(Editor's note: the following information provided courtesy of the National Credit Union Foundation.)
Forty-two credit union professionals, including five from North Carolina, became Credit Union Development Educators (CUDEs) last week after being guided by eight dedicated program facilitators and mentors through the intensive Credit Union Development Education (DE) Training. The September 6-13, 2012 training was held at the Lowell Center on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, Wis.
Team Projects
DE Training provides critical lessons in cooperative principles and credit union philosophy while incorporating challenges credit unions face today. During the recent week-long program, participants were involved in group exercises, field trips, issue discussions with speakers from around the credit union system, and are required to complete team projects proposing solutions for credit unions to help alleviate or eliminate challenging situations in any given area.
“During the entire DE training experience, we work to ensure applicability of the credit union philosophy and relevance to current events,” said Lois Kitsch, DE Mentor and National Program Director for the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF). “For example, for the final case studies, participants worked through and presented solutions to critical issues that included social media and virtual banking, mergers and small credit unions, payday lending, small credit union growth, National Credit Union Administration’s low-income designation, and credit union development in Great Britain.”
“My week at DE was very eye opening to the issues we face in both large and small credit unions,” said Mark Greene, Senior Vice President at State Employees' CU. “The ‘do the right thing’ passion that all 42 credit union participants exuded during the week gives me confidence in the future success of our credit union movement.”
The Five representatives from NC include:
- Will Dahmen, State Employees' CU
- Krissy Dubovec, Local Government FCU
- David Faleski, Coastal FCU
- Mark Greene, State Employees' CU
- Jim Pack, Coastal FCU
In addition to the five NC staff who successfully completed DE Training, Brandon McAdams of Coastal FCU served as a mentor through the week.
Upcoming 2013 DE Training
The next DE Training will be held at the Lowell Center in Madison, Wis. on May 1-8, 2013. Anyone who is interested in attending the upcoming class can email cude@ncuf.coop to be put on a list to be notified when registration is open.