Board of Directors
This is your board, a diverse group of financial, legal and business experts who share a common goal: always doing right by our members.
Our accomplished internal leaders are dedicated to helping you build your financial health and well-being and live your best financial life. We’re here to serve you.
Erin Mendez is President and Chief Executive Officer of Patelco Credit Union, where she leads strategic planning and upholds a strong commitment to improving the financial health and wellbeing of nearly 500,000 members throughout Northern California. Since her arrival at Patelco Credit Union in 2013, Erin has transformed the organizational culture to a focus on members, the Patelco team, and the communities they serve. During this time, Patelco grew from $3.9 Billion to over $9.7 Billion in assets.
Prior to joining Patelco in 2013, Erin served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union. Her career began as a part-time teller for American Savings Banks, where she progressed to SVP of Retail Banking. Erin’s more than 30 years’ experience in the financial industry also includes CIO and SVP of Operations at Western Financial Bank and Chief Technology Officer of Health Net, Inc.
Erin earned the designation of Certified Chief Executive from the Credit Union Executive Society, is a graduate of the Advanced Leadership Institute at Harvard Business School, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. She currently serves as a director for CU Direct, serves as a director and treasurer for CUES, serves on the CUNA Advocacy Committee and is an executive member of the California/Nevada Wine Auction raising funds for the Children’s Miracle Network and related hospitals. In 2015 and 2016, she was honored as one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business and in 2017 inducted into the Forever Influential honor roll; in 2017 she was also recognized by San Francisco Business Times as one of the Most Admired CEOs 2017. She was the recipient of the American Banker – The Most Powerful Women in Credit Unions, 2022.
Susan Makris is the Chief Administrative Officer for Patelco Credit Union and has served the credit union for 10 years. She comes with more than 35 years of experience partnering with business leaders to drive organizational effectiveness, lead transformational change, maximize performance and optimize human capital. She oversees enterprise-wide Human Resources, Learning and Development, Corporate Communications, Fraud Prevention & Operations. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA, is a Certified Innovation Executive from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and an HBX Disruptive Strategy & Sustainable Business Strategy certificate from Harvard Business School.
Before joining Patelco, she served as VP of Human Resources at CoreLogic for the Data & Analytics Division. Prior to CoreLogic, Susan was VP of Human Resources with Fifth Third Bank, where she led Human Resources for the Processing Solutions and Investment Advisors business lines.
Susan holds a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA, is a Certified Innovation Executive from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and an HBX Disruptive Strategy & Sustainable Business Strategy certificate from Harvard Business School.
Serving Patelco and its members since 2014, Melissa is the Chief Retail Offer at Patelco, accountable for delivery channels, member experience and financial wellbeing, and marketing, in addition to overseeing our deposits portfolio. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of Patelcorp Inc, responsible for the Investment and Insurance business.
Melissa’s extensive experience includes Managing Partner at Savant Inc., a national high-tech professional services corporation, and ten years with Wells Fargo. At Wells Fargo, Melissa held several senior roles including SVP, Affluent Customer Segment Manager; SVP, Customer Experience Manager; and SVP, Business Manager/Consumer Credit. In addition to her senior roles with Wells Fargo, Melissa worked with Citigroup as their SVP, Internet Marketing & US Partnerships and VP, Area Retail Branches and Call Center Manager.
Melissa has a Bachelor of Science in Economics and International Management from Oklahoma State University, has completed graduate level coursework in Economics at Columbia University, and holds a Series 7 license.
Rolly is Patelco’s Chief Financial Officer and brings more than 25 years of experience in financial services and consulting to Patelco. As Patelco’s Chief Financial Officer, Rolly leads accounting, reporting, financial control systems, financial risk management, financial planning and analysis, pricing, capital planning, asset and liability management, and corporate real estate.
Rolly held several executive level positions at MUFG Union Bank and Washington Mutual and most recently was EVP and chief financial officer of Accion Opportunity Fund, a nonprofit community development financial institution focused on providing small business loans and technical assistance to entrepreneurs who are women, people of color, or low-to-moderate income.
Richard is the Chief Lending Officer at Patelco. In his role he is responsible for managing the growth of the consumer and commercial loan businesses. Prior to joining Patelco in 2018, he held executive roles within Citibank’s global and North American retail banking businesses including Global Head of Personal Lending and Head of US Retail Consumer Lending. Previously he had various product management and marketing roles at American Express and the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.
Richard received his undergraduate degree from Williams College and his MBA from Columbia Business School.
Kal became Patelco’s Chief Technology Officer in 2019. He is responsible for leading the technology and transformation functions across Patelco, which includes the alignment of strategic priorities across all lines of business. He has more than twenty years of experience setting the vision for and delivering solutions for companies that range from high-growth technology and software startups to Fortune 500 global brands.
Kal leads the teams responsible for enterprise application development and engineering, data governance and architecture, operations and infrastructure, information security, project management and the integration and conversion of systems in support of Patelco’s strategic plan and priorities. He also sets the strategic direction for technology and technical operations to support Patelco’s financial health and wellbeing mission and commitment to our members.
Angela is the SVP, General Counsel at Patelco. Angela is an accomplished General Counsel with over 20 years of experience providing legal and business counsel to companies in various stages of development from large, global public companies to startup fintechs.
She brings deep experience in financial services regulatory compliance, complex commercial transactions, and corporate matters, and her areas of specialty include regulatory compliance, commercial technology transactions, corporate law, licensing, labor and employment, M&A, data privacy, and risk management. Angela was recognized and honored with a 2022 Women, Influence & Power Law Award in the category of In-House Counsel – Collaborative Leadership.
David leads the credit union’s risk-based audit planning efforts to assess and recommend improvements to key operational and finance activities as well as the testing of internal controls. David brings more than 25 years of experience in financial services and professional auditing firms to Patelco and plays an integral role in ensuring the overall health and welfare of the credit union.
David joined Patelco after more than 25 years of experience in financial services and professional auditing firms. Prior to joining Patelco, David was EVP, Head of Audit Oversight for the Retail Banking Division for Bank of the West. He has also held audit and quality assurance roles at BlackRock and Charles Schwab. Across all his roles, David has brought clarity and definition to processes that have been new or needed redesigning, and he has a strong reputation for simplifying complex concepts and making them actionable. David has Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration and Accounting.
This is your board, a diverse group of financial, legal and business experts who share a common goal: always doing right by our members.
Segal Consulting. In service since 2005.
Insurance Executive. In service since 2006
California State University East Bay. In service since 2004.
Housing Executive. In service since 2001.
American Ratings Corporation. In service since 2008.
Attorney at Law. In service since 1996.
Supply Chain Finance. In service since 2024.
Business Consultant. In service since 1996.
Metamorphosis Wines. In service since 2010.
Erin Mendez is President and Chief Executive Officer of Patelco Credit Union, where she leads strategic planning and upholds a strong commitment to improving the financial health and wellbeing of nearly 500,000 members throughout Northern California. Since her arrival at Patelco Credit Union in 2013, Erin has transformed the organizational culture to a focus on members, the Patelco team, and the communities they serve. During this time, Patelco grew from $3.9 Billion to over $9.7 Billion in assets.
Prior to joining Patelco in 2013, Erin served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union. Her career began as a part-time teller for American Savings Banks, where she progressed to SVP of Retail Banking. Erin’s more than 30 years’ experience in the financial industry also includes CIO and SVP of Operations at Western Financial Bank and Chief Technology Officer of Health Net, Inc.
Erin earned the designation of Certified Chief Executive from the Credit Union Executive Society, is a graduate of the Advanced Leadership Institute at Harvard Business School, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. She currently serves as a director for CU Direct, serves as a director and treasurer for CUES, serves on the CUNA Advocacy Committee and is an executive member of the California/Nevada Wine Auction raising funds for the Children’s Miracle Network and related hospitals. In 2015 and 2016, she was honored as one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business and in 2017 inducted into the Forever Influential honor roll; in 2017 she was also recognized by San Francisco Business Times as one of the Most Admired CEOs 2017. She was the recipient of the American Banker – The Most Powerful Women in Credit Unions, 2022.
RPM Mortgage. In service since 2006.
A subset of our Board of Directors, this committee is responsible for overseeing Patelco’s financial reporting, disclosures, and risk assessment.
