![]() Around the same time, Rzewnicki turned to succession planning to open more doors for Black and other employees to reach executive status. ![]() In response, the institution created an external financial equality task force to help find solutions. When COVID-19 hit Delaware, he and the DFCU team watched women and minority-owned businesses struggle to secure Paycheck Protection Program loans. You need that representation on all levels.” “It frustrates me when other companies out there try and point to lower levels to say how diverse they are. I want people who lived different experiences and look at things in a different way,” he said. “I don’t want to be surrounded by people who look like me. Dover has a population that is roughly 42% Black, and he found it frustrating that many of the executives at DFCU “looked like him” rather than the city’s population. In 2021, DFCU reported its most profitable year, with $649 million in assets.īut Rzewnicki used his time at the top job to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, starting major programs in 2019. But through what he described as servant leadership style - as well as slowly, but steadily, righting the issues like “checking things off a list” - the institution bounced back. In 2016, he was named DFCU’s president and CEO at a time when the institution recorded a $6.3 million loss and discovered a data breach. In 2014, recruiters worked with DFCU to entice Rzewnicki to take the vice president of member services position. At PARDA, he served for 12 years and was promoted to director of operations in 2007. He later became the assistant branch manager there, and was later recruited to work at PARDA FCU in the Great Lakes state. That philosophy of doing business really trapped me,” he said. It’s a business that lets me hang a sign on my door that reads ‘It’s not about the income, it’s about the outcome.’ Banks have a different model, and I’ve found that the federal credit unions are focused more on helping people. “I never thought I’d be in this business, but it turned out to have an incredible overall philosophy of helping people. He is a veteran of the sector, working his way up from a co-op position at Research Federal Credit Union in Warren, Mich., when he was 19 years old. Rzewnicki has served as the DFCU president and CEO since 2016, and worked at the institution since 2014. I have no doubt Chaz will continue to make a positive impact in his professional journey and in progressing the credit union industry.” “He has established a solid foundation and an exceptional team at DFCU which will continue to serve our members and community. “Under his leadership in extraordinary times for DFCU specifically and in the world overall, DFCU has not just survived, but thrived,” Schuler said in a press statement. This was an incredible opportunity to continue doing the work I’m passionate about and be close to family.”ĭonna Kiscaden, DFCU’s chief financial risk officer, will serve as interim CEO while the board conducts its search for CEO, according to a press release.ĭFCU longtime board member and previous chair Jeannette Schuler described accepting Rzewicki’s resignation with “mixed emotions and very best wishes.” “I’ve always prioritized family over work. Every time, the night before we leave, our children start crying about leaving their grandmother and their cousins,” Rzewnicki told the Delaware Business Times. We typically go back to Michigan four or five times a year. “It was the right position at the right time, as my wife and I have been talking about being closer to family. Rzewnicki and his wife, Crystal, are both native Michiganders, and the position will allow them to be closer to family. He will succeed Vibe President and CEO Allan McMorris, who will retire at the end of this year. Rzewnicki will take the position with the $1.2 billion-asset credit union on Sept. Dover Federal Credit Union President and CEO Chaz Rzewnicki | PHOTO COURTESY OF DFCU ![]()
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