Student Credit Union honors anniversary

Kenneth Beck, Robert Kaplan and Steve Feld had a vision in 1987 and today their vision has become a reality. The University of Pennsylvania Student Federal Credit Union celebrated its fifth anniversary at a Founders Day Festival yesterday. UPSFCU is the largest student credit union in the country. Since the summer of 1988, its membership has doubled from 2,400 to 5,200 and peak assets have grown from $2 million to $5.2 million. Wharton sophomore Charisse Yuen, assistant chief executive officer of UPSFCU, said the growth is evidence of the organization's success. "Five years is significant," she said. "It is a good opportunity for founders to have a reunion and get updated on what we're doing." Beck attended the Founder's Day and talked about his experience creating the credit union. "Our whole organization revolved around one quote, 'You must understand how a system works in order to work in the system,' " he said. "The reason we were so efficient is that we understood the system." Beck said former Executive Vice President Marna Whittington, Associate Vice President for Finance Frank Claus and former Wharton Dean Russell Palmer deserved much of the praise for getting UPSFCU off the ground. "These were three very important people," Beck said. Beck also stressed continuity, documentation, viability and control of growth. "No matter what happened, we wanted to make sure this credit union survived," he added. "We did not want to be overwhelmed like other credit unions." Before it opened, Beck said, the volunteers used Monopoly money to practice complex transactions and then the volunteers opened accounts with their own money. In September, 1987, UPSFCU opened its doors to students and alumni. Feld added that the founders were wrong on a few points in their original business plan, used to charter the organization, but the fundemental goal has remained the same. "You are still an organization of incredibly bright, articulate, capable students who are doing things because you want to," Feld said. "Today, you have a new professionalism." Feld also emphasized the need to expand and provide more loan opportunities. "You have to develop new products beyond the immediate population," he said. "That's moving to the next level." Harry Blaisdell, executive director of the National College Student Credit Union Council, said UPSFCU has succeeded. "It's always been focused, well-organized and its vision has always been there," he said. "It has always stood up to its name." Spencer Wang, UPSFCU vice president of operations, said the credit union is for the students, by the students. "Our services are geared towards the students," Wang, a Wharton senior, said. "We're on campus, our hours are geared toward the students, and we understand students' problems better because we are students." President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Rodriguez stressed the volunteer opportunities UPSFCU provides. "There are unmatched educational opportunites for University of Pennsylvania students who volunteer to manage and operate the credit union," he said. Assistant General Manager Shiva Sarram, a college junior, said she has gained a lot through her work at the UPSFCU. "Besides the fact that it's human resources work and I'm making new friends, I'm learning to apply everything I've learned in class," she said. "I also get the opportunity to meet people in the credit union movement and businessmen."