From his paperless third floor office, Andy Faust (58), CEO of Summit Credit Union, overlooks other buildings in the American Parkway business park.
“We were one of the first to build here,” he said, remembering that day in 1994 when the credit union moved from its East Wilson Street location. It was called the State Capital Employees Credit Union back then, which was shortened to the State Capital Credit Union, and later, in 2001, renamed Summit. “‘State Capital’ just wasn’t reflective of our market,” Faust explained.
The organization’s name is just one of many changes Faust has overseen since he was hired as a teller in 1976. “Those were the days,” he recalled, “when everything was done with pencil and paper. The transition to the computerized world has been interesting.”
Faust was the second of six children, and grew up in the small northeast Wisconsin town of Kiel. His mother worked for a small engine manufacturer and drove a school bus, and his father was employed in the pottery department at the Kohler Company. Faust grew up deer hunting with his dad, and fishing (on water as well as ice) in the Sheboygan River or on Lake Winnebago.
After high school, he left his small hometown for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and in 1972, he received a bachelor of arts degree from the School of Business. He met his wife Sue at college (now married 35 years), and when they married and decided to have children, Faust set out to find a stable job.
The teller position Faust took at State Capital Employees was a perfect fit at the time. The credit union, then located in the Hotel Lorraine on West Washington Avenue, proved a terrific learning opportunity, and Faust advanced quickly, moving from collections to marketing and then into a lender position. “I was hungry,” he commented matter-of-factly.
When the credit union’s president became ill, Faust helped fill the void, and later applied for his position. In 1981, just five years after being hired as a teller, Faust was named CEO and president of the State Capital Employee’s Credit Union, a group with fewer than ten employees, and assets totaling about $14 million. “I knew there were things we could do,” he said of his new leadership role. “I understood business, and I wanted to grow.”
This growth skyrocketed last November when Summit merged with Great Wisconsin Credit Union, acquiring approximately 150 new employees, 47,000 new members, and assets of $428 million.
This merger makes Summit the biggest credit union in Wisconsin, with $1.3 billion in assets, surpassing New Berlin’s Landmark Credit Union, which has assets of slightly less than $1.1 billion — according to the latest figures from the National Credit Union Association.
The merger was criticized by the Wisconsin Bankers Association, which cited it as an example of a credit union moving away from its true mission of serving customers with low to moderate income. Faust’s response: “The increase in assets has allowed Summit to offer better pricing on products and services benefiting these customers.”
The merger does have its challenges, including getting to know the firm’s nearly 390 employees, spread across 20 branch locations. While Faust said he gets great satisfaction watching his employees progress in their careers, he is definitely a numbers man. “I like to move the numbers. I like to know where I want them to go, then force them to go there.”
A man of few words, Faust enjoys quiet hobbies. He reads a book a week, enjoys crossword puzzles, and recently developed an interest in creating log furniture out of branches and stripped-down sections of maple, ash and oak trees — though he admits, “I am not a fine artist!”
Perhaps his artistry is with business.
