GoWest Board of Directors Spotlight: Stacie Wyss-Schoenborn, Central Willamette Credit Union President & CEO

Posted by Alyse Knudsen on May 20, 2026

Being part of the Credit Union Movement isn’t just part of Stacie Wyss-Schoenborn’s career  path — it’s a lifelong calling.

Wyss-Schoenborn, President and CEO of Central Willamette Credit Union, joined the organization in 2015, stepping into the CEO role. But her connection to the Movement stretches back decades, beginning with her first role at the Oregon Credit Union League in the early 1990s.

“I’m kind of a lifer,” she said with a smile.

Over the years, she has grown alongside the Movement, shaped by the relationships, mentorship, and purpose that define credit unions.

Paying It Forward

“Board service feels like the right way to pay it forward for what the Movement has invested in me and what it’s meant to me personally,” Wyss-Schoenborn said.

Her motivation is grounded in impact: strengthening strategy, ensuring relevance, and helping credit unions continue to lead with both purpose and results.

“It matters to all consumers,” she said. “It’s about choice. We need to exist and ensure there is competitiveness in financial services. With credit unions involved, it’s more of an even playing field for consumers than if we weren’t.”

She sees the association as the center of an ecosystem of advocacy and collaboration, aligning strategy, amplifying voices, and turning shared priorities into outcomes that benefit members and communities.

“At the end of the day, it’s about people helping people,” she said. “And we have to ask: how can the association be the advocate and the voice for that — particularly with legislators?”

A Deep Commitment to Service

Wyss-Schoenborn’s leadership extends across a wide range of organizations and initiatives.

Within the credit union industry, she has served as co-chair of a statewide advocacy group, as a long-time trustee, and on a political action committee earlier in her career. She has been recognized twice as Advocate of the Year — in 2018 and 2023 — a reflection of her consistent engagement and impact.

She also served as a GoWest Foundation liaison during her board tenure, a meaningful experience that came full circle when her credit union received a grant supporting homeownership and affordability efforts.

Beyond the Movement, Wyss-Schoenborn serves as chair of a state economic development commission in a governor-appointed, senate-confirmed role and participates on an innovation council. She also serves on a statewide business and industry board, a hospital foundation board, and is actively involved in the Mid-Willamette Sister Society chapter of the Global Women’s Leadership Network, which she is helping to revitalize after it was paused during the pandemic.

Previously, she served as chair of a local chamber of commerce and as a trustee for a community college.

“Other than that, I don’t do very much,” she joked.

Showing Up Matters

When asked what motivates her continued involvement, Wyss-Schoenborn points to what she calls a “service heart.”

“If I can be of use, I want to lean in,” she said.

For her, participation is not optional — it’s imperative.

“If we don’t show up, then we will not be thought of,” she explained. “And if we’re not thought of when discussions are happening or policies are being considered, then we’re not relevant and don’t have a voice in shaping those decisions.”

Being part of the solution, she believes, requires presence, preparation, and partnership.

Advocacy as Protection and Opportunity

Wyss-Schoenborn is clear about the role advocacy plays in protecting the cooperative model.

“Our model is dependent on a policy and regulatory environment that recognizes that we’re different from other financial institutions,” she said. “We exist because we’ve been able to communicate why we’re different and why that matters. Advocacy is how you do that.”

For her, advocacy is also about relationships — building trust with legislators, finding common ground, and helping them understand how credit unions fit within the broader financial ecosystem.

“Legislators are people in your community,” she said. “It’s about understanding their perspectives and helping inform and educate them.”

Impact That Endures

Among the accomplishments she is most proud of are Central Willamette’s expansion to an additional 25 counties, spreading the credit union’s “People Helping People” philosophy to more Oregonians, and seeing those she’s worked with as peers and direct reports further their careers and make their own unique impacts on the Credit Union Movement and in their communities.

“To see a former team member become a CEO is a highlight and even more importantly is the relationships I’ve build an maintained over the years with many who worked alongside of me,” she shared.

Looking ahead, Wyss-Schoenborn hopes her long-term impact will be defined by how she showed up. “I would like to be known as someone who came ready to work, listened, collaborated, and ultimately made an impact in advancing the people helping people philosophy,” she shared.

Credit unions leadership, she noted, is not always a career path people plan from childhood. “You fall into it,” she said. “That’s what happened to me. I answered an ad and didn’t even really know what a credit union was.”

But once you’re in, she believes, you discover something powerful — a values-based industry that aligns with personal purpose and creates meaningful difference every day.

“I feel fortunate,” she said. “I don’t really think of it as work. I love it.”

Posted in Board of Directors, Leadership, Oregon, Regional Member News, Top Headlines.