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Averill to head state credit union agency

Fort Dodge woman appointed to post by Gov. Reynolds

A Fort Dodge woman has been named the state’s top credit union regulator by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Katie Averill has been appointed to serve as superintendent of the Iowa Division of Credit Unions, Reynolds announced Friday. Her first day on the job will be Tuesday, although her appointment will require confirmation by the state Senate when it convenes in January 2018.

Averill is the senior vice president at Citizens Community Credit Union in Fort Dodge. She has worked there for about 10 years.

She said Friday that she applied for the position, but knew she had been appointed ”for only a short while” before Reynolds made the announcement.

”It has most definitely been a whirlwind,” she said.

Averill replaces JoAnn Johnson, who retired.

The Iowa Division of Credit Unions is responsible for overseeing the 93 state chartered credit unions. A statement on the organization’s website indicates that its mission is to ”safeguard the interests of credit union depositors and shareholders through the effective administration and execution of the laws relating to credit unions.”

”It’s a regulatory position,” Averill said. ”I am overseeing the examiners that visit the credit unions.”

She said she and her family will eventually move to the Des Moines area.

”Fort Dodge will always be my hometown,” she said. ”I’ve been very embedded in this community. I have nothing but good to say about my hometown.”

Averill is a certified credit union executive. She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Iowa State University in Ames.

At Citizens Community Credit Union, she has overseen seven branch locations. She served as director of marketing and later as vice president of marketing and business development before becoming senior vice president.

Averill said she had been in contact with the administration of former Gov. Terry Branstad and Reynolds when she was the lieutenant governor through her charitable organization, the Emily Joy Averill Foundation. Named for her daughter who was killed in a 2012 car wreck, the foundation provides books to children through a program called Joy of Reading.

In 2015, Branstad appointed her to the Early Childhood State Board. That board is charged with creating a comprehensive vision for early childhood care, education and health care.

In 2004, Averill established Stamp of Support, which collected donations to pay for sending packages to members of the military serving overseas.

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