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By Nathan Peck | MiBiz
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GRAND RAPIDS — Sandy Jelinski has a lot to smile about these days.

As president and CEO of Lake Michigan Credit Union, Jelinksi helped lead a 25 percent growth in assets during 2009, lifting LMCU to the lofty $1.8 billion level. With more than 155,000 members, LMCU grew its assets $350 million in 2009 and became the second largest credit union in Michigan. The growth in assets has corresponded with 100 new hires in the last 15 months, and LMCU now employs 460 around West Michigan. Jelinski recently spoke with MiBiz about LMCU and its prospects for the future.

MiBiz: What particular strategies did you employ to weather the economic crisis and bring value to your members in 2009?

Jelinski: We continued to operate conservatively; making high-quality loans and we watched our expenses closely. Over the last couple of years, we never got involved in risky mortgages or investments so our asset quality is strong and we have not experienced the losses that many other financial institutions have. We bring real value to our members through our rates and continued expansion of our branch network. We opened four new branches in 2009: Kalamazoo, Jenison, Allendale and one on Seward St. in Grand Rapids in partnership with Grand Rapids Community College’s Learning Corner. We now have 26 branch locations throughout West Michigan.

MiBiz: What do you anticipate the rest of 2010 looking like?

Jelinski: We are optimistic about 2010. Our first quarter results were exceptional with the best bottom line we’ve ever experienced. We believe we will continue to experience solid growth as there is a flight to quality by consumers. Many people are choosing LMCU because of our financial strength, the overall value we provide, and the great service our staff delivers.

And we are local! We’ve been here serving West Michigan for over 75 years. We understand and support the people in our community, and decisions are made locally. We strive to have a strong presence in our community through our marketing efforts and community involvement initiatives. We think people are getting a better understanding that they can use us.

With our community charter, anyone in the area can bank with us. We realize there is a need to help companies in our own backyard. We recently hired a commercial lender and plan to help companies that we can. We will be working to expand our business banking services as well, so that we have full-service offerings for commercial customers.

MiBiz: Are there regulatory pressures you’ve had to deal with as a result of the rise in bank failures in 2009?

Jelinski: While not nearly to the level that the banking system has experienced, the credit union system experienced losses at the corporate credit union level and in states that were hit hard by declining home values. All credit unions in the nation have been billed by our insurer to help cover the losses. While it was not of our own making and is somewhat frustrating, we are managing this expense from our insurer and continue to produce a very strong bottom line.

MiBiz: What role do you see for credit unions in the economic recovery?

Jelinski: We are committed to playing a part in the economic recovery. We’ve been making loans to help our members, and we will continue to do so. In 2009, we helped members by financing over $820 million in home loans. We are the number one lender in West Michigan for mortgage originations and the number one lender in our area for auto loans. We will begin to make some commercial loans. We are here to help the people in our community and our local economy.

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• finance
• grand rapids
• lake michigan credit union
• lmcu
• sandy jelinski