River Region Credit Union eyes growth after merger with Multipli

Rick Nichols: The combined credit unions have a membership of 43,000.

A few months after closing on a credit union merger – a transaction that included a 90-year-old Springfield organization – officials with the combined company have their eyes on growth.

An additional merger and a branch in Republic are on the radar for Jefferson City-based River Region Credit Union, which closed July 10 on a merger with Springfield-based Multipli Credit Union. Rick Nichols is CEO of the combined company, although Judy Hadsall remains president of Multipli through the end of the year, after which time she intends to retire, officials say.

Nichols said from a systems standpoint, members of the two organizations were able to utilize products and branches of both River Region and Multipli by Labor Day weekend.

No money changed hands in the deal, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

The organizations’ names currently remain the same, Nichols said, noting the combined board of directors for River Ridge and Multipli have the option to consider a future change.

“That’s a little bit of an unknown right now. We have a board committee set up that’s working with our chief growth officer that is developing a plan from a branding perspective,” he said. “I wanted to have a combined board. That way everybody gets a voice in what our branding actually looks like.”

Max Buetow with CoxHealth, Ben Jones with City Utilities of Springfield, Josh Bade with SSM Health and Karl Plumpe with Plumpe Investments LLC are Multipli board members who are now part of the combined board with River Ridge, according to Hadsall.

The combined credit union has 150 employees and 43,000 members, with roughly 11,000 members coming from Multipli, Nichols said. As of the end of September, it had combined assets of $705 million and $615 million in deposits, he said. According to SBJ list research, Multipli’s assets at the end of 2023 were approximately $182.7 million and deposits were $147.6 million. Multipli ranked No. 4 last month on SBJ’s list of the area’s largest credit unions and has three locations, all in Springfield, according to its website.

Travel mode
Hadsall, who’s worked for Multipli since 1997, said she’s ready to close the chapter on her longtime career in the financial sector. Both she and Nichols, who she’s known for years, said the merger had nothing to do with her retirement.

“I turned 68 in September, and I just got to thinking life’s too short,” she said. “To be quite honest, everybody would tell you I was a workaholic. I’ve been in the financial industry 51 years, and then I thought, ‘You know what? Maybe it’s just time to let the young ones take over.’”

Nichols said Hadsall is an incredibly valuable resource for the company.

“I would love to still have her, but she’s really wanting to retire and travel,” he said.

Prior to Multipli, which did business as CU Community Credit Union before a 2019 rebrand, Hadsall worked for Commerce Bank. Those have served as the lone employers for the entirety of her career in the industry, she said.

“Even though the merger took place officially in July, I’m there until the end of the year,” Hadsall said, adding Nichols oversees the combined company while Multipli Chief Financial Officer Greg Snyder helps lead the Springfield market. “I’m pretty much retired. I do go in occasionally if they need me.”

Hadsall said she had considered retirement for some time when the opportunity with River Region emerged.

“It was a simply strategic move, and it just made a whole lot of sense,” Hadsall said of the merger. “Philosophically, we really matched up well.”

Nichols agreed, noting around 90% of membership of the credit unions voted for the merger.

“Generally speaking, the merger went really, really well,” he said, noting conversations on the topic started organically over two years ago. “I knew (Hadsall’s) operating style and philosophy, which I think if you don’t have similar philosophies, then you’re barking up the wrong tree in the first place.”

Nichols recalled Hasdall talking about costs challenges and not being able to afford some of the services they wanted to provide members. From there, discussions about how a possible merger might make sense for both credit unions began.

As for Hadsall, since the merger was announced, she’s already traveled to Africa and just returned last month from India. She plans to remain active in the community, adding she still serves on the board for Community Partnership of the Ozarks. However, more travelling is in her future, and she noted Australia and New Zealand are on her list of future destinations.

“Go enjoy life. You never know what’s going to happen,” she said.

Looking ahead
River Region was founded in 1954 as Missouri National Guard Credit Union and rebranded to its current name in 2001, Nichols said. It has seven branches, he said, and serves the greater central Missouri area. With the merger, its service area extends as far south in the state to Christian County.

Nichols said the company is in merger discussions with another undisclosed credit union that would add six more branches in central Missouri. However, he said regulators are still reviewing the proposed deal.

For the Multipli merger, Nichols said approval had to be provided by the Missouri Division of Credit Unions and the National Credit Union Association before the transaction could be put before a membership vote.

Nichols has family ties to the Springfield area and visits the area often. He sees similarities in the residents of the local area and central Missouri, citing it as another advantage to growing River Region.

“It makes sense when you look at the geography that we cover, albeit population is greater there and opportunity is tremendous because of Greene County being on the trajectory they are,” he said. “But it’s the citizens that are the attraction in that they mirror the qualities of a lot of our membership areas that we serve.”

Another Greene County branch is coming in 2025, Nichols said. The company has purchased land in Republic for what initially is being planned as a fourth Multipli location, he said, declining to disclose startup costs.

Columbia-based Simon Oswald Architecture Inc. is architect while a general contractor is yet to be selected, he said. It will be at the corner of U.S. Highway 60 and Stone Falls Road, according to officials.