Member Spotlight: Paul Kirkbride

CUNA Councils
October 15, 2007 | COMMENTS

Paul Kirkbride is vice president of credit services for Unitus Community Credit Union in Portland, Oregon . He oversees all lending-related functions, including consumer, real estate, and business lending, as well as credit cards, collections, and insurance.

A native of California , Paul has lived much of his life in the Golden State . He began his credit union career with Golden 1 Credit Union when he was 21, starting out as a part-time teller. He then worked his way through MSR, senior teller, and supervisor to eventually became consumer loan manager. In 2003 he moved to the Pacific Northwest to work for Unitus. He is married and has a three-year-old son.

Biggest challenge for 2007

Preparing for 2015 and beyond. Loan volume is off industry-wide this year, but that's cyclical. What we should really be focusing on is attracting future borrowers (younger members).

Best advice

Don't get hung up on policies and procedures; simply make good loans that make sense to you. Also, no credit does not equal bad credit—so make loans to young folks!

Greatest benefit of Council membership

Ideas. The interaction between members is great. I'm also impressed by the amount of knowledge that exists in our industry.

Best part of my job

The opportunity to have a positive impact on someone's life.

Hardest part of my job

Making trade-offs. There are so many good ideas out there and I want to do them all.

Hobbies and interests

Kayaking, hiking, and reading non-fiction.

People would be surprised to learn that . . .

I enjoy the occasional reality TV show.

Recent book

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.

Life goal not yet accomplished

More kids.

Something that makes you laugh

Almost everything makes me laugh.

If I had an extra hour in the day . . .

I'd spend more time with my son.