Girado Smith Leads the Credit Union Maryland’s Educators Count On

Let me tell you about Girado Smith.

When Maryland teachers, school staff, students and their families need a financial institution that actually understands the education community, they turn to Educational Systems Federal Credit Union — and since January 2023, Girado Smith has been the president and CEO steering it.

The Work

Smith leads Educational Systems Federal Credit Union, a Greenbelt, Maryland-based institution serving the education community across Maryland and the greater Washington, D.C. region. In 2026 the credit union was named Best Credit Union in the Best of Southern Maryland awards, earned a Top Workplaces Remote Work Award, and had already been named a 2026 USA Today Top Workplace. It marked its 70th anniversary and continued investing in its Southern Maryland branches in Lexington Park, Prince Frederick and Waldorf. Smith himself was named a 2026 Influential Marylander by *The Daily Record*, and he was inducted into the African American Credit Union Coalition (AACUC) Hall of Fame. He didn’t stop at the honor: he partnered with the AACUC to launch the Rosemary Brinkley C-Level Leadership Development Program, built to help credit union managers and executives from underrepresented backgrounds advance into leadership.

The Roots

Smith took the helm in January 2023, succeeding retiring president and CEO Chris Conway, and has spent his tenure deepening the credit union’s founding purpose: serving the people who educate everyone else. That mission shows up in the details. The credit union’s nonprofit arm, the Support Education Foundation, ran its Pack the Pack backpack drive, sending roughly 5,000 backpacks and more than 16,000 pounds of supplies to students across 14 Maryland counties, and it has funded a scholarship at the College of Southern Maryland since 2013. Smith talks about the work in terms of relationships — “the trust our members place in us to support their financial goals.”

Why You Should Know Him

Because community finance is where economic mobility is won, house by house, paycheck by paycheck. A credit union that serves educators is serving the people who shape every other profession, and Smith has turned that mandate into both member value and industry leadership — building a pipeline so the next generation of credit union executives doesn’t have to wonder whether there’s room for them. “This recognition motivates us to continue finding new ways to serve our members and strengthen the communities we are part of,” he said. That’s the job: banking that shows up.

Quick facts

• President and CEO, Educational Systems Federal Credit Union (Greenbelt, MD), since January 2023
• Named a 2026 Influential Marylander by *The Daily Record*
• Inducted into the African American Credit Union Coalition Hall of Fame
• Partnered with the AACUC to launch the Rosemary Brinkley C-Level Leadership Development Program
• Credit union named 2026 Best Credit Union in the Best of Southern Maryland; marked its 70th anniversary in 2026

📸 Photo: Southern Maryland Chronicle / Educational Systems Federal Credit Union

*Black Future Year celebrates Black excellence all year long.*