An organizational meeting for Artesia School Employees Credit union was held at 7:00 PM, on March 1, 1955, with the following persons present: John A. Daugherty, Floyd Davis, Sank Tunnell, Duane Sams, and John G. Wilborn.
On March 1, 1955, at 8:20 PM, a policy making meeting was held with the following directors present: Vernon R. Mills, Floyd Davis, F.L. Green, Sank Tunnell, and John A Daugherty.
The following officers of the Board of Directors were elected: Sank Tunnell, President, Floyd Davis, Vice President, and John A. Daugherty, Secretary-Treasurer.
Action taken by the Board included the following: loan amount maximum was wet at $200.00, with an interest rate of 1% per month on the unpaid loan balance. Charter Members were deemed to be those persons who joined prior to May 1, 1955.
The first loan was made to Leonard Witcher.
John A. Daugherty served the credit union as Manager from March 1 to June 1, 1955. Warren T. Johnston served as Treasurer/Manager from June 1, 1955 to June 30, 1986. Elizabeth M. Bach served as Manager from July 1, 1986, to June 30, 1991, at which time Total Assets were just over 5,000,000.00, and the credit union was serving 957 members.
Ronnie Johnston was employed as CEO on July 1, 1991. In 2001, in order to better serve the rapidly growing membership, the credit union was relocated from the Artesia High School campus to a new facility built at 210 N. Fifth Street. In 2004, this facility was expanded further to accommodate the need for future growth.
In January of 2005, the name of the credit union was changed to Artesia Credit Union, to better reflect the commitment of the organization to provide quality financial services to the entire community of Artesia and the state of New Mexico.
As of December 31, 2012, Ronnie Johnston continues to serve as President/CEO of Artesia Credit Union, and Total Assets exceed 87,000,000.00, with a continually growing membership of over 6800, the largest credit union in Southeastern New Mexico offering complete financial services with a constant vision for the future.