Blackhawk Community Credit Union is shifting its focus away from real estate development and eliminating some local positions in an effort to “right-size” its operation.
In an interview on Your Talk Show on WCLO, Director of Marketing CeeCee Phillips said the credit union chose not to retain seven positions in Janesville and eight in Kenosha.
“We were able to take this time to pause and evaluate, look at our processes,” Phillips said. “Did we need everybody that was in the position that they were? Are there ways for us to tighten up our ship so that we could function even more efficiently?”
The reductions come after CEO Sherri Stumpf left the company last month and was replaced by interim CEO Lisa Palma.
BHCCU previously announced it cancelled plans to build a new headquarters on the former Moose Club property on Rockport Road.
The credit union is also pausing plans to build a downtown Legacy Center and looking to sell the former Town and Country restaurant property it bought last year.
“The pandemic is still here, and we can’t move blindly forward in business,” Phillips said. “We have to be smart. We have to stop, and we have to evaluate.”
Blackhawk closed two branch locations in Kenosha at the start of the COVID-19 health crisis, and Phillips said the company decided to make those closures permanent.
The credit union has reaffirmed its pledge to help the non-profit HealthNet of Rock County move into a new facility in the future, but it is still determining the best way to fulfill that donation.
You can hear the full interview with Phillips on WCLO below, starting at the 23:00 mark.
