University Credit Union plans branch renovations on eve of 50th birthday
Courtesy / University Credit Union
From left, Gerald Hayman, Jr., chairman of University Credit Union's board of directors, with President and CEO Matthew Walsh, in front of UCU's headquarters at 15 Main St. in Orono. The credit union is about to turn 50.
Orono-based University Credit Union is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary amid plans to modernize two more branches next year.
The University of Maine Employees Credit Union, as it was originally known, opened for business on Oct. 31, 1967, in the basement of Coburn Hall at the University of Maine.
Today, UCU has nine retail branches — three campus branches in Gorham, Presque Isle and Orono, and six traditional branches including two apiece in Orono and Portland, one in Bangor, and one in Farmington. As of Sept. 30, it had $283.6 million in assets and 28,093 members -- made up of students, employees and alumni of the University of Maine System and their families.
As part of the anniversary festivities, UCU has been gathering testimonials from members on their history with the credit union. One wrote about still having the tin bank offered when the credit union opened in Coburn, while another shared that she met her future husband at UMaine Orono and that she joined his account as soon as they married in 1997.
“We’re extremely proud to be celebrating our 50h anniversary,” said Matthew Walsh, a Presque Isle native who has been with UCU for 20 years and was named president and CEO in 2006.
“Many organizations, financial and non-financial, don’t survive 50 years,” he said. “We’re proud of where we came from and excited about where we’re headed.”
On that front, Walsh said that about a third of the retail branches have been renovated or have started to be renovated. Its branch on Forest Avenue in Portland underwent a complete makeover this year, with pods replacing traditional teller lines and new offices with transparent glass doors.
“It’s just an immersive, engaging environment,” he said. “That’s an example of what our future branches will look like.”
Next up in 2018 are planned renovations at Brighton Avenue in Portland and Union Street in Bangor.
As for workforce plans, Walsh said it’s expected to stay in the high 80s and grow in the future after being trimmed from over 100 last summer through a reorganization and without any layoffs or branch closures.
“It was truly through attrition and change,” he said.
On the more immediate horizon, anniversary celebrations are planned at all branches on Nov. 3, and the remembrances being compiled may be published later for members.
Asked about his own memories, Walsh recalls the late 1990s, when there were only about 35 employees in Portland and Orono in an “all-hands-on-deck” environment.
“No matter what your role, everyone was prepped to play a certain role in the account opening process,” he said.
For Gerald “Jerry” Hayman, Jr., who chairs UCU’s board of directors, membership in the credit union is a three-generation family tradition. His father was the first, and he has carried on that tradition with his daughter.
“We started with a children’s account and now she’s transferred into a checking account and debit card,” he said, noting that his daughter could easily deposit paychecks into her UCU account from the Boston area while in college.
“The way the world’s going,” Hayman said, “it really doesn’t matter where you are, we can serve you.”
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