Orion’s annual Shareholder’s Meeting took place on March 16, 2016.  We wanted to share the message delivered by our President and CEO, Daniel Weickenand.  He here reminds us of what drives decision-making at Orion, and how that was brought to life in 2015.   We love his forward-looking message and hope you will too:

What makes a person choose one financial institution over another? That’s a question I have spent a lot of time contemplating since arriving here at Orion 5 years ago. Is it better customer service? Higher quality products? Community investment? The answer is yes. To all those things. And if you take a look at this past year, you’ll see the proof.

We placed an emphasis on customer service. Every employee, not just those that work directly with members, but every single employee spent many hours in training in 2015, a significant number of those focused specifically on the type of member-first customer service we want Orion to deliver to our members each and every day. The result was sky high mystery shop scores and member survey results indicating that 84% of respondents would recommend Orion to others.

We developed the best products in the market. Our 5 in 1 Premium Checking product offers one of the highest interest rates in the country. Our auto loan rates have long been considered the standard that other financial institutions aspire to reach. And soon we’ll have a state of the art online and mobile banking product that even the big banks will be envious of. As a result, we experienced 25% loan growth as compared to industry average of 9%. We grew deposits by 8.26% and over 70% of our members are now enrolled in online banking.

We have invested in the community. The Orion Gives Back program has continued its now long tradition of spotlighting local non-profits and putting the full-strength of Orion behind their efforts. We spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of volunteer hours feeding the hungry, assisting in schools, cultivating the arts and preserving our natural resources. And we enjoyed every second of it. But of course investing does not just mean giving, in our case it also means becoming engrained in the cultural fabric of the community. Orion took further steps to do just that through our continued involvement with community favorites like the Levitt Shell, Shelby Farms and the Orpheum Theatre. In 2015, it could truly be said that if it was happening in Memphis, Orion was there. As a result, numerous stories were written and countless social media posts were made about our commitment to the community and the people that live within it.

Yes, in 2015 we did the things that I believe will make Orion the leading source for financial independence in this community. But we’re not done yet.  Just like Memphis, Orion is on the way up and we are looking forward to the positive changes 2016 will bring.

Thank you,

Daniel Weickenand
President & CEO, Orion Federal Credit Union