President's Message

Sometimes life hands you exactly what you need at just the right time. Through all the chronic COVID stress and a series of unrelated personal challenges, I wore myself down. My normally optimistic outlook dimmed. My temper grew shorter. The thought of hibernating until the pandemic concluded started to seem like a viable option.

That’s not to say I was an emotional wreck; everything appeared as usual on the outside. A look on the inside, however, would tell a very different story. Finding this obscure snapshot of my childhood in an old box instantly lifted me out of this funk. The picture shows the script I wrote at 10 years old to warn then-Senator Lowell Weicker about the possibility of Mutually Assured Destruction at the height of the Cold War.

In my Thanksgiving message, I wrote that gratitude is a serious thing. That is because gratitude does not numb our pains but instead sharpens our focus on all that is good by pushing aside our minor stresses and our major worries. Gratitude eases the pains of our emotional abrasions and deeper lacerations, but it does not eliminate them. Gratitude is a replenishing force and not a panacea.

When I read that script again roughly 27 years after writing it, it was like a loop had closed. I was finally doing what I was meant to do. Not only was it clear that I destined for a career in advocacy, but I felt like I really belonged here at the Credit Union League of Connecticut. It is you, the members, partners, and friends who make up this League and I am grateful to each of you for embracing and welcoming me into your community — our community.

You are at the heart of the League. At every turn, our charge is to increase and reinforce the value of your membership. Our legislative and regulatory advocacy program can help in your back yards, and we can effect change at the state and federal levels. Our in-house compliance and strategic planning services are fresh, effective, and affordable. Our entrepreneurial approach to offering products and services allowed us to rebalance our offerings (such as PPE and environmental testing) when market conditions suddenly changed. And our new loan participation platform is poised to help you put more money to work in 2021.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your membership, thank you for your partnership, and thank you for your friendship. 

Cooperatively,
Bruce