Superior Credit Union started in Lima as a credit union for a local company. Now it has headquarters on Elida Road and plans to open its 25th branch this year.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — Superior Credit Union has 24 offices from Toledo to Cincinnati.
But the Lima-grown business is set to celebrate its 70th anniversary with a 25th opening in April and more events throughout the year.
“We started in 1954, so we’ll be having promos all year long to celebrate it,” director of marketing Kelsey Joseph said. “We’re running a baby contest right now, so if you’re expecting a new baby in 2024 or you have one in January or February, you can stop in and open an account for your child, and we have a savings account for those kids. And if you open that account for your new baby, we’ll be handing out onesies for anyone that wants to enter the contest and send a picture of their baby wearing it to us.”
Joseph said Superior will reward the picture with the most likes on Facebook with $570 in the account. Details are online at superiorcu.com.
“Another thing that we’re currently running is a design-your-own-debit-card contest and that is open until March 31,” she said. “So anyone with an art background can open the form on our website, and the winning design will not only be on a Superior debit card, but the artist is also going to receive $270.”
But perhaps the most important celebration comes in October.
“We’re going to be hosting a celebration here at our headquarters on Elida Road, and more information will be posted about it as we get close to October. Our plan is to have food trucks, live radio entertainment and big ‘seven-zero’ numbers hanging outside for people to take pictures with,” Joseph said. “So we’ve got a lot of fun stuff planned, and in March we will even have three events happening at some local offices in Tiffin, Coldwater and Mount Orab. We just like to get out and about and community involvement is huge for us so we’re really excited about everything we have set up.”
It has been a long journey for Superior to get to where it is today.
“We started with 20 employees at Superior Coach, which was a factory that made buses, ambulances and funeral cars, who wanted a better way to bank,” Joseph said. “So they created the credit union, and when the coach company closed in 1981, Bruce Campbell, our CEO at the time, lobbied Congress to allow us to have a community charter. And Superior was the first credit union to get one for an area that had more than 50,000 residents at the time.”
Superior now employs more than 250 people and offers services such as mortgages. It is the sixth-largest credit union in the state, no small accomplishment for a Lima-based business.
“I just think Superior has something special in the fact that we’re headquartered in a smaller area,” Joseph said. “We understand the rural communities, but then we also understand the urban communities based on where we’ve spread. Not only do we serve a local farmer who needs a loan for a tractor, but we also serve a member in Cincinnati who might need a loan to send their daughter to college.”
For someone like Joseph, who is from Delphos, it is that much more special to serve people from her hometown.
“I’m able to work here in Lima, and we also have 5,000 members in Delphos where I’m from and still live,” she said. “Being able to be part of that community and then also reinvest money to the tune of $200,000 annually to community sponsorships and donations in every area we serve means a lot to me.”
CELEBRATING OUR SPIRIT
Many businesses and organizations started right here in the Lima region, with the goal of making an impact in the region. This year’s Celebrating Our Spirit looks at those trailblazers. Read more stories at LimaOhio.com/tag/spirit.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
