CUSO Advisors Network ("CAN") is the coordinated effort of some of the nation’s most prominent CUSO Advisors to assist credit unions and CUSOs in planning and implementing strategies that will propel their organizations to new levels of competitiveness and profitability. Most organizational issues are not one-dimensional. The issues facing credit unions and CUSOs usually have legal, accounting, strategy, marketing, technological and structural components. In response, credit unions and CUSOs have either assembled an ad hoc team of consultants or relied upon a single consultant who may be strong in one area but not in others.

CUSO Advisors Network offers credit unions and CUSOs an opportunity to have a coordinated, single source approach to assembling the right team and calling upon persons with the required knowledge and skills. Our coordinated approach adds the efficiencies and economies of scale that are missing from an ad hoc approach.

CUSO Advisors Network is an open network. We do not limit ourselves to our core advisors. Our industry knowledge enables us to identify and obtain the services of professionals with the required knowledge and skills to meet your particular needs. We also will work with your existing or preferred advisors. Our credit union and CUSO clients can customize a team to fit their project and preference.

Whether you plan to launch a CUSO, expand or redirect the scope of your existing CUSO’s operations, or explore how to best use the credit union’s incidental powers to deliver services, CUSO Advisors Network can help you achieve your desired goals. We are the next logical step in a progression to full service: the coordination of all necessary talent to assure success.

Credit union competitors are typically for-profit entities that provide a full line of financial products and services, e.g. retail deposits and loans, mutual funds, insurance services. The competitors are also much larger than credit unions, and possess the economies of scale that lower costs and increase efficiencies and expertise. CUSOs offer a way to answer this competition by being a vehicle to both offer new products and services and combining resources with other credit unions. In the model credit union/CUSO relationship, the for-profit culture of the CUSOs revitalizes and invigorates the credit union -- and the credit union’s culture brings strong service and value principles to the CUSO. The world is changing. Credit unions cannot be complacent and stand on their past success. CUSOs offer options and opportunities that exist solely within the credit union.

CUSO Advisors Network will help to address the challenges posed by both CUSO powers and the credit union’s own incidental powers. The planning and implementation of non-traditional services requires the same knowledge and skill sets regardless of whether the services are offered through the credit union under incidental powers or though the CUSO. While our name is the CUSO Advisors Network, you can be assured that our goal is to develop the best delivery model for your credit union which may exclusively or partially involve the use of the credit union’s incidental powers.

We help credit unions and CUSOs answer questions such as:

Who are the people behind CUSO Advisors Network?

The three principals of CUSO Advisors Network are Guy Messick, a partner in the law firm of Lastowka & Messick P.C., located in Media, Pennsylvania; Tom Davis, president of Davis & Company, a credit union/CUSO strategic and business consulting firm located in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Gene O’Rourke, managing partner of McGladrey & Pullen’s National Credit Union Practice, located in Brisbane, California.

The individual firms involved are independent professionals and will continue to provide services to their respective clients independently and apart from CUSO Advisors Network. CAN serves as a means to coordinate the services of the respective firms and other service providers, as needed.

As you contemplate the formation or reorganization of CUSO objectives and goals, consider CUSO Advisors Network ("CAN") in your planning and implementation process. Please feel free to contact any one of us through the email link.