Page 6 - Contact Magazine: 2nd Quarter, 2016

CEO PROFILE
Name: Kathie Trembath
CEO Since: 2004
Credit Union: Diversified Members CU
Assets: $433 million
Members: 24,531
Joined the Movement: 1981
Dedicated to Detroit
Diversified Members CU (DMCU) was an SEG-based credit union
for nearly 80 years before it expanded to serve the wider Detroit
community, and CEO Kathie Trembath says that helped make it
special for longtime members.
“It’s a hidden gem,” she explained. “We had a closed member-
ship, so unless you were a municipal worker, you didn’t really
know of us.”
The credit union began life as Detroit Municipal CU and kept
that name until the late 2000s, before ultimately rebranding in
2014 as Diversified Members. Trembath joined DMCU as CEO in
2004, but she was no stranger to the credit union movement. She
started her career at ACM Employees CU in 1981, working her
way up from bookkeeping to operations manager.
Detroit Municipal opened its doors just days after the stock market
crash in 1929 that set off the Great Depression. Trembath noted that
while many other institutions closed their doors over the next five
years, the credit union was successful because it only served city
employees and their families, who in turn were very loyal to DMCU.
Eventually, the boom times after World War II ended, and the
city suffered riots, urban flight and the decline of the manufac-
turing sector. Trembath said that DMCU’s board—which was
comprised of current and retired city employees—stayed loyal
6 Second Quarter 2016 I Contact
to Detroit, even as other credit unions followed their members
to the suburbs.
“That was our heart and soul; we were here for all the city work-
ers and we were going to stay,” she said. “With so many financial
institutions bailing, they were bound and determined that they
were going to stay here for them. There was never any question
about leaving or even expanding our membership back then.”
DMCU still calls Detroit home. While the city’s demographics
have begun to change as more young people move to the city,
Trembath said that the credit union’s membership is still 75 percent
city employees. Despite Detroit’s rebounding population,
Diversified Members still faces plenty of challenges. Trembath
admits DMCU still hasn’t yet seen the increase in Millennial
membership that it wants, but it is adapting the products and
services it offers to better fit the needs and demographics of
Detroit consumers.
“We periodically do our no-credit-check loan to help a lot of the
people who normally wouldn’t qualify for a loan,” she explained.
“That’s part of the way we try to give back to the community, and
we’ve been really fortunate to have a very low default rate on
those loans.”
Diversified Members also entered into a sponsorship with the
Detroit Lions a few years ago, becoming the official credit union
of the popular NFL franchise. Despite the Lions’ on-field record,
Trembath said that partnership has opened the credit union up
to new audiences and endeared them to the Lions faithful.
“It puts our name out there consistently, and no matter how bad
the Lions do, that stadium is always packed,” she said, adding that
not only are Detroiters loyal to their team, they’re also loyal to
the credit union. It’s a trait she says is innate to the Motor City.
“That’s part of the Detroit history, the loyalty from within.”