Meet Lindsey Salvestrin: Our New President & CEO
Hello there, I’m Lindsey Salvestrin. This August, Columbia Credit Union’s Board of Directors announced me as your next President and CEO. I’m enthused to continue leading Columbia CU in our mission-driven work to bring people together to make life better for themselves and their communities. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to introduce myself to many of you and I’m happy to share a little of my background again now. I’m a 20-plus-year industry veteran, most recently serving as Columbia CU’s EVP Chief Operating Officer while also holding the Interim President and CEO title. I grew up right here in Clark County, Washington, attending Hudson’s Bay High School and graduating magna cum laude from Western Washington University.
Columbia CU’s Core Values strongly align with the vision I see for your Credit Union – People, Community, and Financial Wellness. This inaugural year as your CEO has already been invigorating! Columbia CU leaned into addressing issues around financial wellness and the people we serve. We partnered with The Vancouver Housing Authority to increase the inventory of affordable housing through their Clark County Affordable Homeownership Program. Then, with your Board’s support, Columbia CU overhauled our fees, eliminating Transfer, NSF, and Returned Deposited Item fees while introducing Overdraft Kindness – where there’s no fee for small overdrafts or when you bring your account current by day-end. Even if you never need Overdraft Kindness, knowing decisions like this resonate with our wider membership is gratifying. So many people have shared that leadership around this sort of empathetic pricing and financial counseling (that assists members toward financial wellness) is exactly why they’re choosing a local, financial cooperative over for-profit banks… and referring their friends, families, and businesses to us as well! Thank you for your vote of confidence.
Right now, we’re also celebrating community – near and far. We’re inviting friends, family, and neighbors to join us whether they need affordable borrowing or wealth-building, top-of-market checking, or CDs. We’re ready to welcome them. Your generosity is overflowing (just like the toy bins in our branches) as we collect toys through September as part of our Aloha Sweepstakes and membership drive. We launched our celebration in July, dangling a tantalizing $10,000 travel voucher to anywhere in the world for our winner.
Aloha. A joyful word that rings bittersweet today. But with community comes hope. Columbia CU is joining credit unions throughout the nation to support the Maui families and businesses devastated by the wildfires that raged through historic Lahaina. I hope you’re as proud as I am to hear we’re matching our $10,000 Aloha Sweepstakes travel voucher with a $10,000 donation to the National Credit Union Foundation’s CUAid program. The next time you visit our website or your favorite branch, thank you for considering your own donation. Funds through CUAid will go directly to those on the ground providing relief, helping with immediate needs, and coordinating the future rebuilding of Maui.
Closer to home, my husband and I are wrapping up the summer like many of you, enjoying final summer days outside… and fitting in those inevitable back-to-school activities. Let me finish by thanking you for your membership, your involvement in our community, and for sharing the advantages you find in banking with Clark County’s BEST. It’s an honor to serve you. If you see me in a branch, at a community event, or perhaps in the local store or school hallway… don’t hesitate to tap me on the shoulder and say, “Hello!”. Staying connected is important – together, your financial cooperative is bound to make life better.
Best regards,
Lindsey Salvestrin
President & CEO