Valley First Credit Union
Kathryn K. has extensive experience in the financial industry, having held executive roles in multiple credit unions. Kathryn is currently the President & Chief Executive Officer of Valley First Credit Union since 2019. Prior to this, they served as the President & Chief Executive Officer of BALANCE Financial Fitness from 2014 to 2019. Kathryn also held the position of Senior Vice President at Xceed Financial Credit Union from 2007 to 2014. Kathryn has further experience as the Vice President Sales & Marketing at Kinecta Federal Credit Union from 2003 to 2007. Before that, they worked as the CEO at KMG Consulting from 2000 to 2003. Kathryn's career began as a Vice President, Marketing & Business Development at Provident Central Credit Union in 1999, followed by a brief role at Orange County's Credit Union in the same year. Kathryn then served as the Vice President, Marketing & Business Development at CommonWealth Central Credit Union from 1995 to 1999.
Kathryn K. has a Master of Arts degree from Chapman University. Kathryn also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Riverside. In addition, they have certifications from the CUES CEO Institute as a Certified Chief Executive and from the CUES Marketing Institute as a Certified Marketing Executive.
Valley First Credit Union
Valley First Credit Union provides quality financial services to the growing and diverse communities of Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, and Tuolumne Counties of California. We are a not-for-profit financial cooperative that is owned by our members in the many communities we serve. Unlike banks who are in business for their stockholders, we are in business for our members. The money earned by banks is paid out to a few stockholders. We give the money back to our members in the form of higher dividend rates on savings and lower interest rates on loans. Additionally, the money deposited by credit union members is in turn loaned out to other members, incorporating the "People Helping People" philosophy. Our heritage began in 1949 when seven county employees formed the Stanislaus County Employees Federal Credit Union. Seven years later, eight Gallo Winery employees formed Gallo Employees Federal Credit Union. This was followed by the Gallo Glass Federal Credit Union organization in 1959. In an effort to increase assets and loan availability, the two Gallo credit unions merged in 1968 and eventually took on a new name in 1987, Vintage Federal Credit Union. Over the years, Stanislaus County Federal Credit Union and Vintage Federal Credit Union continued to add additional employee groups. In June of 1998, the Board of Directors of Stanislaus Federal Credit Union, along with Vintage Federal Credit Union, agreed to join together to become a new, bigger, and better credit union uniquely positioned to serve it's combined membership. On September 7, 1999 the two credit unions came together and under a State Charter, opened it's first branch at 1419 J Street in downtown Modesto, CA, as Valley First Credit Union.