Looking back on the past decade, the 450,000 member owners of GreenState Credit Union — perhaps the largest ownership group of any company on the CBJ’s Largest Privately Held list — have solid accomplishments to celebrate.
North Liberty-based GreenState has grown six times over since December 2012 – from $1.7 billion to $11.2 billion in assets — while undergoing a complete branding change (from the University of Iowa Community Credit Union to its current name) and launching a $1 billion, 10-year initiative to provide home loans to people of color.
While broadening its footprint across Iowa and Illinois, CEO Jeff Disterhoft said GreenState continues to nurture its values-based commitment to employees, efficient business model and unwavering commitment to the communities it serves.
Going back 10 years, GreenState’s branch locations were almost exclusively in Johnson and Linn County in eastern Iowa. Fast forward to today, and GreenState has offices as far east as the Chicagoland market, as far west as Des Moines and Waukee, to the north in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, and newer locations in both Dubuque and the Quad Cities.
While some geographic expansion took place organically, GreenState also acquired three banks in recent years, two in Illinois and one in central Iowa, expanding both the branch network and product lines. Newer services include treasury management, trust services and manufactured housing. Acquisition of the assets of Oxford Savings Bank in Chicago over a year ago not only enabled GreenState to expand eastward and offer more services, “it allowed us to access the pocket of talent in that market,” Mr. Disterhoft said. “It’s a win-win-win.”
While the rebranding in 2019 was mandated by a state law backed by conventional bank competitors, Mr. Disterhoft said “most people on the inside felt like it was a healthy change on the whole. It made sense for a variety of reasons.”
In any case, the rebranding does not appear to have hurt business. “Growth since the name change outpaces the growth before. It has gone as hoped,” Mr. Disterhoft noted.
GreenState continues to garner recognition locally and nationally for the quality of its work environments, including recently being named the fifth best workplace nationwide for its peer group. Those accolades have allowed GreenState to build strong executive leaders who are passionate about the service they provide each other as well as to the member owners, Mr. Disterhoft said.
Another ongoing point of pride at GreenState is the business model, he said. “We run especially lean.” This model allows GreenState “to often offer better than market pricing relative to its primary competitors,” a major factor powering its growth, Mr. Disterhoft said.
Conventional bank competitors sometimes decry the lower tax burden credit unions like GreenState enjoy.
“I understand and respect those opinions,” Mr. Disterhoft said. “There is an income tax advantage. Most consumers would agree we have used those benefits for the benefit of Iowans as a result of that advantage.”
In recent years, GreenState has heightened its focus on several areas, including providing affordable homeownership to people of color, working with persons with low to moderate income, and taking a more proactive stance relative to the environment.
The home ownership initiative is well underway with $300 million in home loans to people of color originated thus far. “We started it. Our hope is to build on it,” Mr. Disterhoft noted. That seems to be happening as 83% of Iowa’s credit unions – in assets – have come on board. “We can make a difference, we hope, regionally and nationwide,“ he said.
GreenState details:
2022 Revenue: $497.2 M
Established: 1938
Top Executive: Jeff Disterhoft, President & CEO
This article was originally published in the CBJ’s Largest Privately Held Companies magazine.
In 2023, this magazine celebrated its tenth anniversary, after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. It featured a look back through the last decade and a glimpse into the future of the Corridor’s biggest, and most impactful, companies. Through in-depth interviews and people-focussed articles, the magazine explored how these industry titans have supported and inspired their communities through hardship and prosperity, and how they plan to continue their involvement for years to come.
