FORT KENT, Maine — At the start of 2019, Acadia Federal Credit Union announced a plan for an internal reorganization to better align its management team with the institution’s strategic plan, while emphasizing building relationships with staff, members and the communities they serve.
During the ongoing effort to implement changes and new positions within Acadia FCU’s core management, Karen Daigle was promoted to vice president of operations and Katie Pelletier was brought on board as vice president of compliance.
Daigle is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of Acadia FCU, while supporting the growth of the financial institution. She will also be heavily involved with the evaluation, quality, and development of deposit products and services, as well as with the achievement of Acadia FCU’s strategic goals.
“Karen is just one of those individuals who will always get things done,” said Luis Sanclemente, executive vice president. “She has so much experience with us, having developed an incredibly successful career, and she truly knows Acadia. She is a huge part of our team.”
With 23 years of varied credit union experience under her belt, Daigle began her Acadia career in 1996 as a teller and has worked in many different capacities including head teller, Visa coordinator, consumer lender, branch manager, and commercial lender, prior to assuming operations duties in mid-April.
“While I will miss all of the members and associates I have worked closely with over the years, I look forward to this new challenge,” said Daigle. “During my career here, I have been fortunate to have been exposed to many different departments, which has made the transition into this new role feel natural to me.”
Born and raised in Frenchville, Daigle is a graduate of Wisdom High School in St. Agatha and earned an associates degree in business from the University of Maine at Fort Kent. She resides in St. David with her husband, Ken. She enjoys walking outdoors, snowshoeing, and spending time with her two grandchildren, Charlotte and Abram.
Earlier this year, the facility welcomed Katie Pelletier as vice president of compliance. In this role, Pelletier will develop Acadia FCU’s new compliance program which includes the management, analysis, implementation and monitoring of Credit Union policies and complex regulatory requirements.
“We are so fortunate to have Katie join our team,” said Sanclemente. “She has a tremendous background and experience in compliance and risk management — skills she uses with great ease. We are very happy to have gained such a hard worker to further round out our management team.”
Pelletier has worked in commercial banking for the last nine years, exclusively in risk and compliance and audit remediation. and most recently, audit remediation.
“Coming into a brand-new position within the credit union has been an exciting new challenge,” said Pelletier. “My favorite part is being able to build out new compliance programs and work with the various departments of the credit union to ensure we are operating within our risk tolerance.”
Born in Fort Kent, Pelletier grew up in Brunswick, where she graduated from Brunswick High School. She earned a bachelor of science in business administration with a concentration in finance and minor in communication from Bryant University, and a master of business administration with a concentration in project management from Post University.
She loves hunting, waterskiing, snowmobiling, and spending time with family outdoors. She lives on Eagle Lake with her fiancée, Nathan Theriault, and their daughter, Autumn. Her family will grow with the birth of another daughter, due in September.
According to President/CEO David Desjardins, “The addition of these new positions within the credit union will help with our continued efforts to manage the growth of our organization. We have experienced significant growth in the past few years as a result of our expansion into the Bangor market, which led us to create these positions. I look forward to working with Katie and Karen as we continue our mission of serving our members.”
