KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

The Tullahoma Noon Rotary Club recently welcomed both the current and past president and CEO of Ascend Federal Credit Union, who talked about the credit union’s history, accomplishments and future.

Matt Jernigan, current President and CEO, and Caren Gabriel, who retired as president and CEO his past April, talked with the Rotarians about the history of Ascend Federal Credit Union, then called AEDC Federal Credit Union, where it started at Arnold Air Force Base in 1951 before recognizing the need for cooperative financial services for the city of Tullahoma, Tullahoma Utilities and Tullahoma City Schools.

Jernigan said AEDC FCU was a one office operation from its founding in 1951 to 1980 when it opened its office on Jackson Street in Tullahoma, which he called a pivotal point when reflecting back on the history of the credit union.

“That was a rather contentious decision to bring off the operations off the one office operation and expanding services beyond the original sponsor of the base,” Jernigan said.

According to Jernigan, in 1980 there were 12,440 credit unions across the country who, like AEDC FCU at the time, were facing the challenge of coming off their original sponsor and expanding their services. He said they have seen the decline to now there are now less than 5,000 credit unions today.

“We owe a lot, as Ascend, to the vision of those who made that decision,” he said. “It was a tough decision to bring the credit union off the base, but I do think it is a milestone not for Ascend but for the community of Tullahoma.”

Gabriel added during that period of time there were a lot of bases faced closure, and every base had a credit union.

“This was a move by the board and by Jimmie Beardon, to diversify so that if that closure happened at Arnold then the credit union wouldn’t have to close or merge,” Gabriel said. “It really planning for the future and growth.”

Gabriel agreed with Jernigan that it was a contentious decision at the time, but that it was the best decision for both the credit union and the community.

Jernigan continued his presentation of Ascend’s history and some recent statistics, like 63% of individuals in Tullahoma hold an account with Ascend, and 36% of the deposits are held at Ascend. From a broader perspective, 46% of households in Coffee County have accounts with Ascend with 33% of having deposits. Jernigan said these statistics speak to Ascend’s level of commitment in the initial move in 1980.

“One thing that has allowed this community to have in its backyard is the seventh largest financial institution, bank or credit union, in the state of Tennessee is now located in Tullahoma and the second largest credit union in Tullahoma,” Jernigan said.

Jernigan also stated that Ascend was named as one of the top employers of choice to work under for the eighth time, which he credited Gabriel as one of her primary initiatives to make sure Ascend was not only a top employer but treated their employees well.

“We have tried to be sure that we treated our employees are treated well because we feel like if we treat our employees well and are happy with their work then they will treat our members well,” Gabriel said. “That’s what we’ve been tried to do for a very long time now and I know that Matt is continuing that now.”

Jernigan then turned over the discussion to Gabriel’s legacy with Ascend, as he said they cannot talk about the history of Ascend without talking about her leadership.

Gabriel began her career with Ascend in 1985 as an attorney where she would go up in the ranks until she became CEO in 2004. Under her leadership for 19 years, Ascend grew from $960 million to $3.8 billion in assets and was on hand for several milestones. These milestones include: implementing the credit union’s first every member return in 2005; Rebranding AEDC Federal Credit Union as Ascend Federal Credit Union in 2006; constructing and retaining Ascend’s corporate headquarters in Tullahoma in 2011; securing the naming rights to Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville in 2015; and leading Ascend through an overall system computer conversion to better serve customers in 2020.

Jernigan then turned the podium over to Gabriel who took a few minutes to go over her time at Ascend and touch on her career milestones. She referred back to the rebranding of the credit union and said was very controversial at the time as they had members who thought the name shouldn’t change.

“No offense to anybody in this room, but there are people in Middle Tennessee, Rutherford County and Davidson County that have never heard of AEDC, and we were called the ACDC Credit Union by a number of people because they got the letters confused,” Gabriel said. 

Gabriel said added when coming up with a new name, they needed a name that would not only pay tribute to their roots but also embrace their members in their markets outside Coffee County.

“As we came up with Ascend, we told our members and our employees at the time you cannot spell ‘Ascend’ without ‘AEDC’,” Gabriel said. “We kept the plane and contrail in the logo, again, to pay tribute to our roots.”

Gabriel reiterated that it was a tough time but it was the best choice for Ascend’s future.

The last leadership milestone Gabriel went over was the succession plan. She said when she took the reins of CEO she was tasked with working on a succession plan to have someone ready in case a “planned event or unplanned event.” Gabriel said she saw a lot of promise in Jernigan when he was first hired as an internal auditor.

“In 2022, I kind of decided that I was getting towards the end and was ready to turn the pressure to somebody else,” Gabriel said. “So, I decided to leave in April 2023. We had a very thorough succession process with the board and they very smartly, I think, picked Matt as my succession, which I wholeheartedly endorsed Matt for that job.”

Gabriel concluded by stating she thinks Jernigan has done a great job since takin the helm, and knows he’ll continue to do a great job for the members, community and for the credit union itself.