I took over NYC's Municipal Credit Union after the last CEO embezzled $10 million; here's how we came back from the brink

• Kyle Markland was hired to run NYC's Municipal Credit Union after the last CEO looted the company.
• In his tenure, assets grew by 38% and the union was released from conservatorship 42 months early.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kyle Markland, who in Nov. 2020 was hired to replace former CEO Kam Wong, now serving 5 1/2 years prison for embezzling $9.9 million from the Municipal Credit Union of New York City. Last month, MCU announced it was released from court-ordered conservatorship 42 months ahead of schedule.

I was the chief operating officer at Bethpage Credit Union on Long Island when a recruiter called me out of the blue, in August or September of 2020, about leading MCU, one of the largest municipal credit unions in the country.

I was aware of what had happened at MCU beforehand. It was really hard not to be, in this business. The former CEO had embezzled almost $10 million and spent it on travel and cars and lottery tickets.

I just thought it was really unfortunate for the members of MCU, that the union had been placed under conservatorship and was being run by the federal National Credit Union Administration since May of 2019.

I actually wasn't interested in the position at first. I had a really good job at Bethpage.

But the more I dug into learning about the organization, and its 600,000 members, and the market and the potential of the organization, I thought this was something where everything I had learned through my entire career had led me to be part of the team that would turn around this organization.

Not very often do you get the opportunity to say that you were part of the team that took the largest conserved credit union in the country's history and returned it to its rightful owners.

And those owners are our members, who are the city's police officers and sanitation workers and the city hospital system workers — the municipal employees of New York City.

Once I had decided I wanted the position, I was all in on it. I was not going to give a second thought to it. I just knew that success was the only option for us.

We had to pull out of a $10 million hole — and pull through a pandemic

There was a lot of belt tightening at first. We had to close down physical branch offices in seven underperforming locations, as a cost-cutting measure. We had to do it. We had to cut as many costs as we could.

Other services were cut — some of it was that because of the pandemic, too. We weren't as available as we wanted to be for the members, for their borrowing needs, until we got back on our feet.

We had to pull out of a $10 million hole — and pull through a pandemic.

As far as advice goes, I think the real thing is to create that north star vision that you want for the organization. For us finding that vision was easy — everything was about the members and making it better for the members and returning the union to the members.

I'd say just have a clear vision of what you want to do and prioritize everything you're doing to get to that point.

There were a lot of long hours. The team here — the MCU staff is 500 people — they were absolutely fantastic. We worked together shoring up the financial situation.

Admittedly the morale was pretty low when I started. We're still rebuilding the vibrant culture we used to have. There was the conservatorship, there was the pandemic. We didn't have really at our disposal the kind of training programs, bonuses and reward programs that we wanted.

But we have a number of employees who were here pre-conservatorship, and I have a special place in my heart for them because they weathered the storm and were part of the solution for coming out of conservatorship.

They believed in the organization and what we stood for, and they believed in me. I can't tell you how much I appreciate their efforts.

We came out of conservatorship 42 months ahead of schedule

I have been here 16 months, 17 months or so now. Clearly getting out of our conservatorship is our proudest accomplishment. We're starting to see a lot more engagement from our employees and from our members.

Now we're not looking down and in at the organization; we're able to look up and out at our members, and look at our future and their future as a financial cooperative.

We are owned by our members. Our members each own a share of the credit union — one member, one vote, and if you've got $5 or $5,000 with us you still have one vote.

We offer the city's workers savings accounts, retirement accounts, all types of loans. The new police academy graduates are offered MCU loans to help them buy their uniforms and weaponry, as just one example.

The conservatorship ended Feb. 23. We came out of conservatorship 42 months ahead of schedule.

A lot of financial institutions, when they get into trouble, they don't grow, they shrink. The National Credit Union Administration says there were 31 conservatorships between 2012 and 2020, and out of those, 19 wound up closing and 10 merged.

So it's far more common to see credit unions close or merge than successfully emerge like MCU, especially not 42 months ahead of schedule.

Build a strong team ... and let them do their job.

We were able to grow members, and we grew assets. The members' deposits with us grew 38 percent in those 33 months of conservatorship, to where it's now at more than $4.2 billion. This is something our members can look at their statements and see.

I think the biggest advice I have from this is to build a strong team around you, and work with that team to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

A lot of it is build your team, get the employees you need, keep everybody focused and let them do their job.

Surround yourself with super-strong talent and then empower them to do their job.

Then get out of their way, and just support them.