Profile: Jim Harris, Credit Union Central of Manitoba

Jim Harris

Governance Specialist, Credit Union Central of Manitoba

Career:

Start in the credit union system: 2002

Jim began his career as a journalist before joining Credit Union Central of Manitoba in 2002 as a writer, working in what was then called the Research, Communications and Marketing Department. In those early days Jim wrote the Capsules weekly newsletter to credit unions, speeches for CUCM directors and executives, press releases, internal bulletins and memos and other communications as required.

Over the years Jim’s title and responsibilities evolved along with the changing needs of CUCM and its member credit unions. At various points he managed CUCM's various internal and external websites, was actively involved in the organization's knowledge management processes and led the preparation of CUCM's annual report.

Throughout his career at CUCM Jim was also actively involved in many of CUCM's governance processes such as peer segment meetings, the Democratic Control Review Committee and the annual general meeting. As such, it was a natural transition for Jim to move into his current role as Governance Specialist in 2019.

A typical day:

While Jim says most days are anything but typical, his primary role is to provide support to CUCM's board of directors, which includes attending board and committee meetings, assembling and distributing all of the materials for said meetings, taking minutes, communicating with the board on important issues and coordinating the board calendar.

Keys to success:

Jim says the biggest contributing factor to his success has been a willingness to always be learning, both in the formal and informal sense. He says he’s had the good fortune to work with a number of talented, principled and brilliant people over the course of his career, each of whom has helped shape his development in some way. More than anything else, he says he believes being open to learning from those around you can help grow your career in new and exciting ways.

Jim says he thinks it's important to always remain confident enough to own your accomplishments but honest and humble enough to own your failures as well.