Speaker Information
Dave Anderson
Dave Anderson has served as the Acting Assistant Supervisor for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Financial Institutions, Credit Union Section since February, 2015. Before serving as Acting Assistant Supervisor, he was Acting Supervisor for the Credit Union Section for 17 months. Mr. Anderson was also the Credit Union Section’s Problem Case Officer for four years and an examiner for 18 years. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Anderson was Vice President of NorthStar Credit Union where he worked with the credit union’s Accounting, Lending, and Collection Departments. Mr. Anderson has an undergraduate degree in Finance from Illinois State University and he graduated with a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix in 2007.
Wade Cooper
Wade Cooper began with the State of Illinois in 2001 working for the State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka. He was the Senior Marketing Representative for the Illinois Funds which is a public investment pool for state and local units of government.
In 2008, Wade began working for what was then Prairie Trail Credit Union in Joliet, IL. At the time, it was about $70 million in assets. He was the Business Development Representative for PTCU and worked with roughly 140 SEG's. PTCU went on to merge with Argonne Credit Union where the new name would be Abri Credit Union headquartered in Romeoville, IL. The combination of the two credit unions would make Abri CU about $280 million in assets. Not only was Wade involved with a merger, he also experienced a conversion of insurance. PTCU was NCUA insured while Argonne CU was ASI insured. Therefore, the membership had to vote on both the merger and the insurance conversion. Using his knowledge of government, Wade was the Legislative Representative for the Will County Chapter of the Illinois Credit Union League from 2011 to 2012. In that role, Wade participated in the Illinois Credit Union League's Springfield Legislative Day. He also organized the Will County Chapter's legislative night.
In 2012, Wade passed the Series 7 and Series 66 and became a financial advisor with Waddell & Reed. He most recently was an advisor with Woodbury Financial Services.
Wade received an undergraduate degree from Iowa State University in 1998 and finished his MBA in 2013 from Governors State University.
Karen Haas
Karen Haas is Chief Financial Officer for the Illinois Credit Union System (ICUS). The System encompasses the Illinois Credit Union League and the ICUL Service Corporation (LSC®).Karen oversees the accounting, business support, financial planning and reporting, and taxes for all entities under the ICUS umbrella. She directs the preparation and management of the organization’s annual operating budget and alignment of its resources. Karen joined the Illinois Credit Union System in November 2012 as Vice President, Finance and has worked closely with senior leadership at ICUS for more than 20 years in her previous career in Public Accounting. Karen received a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Lewis University. Karen is a CPA certified in the State of Illinois, a member of the Illinois CPA Society, AICPA, and the Institute of Internal Auditors.
Steve Haubner
Steve joined the Illinois Credit Union League in December 2014 as Assistant General Counsel. Prior to joining ICUL, Steve worked at a small law firm which primarily served as outside general counsel to a local bank where he advised bank officers and litigated a variety of issues on behalf of the bank. His legal experience also includes serving as an Assistant State’s Attorney and as a Judicial Clerk in the United States Bankruptcy Court. Steve has also served in the Army Reserve for more than 20 years, mobilizing and deploying multiple times and currently serves as a Judge Advocate in the 91st Legal Operational Detachment in Darien, IL. His education includes a Bachelor of Arts from Bradley University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois.
Tom Kane
Tom is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Illinois CreditUnion League, the primary trade association for credit unions in Illinois. Tom is a longtime champion of the credit union movement and remainsstrongly committed to the credit union philosophy of “people helpingpeople”. In his 13 years at ICUL, Tom has served in key corporateexecutive roles including Chief Administrative Officer, Executive VicePresident, Operations, and Chief Security Officer. Prior to joining ICUL, Tom held executive positions at FocalCommunications, the Risk Sciences Group and Aon Corporation. In his early career, Tom worked at Quaker Oats andthe Central Intelligence Agency, where he was the youngest manager atthe Agency. At the CIA, Tom managed a team developing a cutting edgesearch engine and was recognized for designing a system to trackapplication utilization at the Agency.Originally from Iowa, Tom received a B.A. degree from Loras College,with majors in Business, Political Science and History. He earned hisMasters in Government and International Studies from the University ofNotre Dame
Ron Jones
Ron graduated from DePaul University, in his home town of Chicago, IL in 1982 with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Commission as an Officer in the United States Army Reserve. After having worked as a Staff Accountant in private industry, Ron joined NCUA in early 1986 as a Credit Union Examiner. In 1993, Ron was promoted into the Regional Office as a Senior Supervision Analyst in the Chicago Regional Office. He served in the office until joining OSCUI as an Economic Development Specialist in 2001.
Kunal Keshav
Kunal is Chief Technology Officer for LSC/ICUL and is responsible for information technology strategy as well as directing teams in the specific areas of infrastructure, operations, IT security, architecture, enterprise applications & software development as well as IT procurement. An IT professional with over 15 years’ experience, Kunal holds a Bachelor’s degree in Telecom Management.
Kristina Michel
Kristina Michel has been with LSC for 14 years. She began her career on the operational side of LSC working in the SCIP check item processing, credit cards, InterCept debit and prepaid areas. In April 2014, she transitioned to the Strategic Account team where she is leveraging her experiences for Credit Unions. Kristina grew up in Naperville and attended North Central College where she studied Psychology and Business.
Sheila O’Leary
Sheila is the manager of Creditors’ Resource Service, a full service collection agency that only serves the needs of Credit Unions. Sheila has been with the Illinois Credit Union League for over 28 years and is a frequent industry speaker and instructor on collection and bankruptcy topics. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Great Lakes Credit and Collection Association and Chairs the ACA Ethics Committee. She has also served for many years on the Board of the Illinois Collectors Association as a Director and Past President. Sheila also hosts the Collection List Serve along with the popular and long running Collectors Roundtable.
Mike Schenk
Mike Schenk has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. In 1992 he joined the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) – the largest and most influential national trade association advocating for America's credit unions. There are nearly 6,200 credit unions nationwide, with about 106 million memberships and almost $1.25 trillion in assets. Mike currently is Vice President of Economics & Statistics for CUNA and conducts economic research and supports CUNA’s public relations and advocacy efforts. His analyses regularly appear in trade publications such as Credit Union Magazine. He also is a frequent contributor to the financial media. Schenk serves on the board of Summit Credit Union in Madison, Wisconsin – a $2.5 billion financial cooperative with over 150,000 members. He serves as Board Vice Chair and also is Vice Chair of the credit union’s Asset-Liability Management Committee and Chair of its Risk Management Committee.
Gerald Schulz
Gerald Schulz is one of 14 Supervisory Examiners for Region IV (Austin Texas) of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Mr. Schulz joined NCUA in 1979 as a field examiner stationed in Sandusky, Ohio. In March of 1986 he was appointed to the position of Special Projects Officer. In 1987 he was appointed to his current position of Supervisory Examiner. Gerald has examined credit unions in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Texas, North and South Dakota, Ecuador and Bolivia. He has assisted in drafting law and regulations for credit unions in the United States and Niger. Gerald has managed credit unions that were in conservatorship by NCUA. He has evaluated the effects of laws and regulations on credit unions in the Philippines and Jamaica. He has assisted in establishing or reviewing supervision programs for credit unions in Uzbekistan, Poland, Ukraine, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Honduras. Gerald has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Michigan State University with his chosen "area of concentration" in accounting.
Joni Senkpeil
Joni Senkpeil was named Vice President, Member Resources at the Illinois Credit Union League (ICUL) in December 2014. She served as Director of Small Credit Union Development from May 2006 to December 2014. She is a 30-year veteran of the credit union industry and is currently responsible for identifying the needs of credit unions in Illinois and coordinating with ICUL management in developing enhanced services. In 2006, Joni joined the ICUL from Midwest Association of Credit Unions (MACU), where she served as President since June 2002. While at MACU, she worked on a variety of member programs and services, as well as regulatory and legislative matters. Joni earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Benedictine University. She also holds the Credit Union Development Educator, Credit Union Compliance Expert and Certified Regulatory Vendor Program Manager designations. In addition, Joni is the 2014 recipient of CUNA’s CU Hero award.
Patrick Smith
Patrick Smith is SVP - Regulatory Affairs & Member Outreach for the League. He joined the League in October 2004. Patrick’s responsibilities cross corporate and several departmental lines of the League and LSC, including overseeing the Department of Regulatory Affairs & Member Outreach which includes ICUL’s Small Credit Union Program. He provides critical consulting services to member credit unions with regard to regulatory, compliance and technical issues, such as compliance review audits and related education and training in a number of venues to advise credit unions of trends in credit union operations and help develop corrective plans to address specific operational challenges. Patrick previously worked for the Department of Financial Institutions, for more than 17 years, including serving as Supervisor of the Credit Union Division. He has a Bachelors degree from Illinois State University with a double major in Finance & Business Administration.
Jessica Thelen
Using her strong product management background, Jessica advises credit unions on how to best develop, implement and launch their programs. She oversees the Save to Win program, including implementation, training, data monitoring and drawing process plus handles the marketing for all of the participating credit unions nationwide. She has a bachelor’s degree in finance and has management experience in the credit union industry.
Patrick E. Voss
Pat is the Director of Strategic and Regulatory Services for the Illinois Credit Union System. He previously was a Regional Director and Director of Small Credit Unions and Regulatory Initiatives. Over the course of his 35 year career, Pat also worked at four credit unions and two state leagues. While working at credit unions, Pat held a variety of positions from teller to branch manager to VP of Lending and VP of Operations. He holds professional designations as a Certified Credit Union Executive, Certified Regulatory Vendor Program Management, and Credit Union Compliance Expert; he is also a member of the CUNA, Inc., Founders Club. Pat is a Vietnam Era Veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps. He graduated with High Honors from Southwest Illinois College with a degree in Business Management.