Karen Webster is the chief operations officer at CEFCU, the area’s largest, locally-owned financial institution. Webster was CEFCU’s 27th employee. Today, CEFCU has more than $2.3 billion in assets and more than 750 employees.
Webster obtained her associate’s degree from Illinois Central College in 1986, a bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University in 1987, and an MBA from the University of Illinois-Champaign in 1991. She’s also certified in both employee relations law and as a business development sales trainer.
Webster serves as president of Illinois Central College’s Educational Foundation Board. She’s also active on the National Association of Federal Credit Union’s (NAFCU) Region IV Advisory Council. Prior to her involvement with ICC, Webster served a six-year term on the Center for Prevention of Abuse Board of Directors, including time as president, and received the Volunteer Service of the Year Award. Webster’s other community service includes the University of Illinois College of Medicine Advisory Council and the United Way Funds Allocations Committee, to name a few.
She and her husband, Mark, have been married 28 years.
Tell us about your background: schools attended, family, etc.
I came from very humble beginnings. I was born and raised in Pekin, and my parents divorced when I was a toddler. As a single parent, my mom couldn’t stay at home, which was definitely not the norm in the 1950s and 1960s.
My mother and grandparents had such a positive impact on my life. They were a strong support system and instilled in me good family values, love, faith, and a strong work ethic. They were wonderful role models. My grandparents were just like Ozzie and Harriet.
Although I was a pretty typical child, I was probably a little more reserved, and my serious side definitely took over quite a bit. I had a lot of responsibilities as a child. My mom was severely asthmatic all of her life, which frequently left her hospitalized. I was trained at a very young age about how to respond to and handle those situations, given that we didn’t have a car or telephone at the time.
I couldn’t wait to start working and began my first real job at 13, cleaning cars at the Pekin Downtown Car Wash. I chuckle when I think about my first promotion to backseat window washer. However, my career at the car wash was short-lived due to child labor laws. At 14, I received a worker’s permit, and I’ve held a job ever since.
I knew early on going directly to college after high school wasn’t an option for me, as the financial resources just weren’t there. I’ve always had a strong sense of independence and need to be self-sufficient. So, my plans included getting a full-time job with good benefits and taking college courses in the evenings and on weekends. For that, I turned to ICC for classes and CEFCU for employment. I started working at CEFCU shortly after my high school graduation.
I met my husband, Mark, at McDonald’s as a teen. This July we’ll be celebrating our 29th anniversary.
Your entire career has been with CEFCU. Upon graduating from high school, did you envision this lifetime career?
Absolutely not. However, I always thought I would end up with a career in the medical or business fields. When I began working at CEFCU, I found myself in a very family-like environment. Management genuinely cared about their employees. I was working with a small group of great people who worked hard to help others. CEFCU had just left Caterpillar’s umbrella a few months prior to my hiring in, and we worked out of one office located next to the Caterpillar safety store in East Peoria. It’s amazing to think that at the time CEFCU only offered two products: a savings account and a loan. I was hired as a teller, but I ended up working many jobs, doing everything from auditing to accounting to lending.
I have many fond memories of my early days at CEFCU. Our former CEO, John Siefken, a great mentor, held employee meetings at the end of each week. We’d pull out the folding chairs, set them up in the lobby, and talk about our financial picture, ways we could better serve our members, and so on. It really didn’t take me very long to decide this was where I wanted to stay and establish my roots. It was a great fit for me—CEFCU mirrored many of my own personal values.
You had opportunities to progress up the ladder at CEFCU to now COO. What influenced your decision to accept those challenges?
There’s no question that as a healthy and growing institution, CEFCU has offered employees many opportunities. My progression up the corporate ladder is the result of a healthy constitution and a lot of hard work over many years. I honestly believe if you have a strong work ethic and do the very best job you can possibly do—whether it’s washing cars or making high level decisions—you’ll make a difference.
I’ve also had wonderful mentors over the years who had confidence in my abilities, challenged me along the way, and gave me the opportunities to stretch and grow. Thirty years ago I wouldn’t have pictured myself in a COO position. I suppose as goals are attained, new goals are created, and we continue to reach higher.
I’ve worked in numerous positions at CEFCU, which has certainly helped me understand how the business works. And, as CEFCU grew, I realized I needed to further my education and self-development. That’s why I dedicated so many evenings and weekends to get through six years of college while working full-time.
You completed your college education and masters degree while working at CEFCU. What were your challenges and how supportive was the company and coworkers to your decision to continue your education?
Back then, working full-time and going to school full-time was a road a little less traveled. Management was not only supportive of me furthering my education, they strongly encouraged all employees to enhance their knowledge and skills with a college education. Today, I’ve seen more and more people tackle that balancing act. In fact, more than 40 percent of CEFCU’s workforce have a college degree, and another 56 employees are taking college business courses. I guess it’s wanting to do more in terms of self-development, reaching for a higher dream, and then feeling rewarded when you can give back. That’s what drives and influences me.
The way I received my education didn’t come without challenges, especially when commuting back and forth to the University of Illinois in Champaign every week. I quickly learned to take advantage of the drive time. When driving solo, I listened to classes I had taped. When I’d carpool with others, we would quiz each other along the way. My normal work week, generally 50 hours or so, also required at least 25 hours outside of work for courses, homework, and study time. It strapped me pretty thin, and there’s no question my family made some sacrifices. There were many times I felt like I might have bitten off more than I could chew. There was one thing that really worked in my favor; I don’t need a lot of sleep.
Most of those challenges seem trivial when compared to my biggest hurdle, which occurred while I was in grad school. I had to cope with the illnesses and deaths of my mother and grandmother. I was extremely close to both of them. Their illnesses required them to be more dependent upon my husband and myself. Family was the priority, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. They passed within a few months of each other, shortly after my graduation.
What areas of banking, in particular, do you enjoy?
Really, I don’t have one area that stands out more than another in terms of what I most enjoy. In my mind, there’s so much overlap—everything’s connected. I’ve had the opportunity to work in so many different areas of CEFCU, and each has positively influenced me, challenged me, and satisfied me. In the late 1970s, when I first moved into management, I worked in electronic funds transfer and supervised the Money Center 24 Network. CEFCU was the first institution in the country to have a shared relationship between a credit union, a bank, and a savings and loan. Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) were being introduced, and they were going to have an incredible impact on consumers’ banking habits. It was a very interesting time.
During the mid-1980s, I managed CEFCU’s human resource development department, where I had less direct contact with members and more contact with the CEFCU team as I worked on corporate training and strategic planning initiatives. That was a time when the organization made a conscious decision to allocate resources to CEFCU’s Employee Quality Improvement Process. Over time, the organization began moving to a participative management way of thinking. Decisions that used to be made at the top were now being made by front-line employees. In addition, our culture began to change. Employees were no longer just order takers. Everyone was becoming more sales driven; they were determining members’ needs and then educating members on the features and benefits of products and services that would best meet their needs.
In the 1990s, I was promoted to vice president of human resources and was responsible for human resource development, personnel, compensation, and benefit plans. I’ve always enjoyed working with members of the CEFCU team.
Six years ago, I was promoted to chief operations officer, where I’m responsible for member service areas, including the 20 Member Centers, the contact center, consumer lending and collections, and CEFCU facilities maintenance/security.
How has CEFCU changed through the years in terms of products and services offered, as well as opportunities within the organization?
I’ve seen phenomenal changes during my tenure at CEFCU. We’ve evolved from Caterpillar Employees Credit Union to the largest locally-owned financial institution in downstate Illinois. The trust and support members have shown CEFCU over the years allowed us to continue to grow and offer more products and services. We’re far beyond the days of offering a savings account and a loan. The Money Center 24 ATM Network has more than 100 ATMs and is still growing. CEFCU now enables members to do their business online, through debit cards, credit cards, and over the telephone. Members can apply for a loan over the phone and have it approved in just a couple of minutes. CEFCU offers numerous savings, loan, and convenience products to meet our members’ changing financial needs.
CEFCU has several women in upper management. Do you believe the organization has been particularly encouraging to females in the past 30 years?
Even in my early years at CEFCU, there were females in upper-level management. I’ve always felt John Siefken and now our current CEO, Eldon Arnold, promoted very competent individuals and embraced a healthy balance of gender in management positions. CEFCU has always been forward thinking in its management promotion process. Not only do we have a great track record with providing opportunities for and promoting women, but even 20 years ago CEFCU had a formal, in-house management training program in place. This is just one more career planning opportunity for members of the CEFCU team to advance.
You chair the ICC Educational Foundation. Tell about that organization and your role as chair.
It’s been a wonderful experience for me to give back to the institution that helped move my career forward, and I’ve been fortunate to serve on a number of committees. Over the past few years, I’ve chaired the stewardship committee; served on the scholarship committee and the endowed teaching chair committee, led the donor Wall Project team; and served on the interview committee for the incoming president when Dr. Thomas retired.
All of my experiences and involvement with ICC have been positive. Peoria and the surrounding counties are so fortunate to have ICC—with its expert faculty and staff, its visionary board of trustees, and dedicated volunteers of the educational foundation board. Like CEFCU, ICC has come such a long way since its early days with the “barracks” classrooms. There are so many exciting endeavors going on at the college, with several academic expansion projects such as the agricultural and industrial technology addition, information technology addition, new career services center, and of course, ICC North.
How important is ICC to the community? To CEFCU?
Illinois Central College is one of the most successful and well recognized community colleges in the nation. It serves a very large and diverse geographical area of our community and provides students with a high quality, affordable education they might not otherwise have the opportunity to receive. ICC is a tremendous asset to our community. The college is a primary provider of health care professionals and meets many of the educational, technical, and training needs of local businesses. Nearly 75 percent of ICC graduates choose to stay right here in central Illinois, making this a better place to live. Our community should take great satisfaction in knowing progress at ICC is moving forward in a fiscally responsible and financially sound manner.
ICC has always been very important to CEFCU. The credit union has certainly benefited from the college. Many of our employees are ICC graduates, and we have a significant number of employees currently enrolled.
I’m proud that I work for a company committed to education and the future of central Illinois. Just a few years ago, CEFCU made ICC scholarships available to CEFCU members through a $300,000 endowed scholarship gift, the largest endowed scholarship gift ever presented to the educational foundation. CEFCU members will benefit from this gift for years to come.
Does CEFCU utilize the classes and opportunities of ICC?
CEFCU has a great partnership with ICC. A significant number of CEFCU employees either have graduated from or attended ICC, and on occasion we’ve had members of the faculty come to CEFCU to give on-site employee training. A recent CEFCU employee survey showed 70 percent of staff have studied or completed degree programs at ICC.
Finally, CEFCU encourages employees to use ICC’s Professional Development Institute, which provides quality one- to two-day workshops for staff to improve or reacquaint themselves with necessary business skills.
You chaired the Center for Prevention of Abuse board, of which CEFCU is an avid sponsor. How does CEFCU select charitable organizations such as the upcoming Partners in Peace luncheon?
CEFCU’s community relations department definitely has a challenging job. There are so many worthwhile causes in our community, and CEFCU receives dozens of requests each month. In determining how best to allocate resources, the community relations department reviews each request and makes recommendations consistent with company policy. Criteria used to select causes might be the organization’s non-profit status, budget considerations, and alignment with corporate values. It’s also extremely important that the request benefit a large portion of CEFCU members. These requests will receive the greatest consideration.
CEFCU employees play an active role with the Center. I served three, two-year terms on the Center for Prevention of Abuse’s board. I chaired its personnel committee for four years, co-chaired its annual Duck Race for two years, and chaired the development committee for two years. I’ve also served on the Partners in Peace committee and was board president. Currently, a CEFCU vice president serves on the Center’s board, and staff work with the Partners in Peace committee.
You’ve taught corporate citizenship classes at the University of CEFCU. How important is community service to CEFCU’s business philosophy? To you personally?
Citizenship is just one of several core courses CEFCU offers to employees. Citizenship explains CEFCU’s mission, vision, culture, values, history, and philosophy. It’s very helpful in acclimating newer employees who may not be aware of credit union history and the “people helping people” philosophy.
That same philosophy carries over into our community service. CEFCU strives to be a good corporate citizen.
And for me personally, community service is very important. I derive great personal rewards and satisfaction in being able to give back to the community through volunteerism.
What is the University of CEFCU? How long has it been established?
The University of CEFCU is a department responsible for developing and coordinating learning opportunities at CEFCU. To ensure the needs of all areas of the organization are considered, the University of CEFCU department works with the University of CEFCU team, which is made up of employees representing different areas of CEFCU. This team brings a wide variety of experience and knowledge to make sure a solid foundation is built for the University of CEFCU.
For many years, CEFCU has fostered a learning environment. We strongly encourage education and provide tuition reimbursement to employees. To formalize the learning process, CEFCU established the University of CEFCU in 1998. The University of CEFCU is our commitment to continuous learning. CEFCU believes that only through a knowledgeable, creative employee team can CEFCU continue to successfully compete in a highly competitive financial service arena. Employees are required to complete one CEFCU certification course and one additional learning opportunity each year. Current University of CEFCU certification courses include: business development sales training, citizenship, diversity works! at CEFCU, financial analysis, maintaining a competitive edge, and managing conflict. Additional learning opportunities may consist of completing a college course, seminar, member assistant sales training, or employee quality improvement process training. Courses are designed to align learning with business goals to increase CEFCU’s competitive advantage.
The University of CEFCU is a continuous work-in-progress that evolves with CEFCU’s business needs. As the University grows and changes with corporate plans, new courses, opportunities, and learning methods are introduced.
What are the future plans for CEFCU?
CEFCU will continue to live by its mission of “providing quality service and products to improve the financial well-being of members” and to look for opportunities to better meet members’ changing needs.
In 2000, CEFCU converted from a federal- to a state-chartered credit union. This has allowed us to open membership to residents of Knox, McLean, Sangamon, Macon, and Livingston counties. CEFCU will continue to serve and be an active corporate citizen in our established counties, while investigating growth opportunities in the new counties and increasing our presence in those areas. Recently, two new Member Centers were built in McLean County, and new Money Center 24 ATMs are being installed on an ongoing basis.
You’ve taught business economics classes to eighth and ninth grade students. How would you mentor high school girls regarding their career decisions?
Regardless of gender, I would mentor men and women on the importance of continuing their education and receiving a college degree. The career path a woman can take is wide open. Today, women can pursue just about any field and are widely accepted, compared to 30 years ago when women were scarce in the fields of engineering, aviation, law enforcement, and so on. I would encourage women to pursue their dreams—reach for the stars.
I think the range of options women have today is absolutely wonderful, from choosing to be homemakers to running for president. Regardless of what they choose, I strongly encourage every woman to have a college education, job experience, and skills to fall back on. There are too many things that can cause major life changes—one never knows what cards life will deal.
Within their current organization, women should seek out opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills by taking advantage of various training and educational development classes. They can pursue a formal education by taking college level courses in the evenings and on weekends. Women should seek out advancement opportunities through job postings, internships, and possible management or leadership development programs.
Women tend to connect to other women in business—they have their networks. I’ve seen a number of women who’ve been in the unfortunate situation of either a layoff or corporate downsizing, and they’ve successfully used their network of business associates to seek potential positions or assistance. TPW