With more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, Donna Bland was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Golden 1 Credit Union in 2010. She has been an integral part of Golden 1’s rise to industry leadership through exceptional service, employee engagement, community support, and responsible financial management.
Donna is active in the financial services industry serving on the Visa Senior Client Council, Department of Financial Protection and Innovation Credit Union Advisory Committee, the CUNA Credit Union Powers Subcommittee, and the California Credit Union League Board of Directors. She is also on the board of the Greater Sacramento Area Economic Council and Sacramento Host Committee. Previously she served on the Credit Union Direct Lending (CUDL) board from 2011 to 2020.
In 2021, Donna received the Leadership California “Trailblazer Award” and was recognized as a “Top 100 Women Leaders in Finance” by Women We Admire. Donna was named a “Most Admired CEO” by the Sacramento Business Journal in 2020. In 2016, she was included among the Sacramento Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” and was named one of Bizwomen’s “100 Women to Watch” nationwide. She was also named “Businesswoman of the Year” by the Sacramento Metro Chamber in 2015. She is one of only two women at the helm of a top-10 credit union in the United States.
Under her leadership, Golden 1 has also received numerous prestigious awards for excellence, including Forbes Best-In-State Employer (2019, 2020, 2021), American Banker’s Top 3 Most Admired Financial Institutions (2021), Credit Union Journal’s Best Credit Union to Work For (2021), Nerd Wallet’s Best Credit Union in California (2020), Business Insider’s Best Credit Union in California (2020), and the Sacramento Business Journal’s Corporate Citizenship Award (2021).
Prior to joining Golden 1, Donna was a manager at KPMG, an international accounting firm. Donna is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from San Francisco State University. Raised in San Francisco, she now resides in Sacramento with her family.