Mike Beall has resigned as CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association to take a new job as senior consultant for a company that provides strategic planning and consulting work for credit unions.

Beall confirmed his resignation Friday after a NCBA spokesman said the association's board of director had put the CEO on administrative leave. He leaves the $38 million-revenue NCBA after leading the group for three years.

"I accomplished what I set out to do" at NCBA, Beall told CEO Update. "They had two successive years of losses before I got there (and) two of the most successful financially in the last two."

Beall has accepted a full-time position as senior consultant for Credit Union Strategic Planning. The company is based in Tacoma, Wash., but Beall said he would remain in the Washington, D.C., area.

Beall joined NCBA in November 2012 on a three-year contract. He replaced Paul Hazen, who had led the group for more than 13 years. Hazen had been a longtime NCBA staffer, who eventually became CEO, Beall had come from outside the organization.

Before joining NCBA, Beall spent two years as CEO of the Missouri Credit Union Association. He previously had led the Maryland & D.C. Credit Union Association for seven years.

Beall's new job "gets me back to my credit union roots, and it gives me a chance to try to link credit unions and co-ops," he said.

The CEO said his resignation has been about four months in the planning. In his place, the board has appointed former Cooperative Development Foundation Executive Director Judy Ziewacz interim CEO.

NCBA did not immediately announce when or if it would begin a search for a new CEO.

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