Chief Lending Officer

Description

At OMNI Community Credit Union, the Chief Lending Officer’s (CLO) position serves as the lending executive of the credit union. Responsible for the leadership and oversight of consumer lending, mortgage lending, commercial lending, and the documentation department. The CLO provides strategic leadership to the executive management team and the board of directors. Come join an award winning culture at a thriving West Michigan credit union serving over 40,000 members across 13 branches.  OMNI Community Credit Union is an equal opportunity employer as to all protected groups, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.    

Requirements

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead the planning, development, organization, and evaluation of the credit union’s lending functions to ensure alignment with organizational goals and performance standards.
• Serve as a strategic partner and advisor, collaborating with senior leadership to contribute to the development of long-term business plans, lending strategies, and regulatory responses.
• Oversee comprehensive portfolio management of all loan types, including consumer, mortgage, commercial, and indirect loans, ensuring optimal performance, risk mitigation, and alignment with the credit union’s financial goals and risk tolerance.
• Provide expert guidance on long-range planning, assessing the impact of new initiatives, products, and regulatory changes on lending operations and overall credit union growth.
• Supervise and lead strategic lending projects, ensuring successful planning, execution, and delivery by collaborating with cross-functional teams, managing resources, and aligning initiatives with the credit union’s overall goals and objectives.
• Review and approve consumer, mortgage and commercial loans including approval of loan exceptions, ensuring they meet the credit union’s risk management criteria while maintaining compliance with internal policies and regulatory guidelines.
• Develop and enforce lending policies and procedures that comply with federal, state, and local laws and regulations while driving the credit union’s strategic objectives.
• Stay current on legislative and regulatory changes, analyzing and advising on their potential impact on the credit union's lending activities.
• Research, evaluate, and recommend new lending products based on market trends and member needs, with a focus on maintaining a competitive edge and responding to economic changes.
• Manage relationships with key lending vendors and service providers, negotiating contracts, monitoring performance, and ensuring that third-party services align with the credit union’s standards, regulatory requirements, and strategic goals.
• Implement process improvement initiatives to increase operational efficiency across the entire lending cycle, from origination to servicing.
• Establish and maintain loan underwriting criteria that reflect the credit union’s risk tolerance, balancing loan growth with prudent risk management.
• Collaborate with the compliance department to resolve regulatory issues, ensuring that policies are up-to-date and that the credit union remains compliant with all applicable regulations.
• Advise executives and the board of directors on compliance and audit findings, recommending changes that reduce risk and enhance lending operations.
• Work closely with auditors and examiners to ensure the credit union adheres to prudent lending methodologies, addressing any identified weaknesses in a timely and effective manner.
• Continuously monitor and assess compliance with underwriting standards, ensuring that criteria effectively mitigate risk while supporting lending growth and member satisfaction.
• Enhance, develop, implement and enforce policies and procedures of the organization by way of systems that will improve the overall operation and effectiveness of the credit union. 
• Perform such other duties and accountabilities as might be assigned to this position.
• Maintains professionalism and courteous attitude with all people, including fellow team members, members, management staff, board members and outside vendors. Exemplifies the desired culture and philosophies of the credit union.
• Complete annual training of all required compliance regulations, including the BSA, and adheres to the regulations.
• Prepare and maintain necessary reporting for internal operations, Board of Directors, auditors and regulators.
• Follow safety and security rules and regulations.
• Protect and respect credit union equipment and supplies.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

This position is responsible for the direct supervision of key leaders in the lending and documentation, mortgage and commercial departments and indirect supervision of all assigned department team members. 

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS:

Demonstrate a favorable image when representing OMNI. Display a high level of honesty, integrity, and confidentiality while exhibiting a professional demeanor.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college/university. A minimum of 10 years of related experience, training or a combination of both education and experience. 

CERTIFICATES, LICENSE, REGISTRATIONS:

Ability to be bonded.

NMLS

OTHER SKILLS and ABILITIES:

· Decision Making

· Business Acumen

· Communication Proficiency 

· Ethical Conduct 

· Leadership 

· Performance Management 

· Personal Effectiveness/Credibility

· Problem Solving/Analysis

· Strategic Thinking 

· Technical Capacity 

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, talk and hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and the ability to adjust focus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

All essential functions are performed in an office setting. Temperatures in the climate-controlled offices may fluctuate. Work area is sometimes noisy due to multiple member transactions. The noise level in the work environment is considered moderate.  Due to the nature of our business, there is a risk of exposure to potentially hazardous conditions. 

MENTAL DEMANDS:

The mental characteristics necessary to competently perform this job include the frequent need to write or type, and the continuous need to be resourceful, persuasive and creative in all aspects of the loan documentation. In addition, the job holder requires imagination, concentration and negotiating skills to be successful in performing the job duties as well as a high aptitude for technology.

Travel:

Travel is primarily local during the business day, although some out-of-the-area and overnight travel may be expected.