Robert L. Coleman, Jr., is a graduate of Prairie View A&M University, Mr. Coleman worked for 13 years as a professional engineer before becoming employed by the U. S. Government Office of Personnel Management, where he served for 35 years until retirement.

 

Mr. Coleman contributed to the credit union movement in a number of positions including President/CEO at Northwest Baptist Church FCU and Interim President/CEO of Waterfront Federal Credit Union. He was instrumental in establishing the Youth Outreach Association at the Northwest Baptist FCU and served as Chair of the Youth Advisory Committee of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions.  He was the 2000 recipient for the Annie Vamper Helping Hands Award from the National Federation for Community Development Credit Unions. 

 

In 1958, Mount Zion Baptist Church, one of Seattle’s oldest African-American churches, set up a credit union to serve members of its congregation. The idea was that a church-based lender could better serve church members. At the time, many African Americans had trouble doing business with traditional banks and credit unions, due to racism or lack of credit or both.

 

On Monday, September 1, 2015, the Board of Directors and CEO of Northwest Baptist Federal Credit Union made a decision to pursue a merger opportunity with Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union (SMCU), another local not‐for-profit financial cooperative headquartered in Downtown Seattle. The decision to merge with SMCU was made in an effort to provide a significant expansion in services and facilities to our members.   Robert Coleman relocated to SMCU’s Downtown Seattle Headquarters.

 

In the nearly 50 years since then, the credit union strayed very little from its historical mission…offering a handful of products, primarily savings accounts, auto, and home equity loans, to members of Mount Zion and the surrounding community in Seattle’s Central District.