Sponsors Focus Support of Firefighters' National CU Summit

Seven vendors stepped forward in support of the 4th annual Firefighters' National Credit Union Summit set for October 5-8, 2005 in Naples, Florida.

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) August 10, 2005 -- Seven vendors stepped forward in support of the 4th annual Firefighters' National Credit Union Summit set for October 5-8, 2005 in Naples, Florida. They include CU Mortgage, CastleGarde, Allied Solutions, Real Time Kiosks, CUNA Mutual, DEI Inc. and Open Solutions.

Since real estate is their thing, CU National Mortgage's sponsorship of the firefighter's golf tournament puts them outdoors with their third annual tournament. SVP, Jim McGrath, will be on hand to kick off the tournament as part of the conference program.

Allied Solutions is a leading provider of quality insurance, lending and marketing products and services. They have served credit unions nationwide for more than 25 years offering them products and experience to make them work. Melissa Eldredge, Marketing,Sales, and Public Relations Liaison with Allied Solutions will be on hand during the conference.

Real Time Kiosks is one of the leading kiosk suppliers in the country using biometric fingerprint identification. Real Time Kiosk is the leading credit union supplier in this growing field. Rick Scali, CEO, presents this technology on day one of the conference. Biometric identification increases the security level by providing positive identification of members and employees.

Dale Rich, VP of Engineering with CastleGarde, discusses the growing concern -- and needs -- of credit unions in the areas of security. An estimated 2 million people have had their checking accounts raided in the past year with strong indications that online thieves were responsible for the majority of incursions. The Gartner Group says checking-account theft was the fastest-growing financial fraud affecting consumers and is now second only to credit card theft (which affected nearly 6 million people in the last 12 months).

Bruce Geiger with CUNA Mutual Group provides an overview to a sensitive area in discussing "Growth and Maintaining Identity." This raises the question whether credit unions are "blurring" into banks -- or are banks "blurring" into credit unions. With a carefully designed lending marketing plan, CUs can grow their market and capture the elusive single-relationship member who knows little of your products and services.

Cynthia Grow, VP with DEI, Inc. discusses the importance of "Branding Your Credit Union." As one of the leading firms in the construction of credit union facilities, DEI shares its own experience in working with credit unions across the country. Credit unions enjoy terrific strategic positioning for marketing their individual brands. Member growth, staffing trends and account activity are important criteria for assessing future needs. Management growth strategies also will have a direct bearing on future facility requirements. Learn how your credit union can strengthen its position with the members you serve.

This year's theme, "You're In Good Hands," is appropriate for these sponsors serving the credit union movement.

The conference is managed by the credit union conference management firms of Support Processes Corp. and William Rogers & Associates, Inc. Linda Bikoff with Support Processes Corp. said "This year's summit expects to have about 20% of the firefighter credit unions across the country participating with more than 100 in attendance."

Information is available from the Firefighters CU Website at http://www.firefighterCUconf.com or by calling Linda Bikoff at 202-337-0023.

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