that I married the guy I dated in high school! John’s my soul mate (and drives a 2006 Corvette!)

Most recent book:

True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

Life goal not yet accomplished:

Professionally – CEO of a Member Focused Credit Union. Personally– being a grandmother (which includes my sons committing or finding their soul mates and getting married).

Something that always makes me laugh:

My sons—they both inherited their dad’s great sense of humor and they sense when I need a laugh, too.

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

I would spend it with my family.