Great Lakes Credit Union

History

In 1938, William E. Elliot, the President of Local 167-National Federation of Federal employees and others decided to create a financial institution that puts its members’ needs first. The country had slid into another economic downturn and unemployment was 19%. It wasn’t exactly the best time to open the doors, but there was a growing need in the community for a financial institution and they thought civil servants should be able to borrow at reasonable rates and secure their savings. They opened the Naval Station Great Lakes Credit Union with $50, a tin box for receipts, and a handwritten ledger. It was a humble beginning but a combination of hard-working employees and a focus on people instead of profits established our people-helping-people mission. The increasing population, along with an expanding middle-class, helped fuel growth in membership and assets.

GLCU spent most of the 20th century delivering on our commitment to our members. Under the direction of our CEO’s (1938 – 1955: William E. Elliott, 1956 – 1988: Raymond A. Tesdahl, 1989 – 1991: Steven G. Zitowsky, 1992 - 2017: Vikki Kaiser, and 2018 – present: Steven J. Bugg), our reputation for service has solidified and growth has been steady. In 1993, GLCU started to allow SEGs as members and, in 2001, left the Naval Base to branch out into the community. From the original field of membership on the Naval Base, GLCU expanded into these counties: Kenosha, McHenry, Lake, Kane, Cook, Dupage, Kendall, Will. Along with the expanded field of membership and mergers with 31 other financial institutions came additional branches. From 1987 to present, GLCU has added or acquired 19 branches within our FOM. Beginning with the addition of a checking account in 1976, we added direct deposit (1982) and ATMs & Auto Teller (1983). It was in the 21st century that we adjusted to the rapid-fire advances in personal and business technology. This fueled our ability to empower individual members with services and products that made their banking easier, more convenient and productive. Within the first decade, we added member business loans (2004), health savings accounts (2006), shared branching (2008), mobile banking (2009), ultimate checking (2011), mobile bill pay (2012), mobile check deposit (2014), and Save to Win (2019). GLCU also formed the Foundation for Financial Empowerment in 2018 where our Housing Counseling initiative became one of under ten HUD-Certified Counseling Programs in the country run by credit unions. In 2021, GLCU became a Bank-On Chicago Certified Checking Account provider, upgraded our online banking and won the first ever CUES Catalyst for Change Diversity Award.

Today, GLCU has over 95,000 members who live and work in an eight-county region and $1.6 billion in assets. We are dedicated to cultivating a diverse, equitable and inclusive institution for our staff and our members. We continue to focus on financially empowering our members through our products and services. Just recently, we added Fast Cash and Credit Builder loans to help bridge the gap for our members. We also added EasyVest to help our members easily build wealth through investments. Since August 2023, Olive, GLCU’s virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence (AI), has been assisting our members, making their banking experience smoother and more personalized and is now offering bilingual support in Spanish for members who contact us. Our Foundation for Financial Empowerment has partnered with local nonprofits, colleges, middle and high schools to provide financial literacy for youth in our communities and has partnered with The Leaders Network to provide financial products and services and education for Chicago’s West Side. Going forward, with the incredible efforts of the GLCU team, our unsurpassed dedication to our members, and our growing portfolio of empowering tools, GLCU will continue to position itself as a leader in its communities and industry.