by Kirk Gollwitzer
Several credit union executives, public officials, employees and friends attended the grand opening reception and ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 14, marking the new location of the State Employee’ Credit Union (SECU).  Refreshments and employee introduction were made in celebration of the new building located at 74 Weaver St. in Columbus just behind the CVS Pharmacy.
The new 6600 s.f. office building in Columbus is twice the size of their previous rental space on Shuford Road.  Linda Harris, Vice President/City Executive, said the permanent site will send a positive message to their member base, which mainly consists of NC state government and public school employees along with their immediate family members.

SECU was established in 1937 and, according to Harris, is founded on the philosophy of “People Helping People.”  SECU is a non-profit financial cooperative which is owned by its members. Richard Smith, the chairman of the advisory board, was front and center with the scissors.
“We are proud of our new building and very happy to be here for our members,” Smith said.
Jamie Applequist, Executive Vice President of Branch Operations, was on hand from Raleigh for the celebration and said that the new building will bring a sense of permanence and that their members can now call it their own.
“SECU is the second largest credit union in the U.S, just under Navy Federal Credit Union,” said Applequist.
SECU District Manager Kim Hollifield said SECU serves 1.8 million members with 253 branches.
“We have 1100 ATM’s in North Carolina covering more than 100 counties.  We are very proud of the number of ATM’s that we have,” said Hollifield.
According to Harris SECU has three primary objectives: to promote thrift among the members and to provide an opportunity to increase their savings; to create a source of credit at a fair and reasonable rate of interest; and to provide members an opportunity to improve their economic and social conditions.
For more information on the SECU office in Columbus, call 828-894-0557 or visit www.ncsecu.org.