About Us

1972 and Beyond

In February 2005, the National Credit Union Foundation presented to Dr. James D. Likens the Herb Wegner Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed in the national credit union movement. To assist it in considering his nomination for this award, the Foundation asked Dr. Jim to describe what he feels is his single most significant contribution to credit unions? It should come as no surprise that he chose Western CUNA Management School. What follows is his response written in August 2004. He chose to refer to himself in the third person, as Jim.

After earning a B.A. in economics and an M.B.A. in management from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota, Jim started an academic career in 1969 as an economics professor at Pomona College. Three years later he was invited to teach in a two-week summer conference for credit union management people. It was called CUNA District 4 School. The school, by then ten years old, was moving from UCLA to Pomona College in hopes of finding better treatment from campus officials. Jim agreed to offer some courses. Three years later, in 1975, he was asked to begin directing the school, which today is called Western CUNA Management School.

 Western CUNA Management School became Jim Likens’ life’s work, his credit union legacy. For thirty years he has been at the helm of this marvelous executive development program. Students from thirteen Western states attend for two weeks over a three-year period. They live in the dormitories of Pomona College, one of the nation’s elite liberal arts colleges, and take their meals in its dining halls. WCMS has a visionary board of trustees, made up of influential credit union executives and league presidents. All the league presidents of the thirteen western leagues endorse WCMS and lend their support. A committed alumni association provides invaluable backing.

When Jim began with the fledging school in 1972 its enrollment was just over 100 students. This past summer almost 400 individuals attended and a third-year class of 122 graduated.

Jim’s proudest achievement is creating a culture at WCMS that embraces high academic standards while emphasizing credit union philosophy. Today it is one of the premiere credit union organizations in the nation. To set a tone that stresses both subject content and philosophy, he has stressed "head and heart" -- knowing the best strategy and tactics, while bringing passion and commitment to the philosophy of credit unions and their allied institutions. The stereotype of a banker is someone who is all head and no heart. The stereotype of a credit union person is someone who is all heart and no head. To succeed in ever changing and dangerous times, credit unions must combine head and heart, i.e., thinking and feeling, intellect and passion. They must also lend a hand: work, contribute, and pitch in. Jim encourages WCMS students to recognize that in order to be significant they must engage in action to help others. He makes sure the school promotes service to the credit union system.

The WCMS faculty is made up of carefully chosen professors, consultants and credit union leaders. In addition to the classes taken for two weeks over three years, students complete two projects. Project I, which is done between the first and second years classes, assesses the history and current performance of one’s credit union. Project II is undertaken between the second and third years; it focuses on the future and entails completion of strategic plans for the credit union.

The American Council on Education certifies WCMS for college credit. At the school’s most recent accreditation meeting in Washington, D.C., the evaluators were profusely complimentary about the quality of the school in every respect.

College credit certification from the American Council on Education (ACE) helped greatly to enhance the quality of WCMS. Following ACE certification, WCMS began to administer an examination to every student at the end of each of the two-week sessions. Students who perform well receive Honors and High Honors on their tests. WCMS also awards Honors and High Honors to the very best of Project I and Project II submissions. At the time of graduation, students who accumulate Honors or High Honors on four out of five of the tests and projects graduate from WCMS with Honors. Their diploma indicates this achievement. Individuals who achieve Honors or High Honors on all five of the tests and projects graduate with High Honors, and this designation appears on their diplomas as well. Only four times in the history of WCMS has an individual earned High Honors on all five of the tests and projects. These four graduated with Highest Honors and received an elegant diploma that attests to their special achievement.

At the end of every WCMS school session, Jim sends a letter to the CEO or Board Chair of each student’s credit union describing what that student has accomplished. If the student has earned any academic honors, that fact is noted in the letter. These letters, of course, go into the student’s personnel file and word spreads rapidly throughout the credit union about what has been accomplished. People enjoy positive recognition; the honors program motivates WCMS students to study and master the contents of the curriculum.

What matters most is not earning honors, however, but learning and professional development. When people anticipate being tested they listen differently, they study harder and they review more carefully. Indeed taking the examination is itself a review. At the end of each session most students know the answers to every question. As much as anything Jim has done, this program of testing has transformed WCMS into a place where students work hard and are motivated to learn

An important part of WCMS is class activities. These are planned and carried out by the students themselves. In the face of an intentionally crowded calendar, all the members of each class must come together to accomplish something significant: a fund raising social event for the entire school. The funds raised are contributed to WCMS for scholarships. These efforts are hugely successful. In the process people learn about leadership, about teamwork, and about camaraderie. They form professional networks and lifetime friendships. They learn to serve a cause bigger than themselves: the credit union movement. In July 2004 a graduating class of only one hundred twenty-two students donated over $28,000 to WCMS. The three classes combined also contributed over $12,000 from a silent auction. The objective is not the money; fundraising is the byproduct of developing service, commitment.

Ava Milosevich became CEO of SELCO Credit Union in Oregon after completing WCMS, and has held numerous national and state leadership positions; currently she is chair of NACUSO. A number of CUNA national directors have been alumni of WCMS. Patsy Von Ouwerkerk was in middle management when she graduated. Today she is CEO of the $1.4 billion Travis Credit Union and is a past chair of the California League. She, Rick Craig and Wayne Bunker have chaired the Credit Union Executive Society. Rick Craig became CEO of the $3 billion America First in Utah following his graduation from WCMS, and today he is leading the fight in Utah against the banker attacks in that state. David Maus, a recent chairman of CUNA, graduated from WCMS in 1978. Twenty of twenty-two chapter presidents in California are graduates of WCMS. These are just a few examples. One could go on and on.

Bill Birnie, chosen by his class to be their graduation speaker in 2004 said it well: “WCMS is all about leadership. If you wonder where tomorrow's credit union leaders will come from, look around. They are sitting in this hall tonight: in the Class of 2004, the Class of 2005, and the Class of 2006.” For thirty years this has been the case. WCMS develops leaders to carry out the mission of the credit union movement: people helping people, and people promoting credit union philosophy.

Back in the 1970s, a then young Richard Heins of CUNA Mutual told Jim that bankers were not worried about credit unions: they believed credit unions were going to outgrow their management. How things have changed. Today bankers are suing credit unions because they fear their success. Jim believes WCMS had something to do with that.

Western CUNA Management School, like the credit union movement, is continually developing and evolving into something new. Each year WCMS introduces new courses, finds different professors, tries out new ideas, and even helps start new traditions. But the essence of the school never changes. WCMS is committed to providing credit union education of the very highest caliber--second best won't do. The school also espouses the deepest philosophical values of the credit union movement: membership; people helping people; trust. A meaningful career must include not only significant work, but also intimate relations with family and friends, and a passionate commitment to ideas and causes that go beyond narrow self-interest. People need to belong to the larger community. And by their leadership, graduates of WCMS will make a difference in the lives of those they serve.

Jim is sometimes asked who Western CUNA Management School belongs to. His answer? The board of trustees thinks it is theirs. The presidents of the leagues of the thirteen states believe it belongs to them. The current students know it is theirs. So do the alumni. And the faculty. And the school's administration. But surely it is Jim’s school. They are all right, of course. WCMS does belong to them all because it is the expression of a vision. Jim believes this makes WCMS different from any other credit union organization in the United States. Maybe it also accounts for much of the magic one finds at WCMS.

At the core of his being, Jim is a mentor. He is happiest when he is using his background to help a person or group learn about something and grow from the insight. From the very beginning of his credit service, dating back to 1972, Jim has used his training and experience as an economist to understand the credit union world and to offer his insights to the movement. Being a credit union leader and an academic, he is positioned in some sense as both an insider and an independent voice, a stance that seems to be recognized and accepted in the movement. This is probably because there is never a question that Jim is dedicated to using whatever voice and influence he may possess to protect and advance the cause of credit unions.

Every year people come up to Jim and thank him. They tell him WCMS has profoundly changed their lives. Some say they have found a voice they had never before been able to express. Some say that at WCMS they realized for the first time that they are competent. Some say they feel a new connection to themselves and to others. This kind of testimony is quite gratifying. Jim believes all of these people, because WCMS changed his life as well. By living the philosophical values he espoused, he became a better human being. His service contributed to his growth as well: he has found that when he serves others he usually gets back more than he has given.

In 2001 Jim received the California league’s Leo Shapiro Lifetime Achievement Award. As he gratefully accepted, he invited his past and present WCMS students in the huge dining room to stand. To his surprise, almost the entire audience rose. “It took my breath away,” he remembers.

Over the years WCMS has enhanced the careers of thousands of credit union professionals and advanced the progress of their credit unions. It has helped produce a new generation of credit union leaders deeply commited to credit union principles and to their abiding success. All of that helps improve the lives of millions of credit union members. After three decades of hard work, leadership, and teaching, today Jim feels a deep satisfaction that his great love, Western CUNA Management School, has brought so much personal growth, service, and advanced thinking to the credit union movement. 

Dr. Jim accepted the Wegner award on February 27, 2005 in Washington D.C. at a black tie dinner attended by more than a thousand people. His family was with him along with many dear credit union friends. In his acceptance speech he spoke from is heart: “I want to acknowledge the WCMS board of trustees: what a talented and committed group you are. The WCMS management team: Mark, David, Molly and Nancy. The graduate assistants over the year. The alumni who are active in our wonderful alumni association to keep the spirit alive. The faculty of WCMS over the years, especially Rick Craig and Diana Dykstra. Don Crawford who became the brother I never had. And my WCMS students: past and present. There are thousands of you. Your careers inspire me. You are my life work. My legacy. I am so very proud of you. Don’t forget the princess and the little frog prince, and the power of head and heart to transform lives. Lend a hand, work hard for our movement. Never give up. We are counting on you.”