Members of the Conexus, Synergy, and Cornerstone credit unions across Saskatchewan voted on the proposed merger of these institutions from June 3rd to 13th and results show overwhelming support in favour.
Members from Conexus voted 87.5 percent in favour, with 86.5 percent in favour from Cornerstone, and 88.7 percent in favour from Synergy. Board Chair for Conexus, Ken Kosolofski, says this was above and beyond the 75 percent minimum they needed to move forward.
“We're very excited and that overwhelming support is going to translate into a resounding mandate to create a strong, competitive, and resilient community-focused credit unions that's going to serve today's members and future members.”
CEO of Conexus, Celina Philpot, says she’s pleased with the response as well, noting the outreach they had done through town hall meetings, and connections between board members, executive team members, and credit union members.
“I just am so pleased with the level of engagement and the amount of insight our members brought to our conversation. They really care about their credit union. I'm just so pleased and really honored to be able to serve them.”
The changes will be effective January 1st, 2026, however, Kosolofski says there is work to be done before this date. The three boards will soon meet to determine the name of the credit union, which will be selected from the existing three. They will also appoint a new CEO who will also be from one of the three institutions.
“We've created, along with management, the business integration team where we will be spending some time trying to prepare for January 1st, 2026. That means things like selecting systems and making sure that we have the processes in place so that we can begin operation on January 1st, 2026.”
While that date will host many firsts, according to Philpot, there will be plenty more in the months following. She says this will require transparent communication between the credit union and its members.
“We're committed to ensuring that transparent communication in advance with our members, so they know what to expect and they're ready to understand how the changes will move through and what they need to do in order to get ready for the new entity and how we're going to deliver service to them.”
She continues saying they have done their due diligence in planning and presenting the idea of a merger, noting their business case that allowed them to understand the benefits they would be able to deliver through it.
Philpot says management is working with the board to understand the key success factors that will allow them to deliver on the results of the business case.
“We want to make sure that we do the work in an organized way. We’d like it to be smooth and minimize the level of impact to our members but those are the kind of things that we'll work through with our board and the management team to ensure that we deliver on those elements that we highlighted in our business case and due diligence.”
Kosolofski expresses his excitement in moving forward with the merger and extends his thanks to the members for their engagement saying “they asked questions, they really wanted to understand, and then they voted overwhelmingly in favour of this. So, we're very excited to get started and deliver on the promises that we made.”
Philpot shares the sentiment, also sharing her anticipation in serving their soon-to-be broader network of members.
“We're here for our province, and we are looking forward to helping our members pursue their desired goals and dreams. We want to help create that prosperity in our province and we're looking forward to doing that.”