For the third year in a row, Redwood Credit Union, a nonprofit, full-service financial cooperative founded in 1950 and now serving seven North Bay counties and San Francisco, has been named Best Company to Do Business with in Sonoma County, and President/CEO Brett Martinez continues to be gratified. “To be named best company to do business with for the third year in a row,” he says, “especially during these times, is really an honor.”
Martinez, who’s been with RCU since 2002 (and in his current position since 2004), says the credit union has managed to weather “these times” by sticking to the company mission, which is: “To passionately serve the best interests of our members, employees and communities.”
“I believe you have to have passion to work for our organization,” he says. “We believe in the difference we make.” This isn’t the kind of financial philosophy that’s been making headlines in the last few years, but to him, RCU’s values put it on a different path from those institutions whose rise and fall has spread cynicism about the financial industry. “We’re not focused on the bottom line,” he says. “We’re focused on people and running the business—and everything then falls into place.”
How has it stayed on a steady course? “The past three years, we took a pretty clear path,” he says, “and I think the path we chose and worked really hard at is one people noticed and really appreciate. We made the choice to take a different path than everybody else. When they turned left, we turned right; we just decided to focus on our community, existing members and employees.”
Admirable. So where does the culture that feeds this mission come from? “The company culture is something that’s been built over the years,” says Martinez. “I think it starts with myself and the board of directors. Our culture is so strong here, and it’s not for everybody. So one of the most important decisions we make in this organization is whom we hire.” He admits being selective and knows the kind of person he’s looking for, from the start.
“We’re looking for people who are passionate about making a difference in people’s lives,” he says. “We realize we’re here to serve our members. Those are our three stakeholders: members, employees and community.”
He explains that a member in a cooperative such as RCU is an owner of the organization. “One of the main differences between a bank and a credit union is that we don’t have stockholders to keep happy. Our ‘stockholders’ are the 215,000 members, who own us. It’s that one group of people we need to stay focused on. We have about $2 billion in assets, 18 branches and 370 employees. And those employees and members live in the communities we serve.
Community is key to the success of Redwood Credit Union, and a core element of its culture. “A lot of members and employees are attracted to us because of our community involvement,” he says. “Just last year, we participated in more than 480 events and volunteered more than 3,800 hours in our community. During spring break, for example, we had 55 11th and 12th grade students in our community room for three days of their vacation, learning about financial literacy.” Classes such as this will help students manage their finances as they go out into the world and also become better citizens and potential members.
“I think people appreciate what we do in our communities,” says Martinez. “Our members understand their participation in the cooperative makes us stronger.” As a full-service credit union, RCU offers insurance, investments, mortgage loans and an automotive sales center, but as he says, the core business is in taking people’s deposits and lending them to those who need it. “We’re a large, not-for-profit cooperative,” he says, “so we return profits back to our members.”
Throughout good times and bad, what seems to be working for Redwood Credit Union is staying true to its core mission. “We didn’t change going into the recession, and we’re not changing coming out of it,” he says. “We’re continuing to do what we do. We fought hard not to change—we didn’t cut any products, services, staff or benefits to our members. We continue to listen to our members and provide what they want.”
Martinez says this award is a validation to him and the RCU members. “I think being voted Best Company to Do Business With means a lot, not only to myself but to all 370 employees,” he says. “And our mission all boils down to serving people’s best interests. We focus on that every day. We’re here…to help people.”
