Photo: Deb Larson (far right) at her office at Dakota Plains CU in Enderlin records a video that will soon be posted online for credit union employees to view and vote on.

With a $10,000 grand prize presented by MasterCard at stake, three finalists have been named for the CO-OP THINK Prize 13, a competition created by CO-OP Financial Services to inspire innovative solutions to the issues confronting the credit union industry.

Deb Larson, Dakota Plains CU Branch Manager in Enderlin, ND is one of the three finalists with her business plan project, the “Switch Kit App”. 

This is an honor for Deb, for Dakota Plains Credit Union, and for ALL of the credit unions in the Dakotas! We will have a reminder (or two) in the Memo when voting opens. Let’s give Deb all of the support we can!  

The other two finalists and their business plan titles include: Robert Baron, Director of Marketing, Technicolor Federal Credit Union (Burbank, Calif.) “Virtual Teller System”; and Andree Kirk, Online Services Administrator, San Francisco Federal Credit Union (San Francisco, Calif.) “Shared Member Application Platform.”

“We congratulate the three finalists, who have worked hard to develop their business plans since we received their initial idea at the end of September,” said Stan Hollen, President/CEO, CO-OP Financial Services. “The CO-OP THINK Prize 13 promotes creative thinking on challenges facing our movement, and we have three very thoughtful approaches to consider.”

The three finalists were selected from among 25 semi-finalists by judges from CO-OP Financial Services and Filene Research Institute. The winner of the CO-OP THINK Prize 13 will be announced on May 2 at the THINK 13 Conference, being held at the Swissotel in Chicago, Ill., April 29-May 2.

The winner will be based on scoring by the CO-OP Financial Services and Filene Research Institute judges; online voting by credit union employees at www.co-opthink.org opens March 26-April 19; and on-site voting by registered THINK 13 Conference attendees.

CO-OP Financial Services will be working with the finalists to produce a video that helps the entrants to explain their idea. This video will be made available on the THINK website for the online voting period and shown at the THINK 13 Conference. The three finalists themselves and a guest of each are invited to the THINK 13 Conference, with CO-OP Financial Services covering their travel and lodging costs.

The business plans of CO-OP THINK Prize entrants can take any form – such as an innovative application of technology, a new process for back office efficiency or a fresh approach to industry advertising and marketing. Though the ideas can vary widely, the judging criteria for entries are based on four main standards – impact, creativity, aggregation (the application of the idea across the industry) and implementation (the ability to be adopted).

For more information on the CO-OP THINK Prize 13 and to register for the THINK 13 Conference, visit http://co-opthink.org.