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West Virginia Among Seven Leagues To Form Company — 10/2/17

The Directors of TRGroup signed the Operating Agreement and approved the Board Officers on August 29, 2017. From left to right; Wendell Lyons, Kentucky; Steven Liberto (representing Anne Cochran), Louisiana; Ken Watts, West Virginia; Charles Elliott (Chairman), Mississippi; Rick Pillow (Treasurer) Virginia; Fred Robinson (Secretary), Tennessee; and John McKenzie (Vice Chairman), Indiana.

Credit union trade associations from seven states have joined together to form a new company with the goal of offering best-of-class products and services to their 800 credit unions. The Raiffeisen Group, LLC (TRGroup) was formed by the trade associations serving credit unions in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Credit unions in these seven states boast a combined 10 million members and $100 billion in assets.

“It makes sense to join forces and enhance our ability to serve credit unions. This strategic alliance creates a marketplace of 800 credit unions – almost one-seventh of the nation’s credit unions - allowing us to pursue business partnerships and collaborative ventures that would not otherwise be possible,” said Charles Elliott, President of Mississippi Credit Union Association and Chairman of TRGroup.

TRGroup’s goals are to create value for member credit unions through joint service offerings; professional development; group purchasing; and introducing new products and services to market. Ultimately, the company’s mission is to empower credit unions to better serve their members, build loyalty, realize savings, and grow revenue. The company is currently evaluating several products and services to determine their potential to benefit credit unions.

“TRGroup will also be the perfect complement to the good work of our individual league service corporations, which we plan to continue operating independently,” said TRGroup Chairman, Charles Elliott. “TRGroup provides us a new avenue to pursue partnerships on a near-national scale, while our individual service corporations and leagues continue to offer the products and services demanded by credit unions in each of our home states, allowing credit unions to maintain ‘local’ control of the products and services on which they now depend.”

Each credit union association, including the West Virginia League Services Corporation provided startup capital for the new company. TRGroup’s Board of Directors will be comprised of the presidents from the seven trade associations with the following Board Officers; Charles Elliott (Chairman), Mississippi Credit Union Association; John McKenzie (Vice Chairman), Indiana Credit Union League; Rick Pillow (Treasurer), Virginia Credit Union League; and Fred Robinson (Secretary), Tennessee Credit Union League. Board members include: Wendell Lyons, Kentucky Credit Union League; Anne Cochran, Louisiana Credit Union League; and Kenneth Watts, West Virginia Credit Union League.

Learn more at trgroup.org.