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Board Member Spotlight: Jenny Vipperman

Jenny Headshot

Jenny Vipperman serves as the Vice Chair of the Foundation Board and serves as President/CEO of ORNL Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Learn more about Jenny and her passion for the Foundation and credit unions below: 

What piqued your interest in joining the Foundation Board? 

When I applied to join the Board back in 2019, I honestly didn’t know a lot about the Foundation. I am so dedicated to the movement and recognized the Foundation as the charitable arm of our industry, and I really just wanted to give back in whatever way I could. The experience has been so much more than I realized it could be, and I am so glad that I am a small part of all the amazing work this organization does. 

What are you most proud of during your time on the Foundation Board? 

The most significant accomplishment we have made as a board is hiring our new Executive Director, Lauren Culp. When you have a tremendous leader like Gigi Hyland nearing her retirement, someone we all admire and respect so much, it is a daunting task to hire the next leader of this organization we care so much about. We were so fortunate to have such qualified, passionate candidates and to select Lauren to lead us to our next chapter. It was a significant commitment of time and effort, and I am so proud that Lauren is joining as our Executive Director.

What is the Foundation’s most important role within the credit union system? 

This is like asking what the Beatles’ best song is, because the answer is pretty much all of them. And that’s the same for the Foundation – all our work is so valuable to the credit union system, from building financial wellness programs to CUDE to our response to disasters and beyond, the work is critical. That said, I think the most important role is to really exist as that charitable arm of the movement. The credit union industry lives by the mantra “Not for Profit, Not for Charity, But for Service,” and that is true for our individual institutions, but charity is in all our hearts, and the Foundation is the national charity that connects us all as a movement. 

Why do you think it is important for the credit union system to support the Foundation and its work? 

There are so many reasons to support the Foundation and its work, not the least of which is we are aligned with the values of the credit union mission and each credit union’s values, but there is so much more to it than that. Beyond the incredible work we do is the stories we have to tell – the credit union employees who go become DE’s and amplify our impact in our communities and institutions, the programs we support at every credit union to improve our collective members’ financial wellness and generational wealth, and the positive impacts we have to communities that struggle through disasters, like my home state of Tennessee in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene – we are able to share these stories with America’s Credit Unions to continue to advocate on all of our behalf.  

What inspires you to continue your work within the credit union system? 

I believe to my core that financial wellness is essential for physical health and wellness and that the path to generational wealth in America is through homeownership. I also believe that the credit union system exists to help our members and communities thrive and delivers on this promise every day. I have dedicated my career to finding ways to help as many current and potential members as possible while operating a safe and sound institution that will outlast me because I believe that we make a real difference in peoples’ lives. 

What’s one thing – either industry-related or not – you learned in the last 6-12 months? 

I am a believer in lifelong learning, and I have learned so many things in the last year! This has been my first year as the CEO of a credit union, so it’s also been a year of firsts for me. I think the most impactful thing I’ve learned is to rely on the strength of the people around me. I am so fortunate to be surrounded by incredible leaders, both from my team at ORNL FCU and from my network within the industry, who I can lead on if I need help. One thing that’s been fun to learn about is the process for tailoring employee benefits. Having come up through the Lending side of the house, I haven’t been as connected with the process, so evaluating all the options available to best serve our employees has been really rewarding. 

What is your favorite hobby?  

My favorite thing to do in my spare time is anything I’m doing with my family, but for hobbies, I love reading and interior design. I absolutely love to live vicariously through my friends and help them plan out a room or floorplan, and I keep a graph paper notebook and pencil handy just in case! 

What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know? 

I’m not sure if this is fun, but in college I worked as a security guard for the police department for the midnight shift on Saturday nights, basically the period that no one else wanted to do it! In retrospect, I probably wasn’t that intimidating, but I thought I was cool with my walkie-talkie anyway. 

Learn more about the Foundation and ways to support the Foundation’s work by visiting www.ncuf.coop 

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