Bill Lawton's guest appearances

Bill Lawton

CUNA News Podcast

Credit Unions, Coffee & Conversations

Whitney Johnson

Sarah Marshall

Stephanie Smith

Jeff Henderson

Scott Stratten

Stacey Hanke

John DiJulius

David Plouffe

Jen Groover

Tom Davis

Kristen Soltis Anderson

Doug Robinson

Daniel Lerner

David Reed

Brandon Smith

OwlTail

MCUL CEO Patty Corkery talks with Bill Lawton, CEO of Community Financial Credit Union, on the eve of his retirement from the credit union. Among other things, they discussed his history in the credit union movement, serving a community during difficult times, growing from your mistakes and many other lessons he’s learned along the way.

MCUL CEO Patty Corkery talks with Bill Lawton, CEO of Community Financial Credit Union, on the eve of his retirement from the credit union. Among other things, they discussed his history in the credit union movement, serving a community during difficult times, growing from your mistakes and many other lessons he’s learned along the way.

Bill Lawton - President/CEO, Community Financial Credit Union

Bill Lawton’s path to credit unions was almost a birthright. His grandfather served as a credit union board member in the 1950s; his mother worked for the Michigan Credit Union League; and his father, George Lawton, served as manager of Community Financial Credit Union when Bill was growing up.  “It was only as I got a little older that I appreciated the background of those stories,” recalls Lawton. He serves as president/CEO of the same credit union his father ran in Plymouth, Mich. Bill started at the credit union in 1974 at the age of 14, filing ledger cards. Eventually, he took on a more substantial role, leading the credit union’s transition into the computer age in the early 1980s and building the organization’s information technology infrastructure. Through the years, his role expanded. He took over as CEO in 2004. Today, the credit union holds $1.1 billion in assets and serves 79,500 members. One of Lawton’s employees, marketing coordinator Kristen Todd, offers her own take on Lawton’s role at the credit union: “He’s not only just the backbone of Community Financial Credit Union—he’s the heart of it, too.” 

Bill Lawton’s path to credit unions was almost a birthright. His grandfather served as a credit union board member in the 1950s; his mother worked for the <a href="https://www.mcul.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Michigan Credit Union League</a>; and his father, George Lawton, served as manager of <a href="https://www.cfcu.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Community Financial Credit Union</a> when Bill was growing up.   “It was only as I got a little older that I appreciated the background of those stories,” recalls Lawton. He serves as president/CEO of the same credit union his father ran in Plymouth, Mich.  Bill started at the credit union in 1974 at the age of 14, filing ledger cards. Eventually, he took on a more substantial role, leading the credit union’s transition into the computer age in the early 1980s and building the organization’s information technology infrastructure. Through the years, his role expanded. He took over as CEO in 2004. Today, the credit union holds $1.1 billion in assets and serves 79,500 members.  One of Lawton’s employees, marketing coordinator Kristen Todd, offers her own take on Lawton’s role at the credit union: “He’s not only just the backbone of Community Financial Credit Union—he’s the heart of it, too.”

Bill Lawton: Hometown Hero