CEO Arno Easterly

By Joyce Moed, Reporter

BOSSIER CITY, La.–While many people have told long-time credit union CEO Arno Easterly that career choices are made by what was “meant to be,” he believes one ends up where he or she finds opportunity.

“And I had the opportunity to start off with a small credit union in 1960 in Baton Rouge,” he said. “The Lord took me here, and I fell in love with the industry, and stayed ever since.”

After serving for 24 years as the 91,000-member Barksdale Federal Credit Union’s CEO, Easterly will be retiring in May. Prior to his position at Barksdale FCU, he was CEO of Campus Federal Credit Union in Baton Rouge. In all, he’s been in the credit union industry for 48 years.

His first opportunity into credit unions began when he was in the Army reserves.

“My colonel called and asked if I was interested in a job,” he recalled. “I had to interview with 15 people at a dinner party. I first met them that night.”

Easterly attributes his hiring due to the fact that he remembered all of their names quickly, and addressed them each by their names throughout the dinner.

Perhaps this is when Easterly learned the importance of networking – something he stresses as advice for other credit union CEOS.

“Networking is very important,” he said, “both with members and the community.”

Other things important for success are learning from your mistakes, Easterly added.
“Your mistakes are your best teachers,” he said. “And I’ve certainly made my share.”

Another piece of advice Easterly shared is about regulations.

“You’ve to be in compliance,” he said.

“It’s also important that you grow,” Easterly, 73, added. “If you don’t grow, you die. You have to have growth strategies. Our growth has been very good. We’ve grown from about $300 million to $700 million in about four years. That makes me very proud.”

Easterly has seen many changes throughout his 48 years in the CU industry.

“Regulatory changes are near unmanageable,” he said. “I don’t blame the NCUA for this. Much of this is generated in Congress.”

“I also see a much few number of credit unions than we had before,” he added. “It’s sad to see so many small credit unions going away.”

Easterly has also seen many changes in the lending process.

“I suppose they were necessary,” he said of the changes. “If you lend today the way we did in 1960 we’d lose money. Today you have to score credit. We used to just go by character, and how well they were known. I would not have considered that it would move to the point that it had.”
In Easterly’s spare time, he teaches classes at his church. He plans to do more of this after retiring.

“Also, I have a son in Shreveport who is a good renovator,” he said. “I’m going to invest in his company. I am also going to visit my son in Little Rock.”

Easterly also plans to visit his family in Baton Route. He also plans to spend some time golfing.
“I’ll be busy,” he said. “I’ll be speaking in churches, too. And if a credit union needs some help, I’ll try to help them.”

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