The new year means it is time for various industry trade groups to both look back at their activities and accomplishments from 2024 and set a new list of priorities for 2025. Multiple organizations representing banks and credit unions also announced new executive hires in the opening week of the year.
Learn about some of these noteworthy moves and policy announcements in this roundup:
MBA names new head of commercial/multifamily policy
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) promoted Jamie Woodwell to senior vice president of commercial/multifamily policy and strategic industry engagement. Woodwell, a 20-year veteran at MBA, will oversee the association’s public policy and member engagement efforts across all commercial real estate finance sectors, working closely with member leaders and staff to advance MBA members’ business and policy objectives. MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit referred to Woodwell as “a widely respected and well-known voice in the commercial and multifamily real estate industry whose market expertise and economic insights are highly valued by MBA’s members, policymakers, and the media.” Woodwell joined MBA in 2004, and most recently served as vice president and head of commercial real estate research, overseeing the association’s economic research and analysis covering commercial and multifamily real estate finance markets. Learn more about Woodwell here.
CBA publishes “2024 Year in Review”
The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) published a comprehensive lookback of its advocacy and industry engagement activities in 2024, including notable moments and milestones from the past year. The review highlights some of the work from the CBA team that garnered significant attention from policymakers, industry leaders, the media, and other key stakeholders, and demonstrate the organization’s core mission in Washington, D.C., and on behalf of retail banks across the country. Learn more here.
ACU celebrates first year as an organization, publishes 2025 policy priorities
The 2025 America’s Credit Union (ASU) published its policy priorities for 2025 as it also commemorated its first full year since the merger of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU). “Our first year as America’s Credit Unions was a success in many ways, and it also showed us several opportunities to proactively seek legislative and regulatory improvements to ensure credit unions continue to thrive,” ACU President and CEO Jim Nussle said in a statement. The goal of merging the two trade groups was to bring a “unified voice for the credit union industry,” Nussle noted. The ACU published a list of 17 priorities to guide the organization’s advocacy efforts throughout the year, based on three themes: protect, empower and advance. Read more here.
ICBA Payments names new president, general counsel
The payments-services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), ICBA Payments, announced two new executive appointments. The trade organization named Rebecca Kruse as its president and Juan Costantini as its executive vice president and general counsel. Kruse will retain her role as chief operating officer, and in her expanded capacity, will be tasked with driving the company’s business operations and executing strategic initiatives in collaboration with ICBA Payments CEO Jacob Eisen and the ICBA Payments board, according to a press release. Find out more about Kruse and Costantini here.