Economics & Statistics Staff Biographies

Bill Hampel is Senior Vice President, Research & Policy Analysis Department, and Chief Economist for the Credit Union National Association and Affiliates. He joined the department as an Economist in 1978 and was promoted to Vice President in 1985. He was appointed Senior Vice President in 1992.

The Research and Policy Analysis Department performs Market Research for Credit Unions and State Credit Union leagues, maintains a comprehensive Financial Data Base on Credit Unions and does a variety of Research on Financial and Economic issues of interest to the Credit Union movement. Hampel also writes Economic Analysis columns for several Credit Union Publications.

Before joining CUNA, Hampel was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Montana at Missoula. Before that he was an Instructor of Economics at Iowa State University at Ames. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from Iowa State.

Hampel served as a staff member at Navy Federal Credit Union in Virginia during a one-year sabbatical in 1989-90, where he studied credit union operations and carried out a variety of consulting projects.

He is a member of the American Economic Association and the National Association of Business Economists.

Mike Schenk is Vice President of Economics & Statistics for the Credit Union National Association & Affiliates. He conducts economic and financial research and provides support for CUNA Governmental Affairs and Public Relations efforts. His analyses regularly appear in publications such as CUNA's Credit Union Magazine and Credit Union Executive.

Schenk has 15 years experience in the financial services industry. Before joining CUNA in 1992, he was Director of Research for Financial Research Corporation, where he conducted economic analyses, competitor evaluations and product-line planning for mutual fund companies.

His background also includes six years as Director of Interest Rate Risk Management at a national trade group serving financial institutions. His responsibilities there ranged from helping executives understand asset/liability and capital management issues, to providing support for the association's lobbying efforts in these areas.

Schenk has a Bachelors degree in Economics from St. Mary's University of Minnesota, and an M.B.A. in Finance from DePaul University, with a concentration in Banking and Financial Intermediation.

Mike can be reached at 800-356-9655, ext. 4228 or you can email him at mschenk@cuna.coop.

Steven Rick is the Senior Economist for CUNA & Affiliate’s Economics & Statistics Department. Steve has been with CUNA since January, 1992. He conducts economic research, teaches and lectures at various credit union schools and conferences across the country and internationally and writes articles for CUNA publications. Steve facilitates strategic planning sessions for credit union board of directors. He has authored a textbook on asset-liability management for credit union executives. Steve also holds a Lecturer position at the University of Wisconsin where he teaches various courses.

Mr. Rick has a B.A. in Economics from Moorhead State University; a B.S. in Finance from Moorhead University; and a M.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is also a Ph.D. candidate for a doctoral degree in Economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Mr. Rick has nine years teaching experience in the following courses: macroeconomics, microeconomics, and money and banking and the government’s role in the economy. He also has two years experience as a bank simulation advisor for a computerized bank simulation game for the Prochnow Graduate School of Banking.

Steve can be reached at 800-356-9655, ext. 4285 or you can email him at srick@cuna.coop.

Jeanne Sheahan joined CUNA & Affiliates’ economics and statistics department in 1985 and currently serves as director of research services. She’s responsible for the department’s financial and operational publications and oversees ongoing and new research projects, including the Service Performance Report, Customized Comparative Analysis and The Ranking Report. Jeanne also provides information and analysis for CUNA’s governmental affairs and public relations efforts.

Jeanne earned a B. S. in computer science and mathematics with a specialization in business from the University of Wisconsin.

Jeanne can be reached at 800-356-9655, ext. 4226, or via email at jsheahan@cuna.coop.

Marc Shafroth is Director of Data & Statistics for CUNA & Affiliates’ Economics & Statistics Department. Marc has been with CUNA since 1984. He is responsible for the department’s credit union credit analysis products and the CUNA annual Yearbook Survey. He also manages maintenance of CUNA’s common database and works on research requests supporting leagues credit unions and CUNA’s Washington office.

Marc has a B.Math degree with majors in Statistics, Computer Science and Combinatorics & Optimization from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. He has an M.S. in Statistics from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Marc has been involved with cooperatives for nearly 30 years and is currently a member of two credit unions, a food coop, a health coop and an agricultural coop.

Marc can be reached at 800-356-9655, ext 4182 or via email mshafroth@cuna.coop.

Susan Nelsen is economic analyst for CUNA's News Now. She writes market news; news of the competition; and keeps track of data for Key Economic Indicators.

Nelsen is senior research analyst in the Economics and Statistics Department at CUNA. She has been with CUNA for 22 years, tracking economic, credit union and banking data and writing custom research reports for various leagues. She wrote the Market Update newsletter for U.S. Central for several years.

Prior to joining CUNA in 1981, Nelsen was an instructor in Sociology at the University of Memphis, teaching courses in industrial organization and social problems. She earned an MA in Sociology from the University of Memphis with an emphasis on economic sociology and industrial organization.

Susan can be reached at 800-356-9655, ext. 4063, or you can email her at snelson@cuna.coop.

As a Data Analyst in CUNA’s Economics and Statistics department, Paul assists the public and credit union staff with finding, understanding, and using credit union data and reports. Additionally Paul is involved in analyzing financial and service offering data for credit unions.

Prior to joining CUNA, Paul worked as a computer programmer at insurance claims clearing house Electronic Network Systems, formally Electronic Data Submission Systems, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Paul earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Superior in Mathematics with a Concentration in Computer Science.

Paul can be reached at 800-356-9655, ext. 4389 or pledin@cuna.coop.

As a Project Coordinator in CUNA’s Economics and Statistics department, Kurt is responsible for collecting financial data from credit unions participating with the Financial and Statistical Trends (FAST) program, which are used to run monthly peer comparison reports. He is involved with providing credit unions various customized reports and tracking E&S publications. Kurt previously maintained the CUNA Common Database.

Kurt majored in music at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and also served in the United States Marine Corp.

Kurt can be reached at 800-356-9655, ext.4399, or you can email him at kquickel@cuna.coop.

As a Project Coordinator for CUNA’s Economics and Statistics department, Tom maintains E&S inventory, department budgeting records, and credit union affiliation changes. Tom has been with CUNA for nine years. Prior to joining the department, he worked as a space designer in Facilities Support.

Tom can be reached at 800-356-9655, ext 4064 or tbrisette@cuna.coop.