Garth Warner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Servus Credit Union, announced the appointment of Dion Linke as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Linke will assume his new position January 1, 2019 when Caroline Ziober moves to her new role as Chief Member Experience Officer.

"I'm very pleased to welcome Dion to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), and I look forward to working with him and Caroline in their new roles," stated Mr. Warner. "These are the final steps in a carefully planned executive leadership transition that we began last summer. Our new ELT includes a balance of seasoned and new executives with the skills and experience needed to achieve our purpose – shaping member financial fitness."

Mr. Linke began his career with Servus in 2002, where he has advanced through a variety of leadership positions in commercial, agriculture, business development and retail operations. He was promoted to his current position of Senior Vice President, Retail Banking, in 2015 and has been a member of the Executive Leadership Team Advisory Committee. He earned his MBA in 2015 and was a founding member of the Servus Young Leaders Network. He will be responsible for the performance of the Retail, Business Banking, Wealth and Wholesale areas.

Caroline Ziober has more than 40 years' experience in financial services. She has had profound impacts in many areas including retail banking, wealth management and internal and banking operations, rising up through the ranks of the credit union since first joining as a teller in 1975. She will assume the new position of Chief Member Experience Officer. She will focus on payments modernization and process efficiency through the introduction of payment and robotics process automation and machine learning. She is also responsible for Cards and Payments, Banking Operations Systems and Solutions, Operational Support departments, Corporate Operational Effectiveness, Member Contact Centres, Employee Financial Services and Member Experience.

"Servus has made succession planning a priority and focused on developing talented leaders," said Mr. Warner. "We had strong internal candidates for each planned vacancy – experienced, skilled individuals who have shown their commitment to Servus and our cooperative values. We have been able to implement an orderly succession at a calculated, manageable pace of change that has earned the continued confidence of our members and other stakeholders."