Times were tough back in 1934.  The Great Depression was at its height; jobs and money were scarce.  To save their homes and farms, people were forced to do business with loan sharks at over 35% interest.  It was into these historic and economic circumstances that Twin City Co-ops Credit Union (TCU), since renamed to SPIRE Credit Union was born.

Many of you have probably seen SPIRE’s TV commercials with an early-model Ford work truck in them.  So what does an old work truck have to do with a credit union, you might ask? The truck, Archie, named for SPIRE’s founder, Edgar Archer, symbolizes our Midwestern values—trust, honesty,  integrity, compassion, humility, and plain old hard work.   Promises made and promises kept…Today, you’ll hear how a mid-sized credit union was able to break into the top 5 in brand awareness in a Twin Cities market with over 300 financial institutions by using a work truck in its branding efforts.

 
Dan Stoltz is the President and Chief Executive Officer of SPIRE Credit Union, which has sixteen branches, more than 93,000 members and holds assets of more than $925 million. In 2015 SPIRE was rated the top performing credit union in Minnesota and 15th nationally as Stoltz was named Outstanding Professional of the Year by the Minnesota Credit Union Network. His personal philosophy that “life is about giving, not getting” is very evident in Stoltz’s leadership as SPIRE has won the Minnesota Credit Union Network Dora Maxwell Award for Social Responsibility four years in a row and placed second nationally in 2016 for the same honor.  In addition, SPIRE won the prestigious 2016-2017 Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Ethics for the Minnesota/North Dakota region.   One may also recognize Stoltz as King Boreas 79 of the 2015 St. Paul Winter Carnival.  This yearlong commitment involved making over 400 public appearances with the Royal Family.   He is currently serving as the 2016-2017 Minneapolis Aquatennial Commodore, which will include over 300 appearances.  Stoltz is the first person ever to serve as head of the Winter Carnival and Aquatennial in back-to-back years.  As a culmination of all his work, he was recently honored with the respected 2016 Spurgeon Leadership Award from the Boy Scouts of America for giveback to our communities.  And most recently, DECA awarded their highest honor to Stoltz as he was named 2017 Executive of the Year for leadership development in area high schools.