Two Wisconsin credit unions to merge

Dane County Credit Union and Heartland Credit Union, both based in Madison, Wisconsin, are planning to merge to create an institution with more than $600 million of assets and over 37,000 members.

Sally Dischler, CEO of the $393 million-asset Heartland, would become the head of the combined credit union. Shay Santos, CEO of the $214 million-asset DCCU, would become chief operations officer.

The deal, which awaits regulatory approval and an affirmative vote from DCCU members, will help provide both institutions with “the ability to pool their resources to compete against new and existing players in Dane County and southwestern Wisconsin,” Santos said.

The combined institution would continue under the Heartland name and hold a nine-member board of directors with three representatives from DCCU and six from Heartland. The date for members of DCCU to vote on the agreement has not been set; the credit unions expect to merge in the first quarter of next year.

“We’ve worked with Heartland on different projects for many years and when we began identifying our goals as a credit union back in November, our strategic plans and goals were almost identical to those of Heartland’s … really, it came down to remaining local and wanting to do the best thing for your members and be relevant,” Santos said.

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