Meet Sarah: Organizational change leadership (M.A.'21)

I'm the director of Human Resources at Lake Michigan Credit Union (LMCU). 

Typical day consists of a lot of different things. A lot of my time is spent partnering with the HR team and helping them support our stakeholders through talent attraction, talent management, overseeing employee development.

WMU helped prepare me by allowing me to hone in on my critical thinking skills, as it surrounds leading change initiatives. 

One of the main reasons that I chose to join the OCL program at WMU is for its evidence based approach to the learning. But not only on the process side of things but on the human element side. I really appreciated that the program focused not only on practices and models, but also the human and emotional side too.

My experience in the program was great! I really appreciated being able to partner with both faculty and peers to work alongside each of them on applicable case studies and group project work. I felt everyone was super collaborative and willing to participate in critical thinking discussions and dialogue which really helped all of us to be able to apply and process the information. 

I really enjoyed working with the faculty. It was great to get to know them not only on a professional side of things, but a personal side as well. I felt that they were extremely supportive and really understood the fact a lot of us working full-time as well as participating in the program. So, to have them be supportive and realize that we had lives outside of it was really great. In addition to the endless bounds of experience that they not only brought but from their lives in the corporate world but also the academic world.  

I would say definitely take some time to learn more, it is not a program that I think you would ever regret. Not only do you talk about large scale change, but you also talk about leading through change and being a change agent on a day-to-day basis too. And when we really think about our lives and the amount of change that we are exposed to and that we have to not only get ourselves through but get others through it's everywhere. It is in you personal life, professional life, so I don't think you would regret learning more or joining. 

Lake Michigan Credit Union is a member owned financial institution that focuses on providing financial services for an individual's lifetime. Whether that is opening a checking or savings  account, or perhaps when you're ready to purchase your first home. We really strive to be member facing and really want to work alongside our members to provide the best products. 

The best part about working at LMCU is definitely our commitment to the community. We really love to focus on our member service, and doing what's right by the members. As well as our employees and to be able to work for organization that is supportive and is focused on giving back to the communities that both our members and employees live, work and play in is something that makes me proud.