Hartford-based Wellness Federal Credit Union said it has named its chief financial officer to fill its chief executive role.
Wellness hired Cheryl Calabrese as CFO in July of last year. She has 29 years of credit union experience, including prior management jobs at Hartford Federal Credit Union and Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union.
Calabrese began her new CEO role earlier this month, where she takes over for Raymond Kowalski, who has led the credit union in an acting capacity for the past two-plus years.
Kowalski, a board member for three decades at Wellness (which from its founding in 1955 until 2018 was called Hartford HealthCare Federal Credit Union), now returns to the board.
During his time in charge, Kowalski oversaw the relocation of Wellness’ Hartford home office to Colt Gateway, as well as the rollout of an expansion of its membership field to include all healthcare workers in the state, including veterinarians. (It was originally founded to serve the banking needs of Hartford Hospital employees).
Today, Wellness has two branches in Hartford and one in Newington. As of June, Wellness had total assets of $33.1 million and 11,405 members, according to the National Credit Union Administration.
That’s down from two years ago, around the time that Wellness, then Hartford HealthCare FCU, expanded its allowable membership field and appointed Kowalski to succeed former longtime CEO Carol Bayreuther.
As of June 2017, the credit union had assets of $37.2 million, with 11,423 members, NCUA filings show.
Things did not end amicably between Wellness and Bayreuther, who had led the credit union for more than 30 years.
She sued Wellness and Kowalski in Feb. 2018, claiming they fired her without cause and then defamed her in industry circles. That suit remains ongoing as of this week, according to Connecticut Superior Court records.
Wellness sued Bayreuther several months later, seeking to recover a past-due credit card balance, plus interest and other costs. Last November, the court approved a judgement of more than $41,000 against Bayreuther, records show.
