Vernon and Rudy discuss how he became involved in the cooperative movement, and how credit unions can impact communities. Mr. Hanley began his illustrious co-op career as an attorney for the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), where he became an advocate for the co-op model, successfully defending credit unions’ tax-exempt status. Hanley continued to defend credit unions throughout his career, both on Capitol Hill and in the California Statehouse. Following his work at CUNA, Hanley lead the research and development department of the California Credit Union League. He joined SchoolsFirst FCU in 1982. For 31 years, Hanley led SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, which grew under his direction from a single location with $150 million in assets into the largest U.S. credit union for school employees, with 45 branches in California, $10 billion in assets and 600,000 members. Hanley embraced innovative technologies, bringing ATMs and other electronic services to the membership and co-founded an organization to research and develop technology solutions for credit unions. On May 2, 2018, Rudy Hanley was inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame, the most distinguished honor in the cooperative community.
