Forty years ago, Helen Bunn became the manager of Fannie Mae Federal Credit Union. At that time the credit unionserved less than 1,000 members and managed assets of just$125,000. 

“When you ran a credit union back then, they used to call you amanager,” said Bunn, who is retiring at the end ofFebruary.  “As I used to tell everybody, I managed myright and my left hand because I was the only person here for awhile.”

Even though the Washington, D.C.-based credit union grew to itscurrent $15 million in assets and nearly 6,000 members, Bunn andthe board of directors realized Fannie Mae FCU needed to merge witha larger credit union because it was becoming difficult tocompete. 

“Our older members were happy with the way things were, but theyounger crowd was looking for e-statements, mobile banking, remotedeposit, text banking… the whole works,” said Bunn. “But for us, wejust didn't have enough members to make those services costeffective. The time was right to merge.”

Because Bunn had gotten to know many of Fannie Mae FCU membersand served them over the years, she wanted to make sure the mergerwasn't just a takeover but more like a partnership with a creditunion that would continue to provide members with personalizedservice.

Bunn approached Theresa Mann, president/CEO of the 10,191-member, $126 millionPartnership Federal Credit Union, in Arlington, Va. In 2009, Mann oversaw the merger of the single-sponsor creditunions, FDIC FCU and the National Science Foundation FCU, formingthe Partnership FCU.

Back then, Mann, who was CEO/president of FDIC FCU, describedthe consolidation as a new business model for the small,single-sponsor credit union, particularly for government-linkedcredit unions, that were finding it more difficult and complex togrow without achieving back-office economies.

Bunn liked Mann's perspective on mergers and decided, along withthe board of directors, that Partnership FCU was the best fit forFannie Mae FCU members. 

Although Bunn felt good about the big decision to merge withPartnership FCU, she felt even better after the conversion wascompleted.

“The conversion went very smoothly,” said Bunn. “I could tellthe [Partnership] people knew what they were doing and that theyhave a desire to serve our membership.”

Bunn has stayed on Partnership FCU's staff to manage the FannieMae office until her last day at work on Feb. 28. 

“It will be a bittersweet moment for me,” Bunn reflected. “I'mgoing to miss employees, members and the board, but at the sametime, I'll be overjoyed because I will have the time totravel.” 

In addition to traveling, Bunn plans to become a volunteer.