AACUC Announces African American Credit Union Hall of Fame Honorees

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AACUC will induct seven credit union leaders into its African American Credit Union Hall of Fame during its Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony during the Credit Union National Association’s Governmental Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C. on February 28, 2023. The 2023 honorees are:

• Tim Anderson, President/CEO, United States Senate Federal Credit Union

• Carla Decker, Chief Operating Officer, IDB Global Federal Credit Union

• Melinda Edmunds, President/CEO, Patent and Trademark Office Federal Credit Union

• Todd Harper, Chairman, National Credit Union Administration

• Lois Kitsch, Co-Founder, CU Difference

• George Ombado, Executive Director, ACCOSCA

• Michael Ray, Vice President of Business Development, PAHO/WHO FCU

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Timothy L. Anderson has a long history with the United States Senate Federal Credit Union (USSFCU), serving as the EVP and Chief Retail Officer prior to assuming the role of President and CEO in 2019. He served on the USSFCU Board of Directors for over fifteen years in various capacities, including as Chairman of the Board. He began his career with USSFCU as the Branch Manager of the flagship Hart Senate location. Tim possesses over 30 years of senior executive and management experience at large banks and credit unions. He was the CEO GPO FCU, a local credit union in Washington, DC; a position he held for eight years prior to becoming EVP at USSFCU. Other positions include VP and COO at American Spirit Federal Credit Union; VP and COO at the Treasur Department Federal Credit Union; VP of Operations at Equitable and Independence Banks; and Assistant VP and Financial Center Manager at BB&T and M&T banks in the Washington, DC area.

 

Carla Decker is Chief Operating Officer of IDB Global Federal Credit Union, since November 2021. For the previous two decades, Carla served as President and Chief Executive Officer of DC Federal Credit Union. Under her leadership, the $80 million DC Credit Union expanded its service area and refocused its mission to become a national leader in financial inclusion and community development. Carla’s immigrant experience informed and energized DC Credit Union’s initiatives to address and advocate for the financial well-being of the local Hispanic community. For that work, Carla was named one of the 100 Most Influential People to the Hispanic Community by “El Tiempo Latino.”

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Melinda Edmunds is President/CEO of the Patent and Trademark Office Federal Credit Union headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. With more than 30 years of credit union experience, her dedication, volunteerism, and leadership in the credit union movement continues to progress. She was a previous board member of AACUC for ten years and led the Membership Committee for several years. She is currently a Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor. Edmunds earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

 

Todd M. Harper was nominated to serve on the NCUA Board on February 6, 2019. The U.S. Senate confirmed him on March 14, 2019, and he was sworn in as a member of the NCUA Board on April 8, 2019. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., designated him as the NCUA’s twelfth Chairman on January 20, 2021. As NCUA Board Chairman, Mr. Harper serves as a voting member of the Financial Stability

Oversight Council and represents the NCUA on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee. Prior to joining the NCUA Board, Mr. Harper served as director of the agency’s Office of Public and Congressional Affairs and chief policy advisor to former Chairmen Debbie Matz and Rick Metsger. He is the first member of the

NCUA’s staff to become an NCUA Board Member and Chairman. Mr. Harper holds an undergraduate degree in business analysis from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and a graduate degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

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Lois Kitsch is Co-Founder of Cudifference and has 40 plus years of credit union leadership, she inspires credit union leaders to live the values of the credit union movement to best optimize our cooperative structure to create and enhance business opportunities. For many years she served as the national program director of the National Credit Union Foundation’s Development Education program. Lois has worked with credit union leaders from six continents and more than 40 countries to help their movement leaders maximize the relationship between the credit union and its members. Lois has received many national and international awards including the Herb Wegner Award for Individual Achievement and Best Project, the Athena Award from the World Council of Credit Unions, the LifeTime Service award from both the Credit Union Development Education Program and the CUTE Foundation (Mindanao, Philippines), and the distinguished service award for ACCOSCA (continental trade association for Africa). Recently, Lois was added to the Women’s Hall of Fame for the American Credit Union Museum.

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George Ombado is Development Economist with a keen interest on strategic management and discourse that shapes the developing countries to attain financial inclusion and access He holds B.Com (Hons), M.A (Economics of Development from Erasmus University in the Netherlands) and Msc in Management from Strathclyde Business School, UK. He has 17 years of experience supporting financial inclusion and access initiatives. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the African Confederation of Co-operative Saving and Credit Association (ACCOSCA), an institution that supports the development of co-operative financial institutions in Africa. In this role, he has spearheaded strategic planning for a number of financial co-operatives in Africa. George serves as a Board Member of the Africa Co-operative Development Foundation (ACDF) and The CADASTA Foundation. He is also the Current Director of Africa Development Educators Program and holds an I–CUDE designation. He is a part of the Executive team providing leadership on a Project funded by IFAD in Tanzania, Malawi, and Ethiopia known as “Improving Rural Financial Inclusion through

Financial Co-operatives” in partnership with the Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada and the Irish League of Credit Unions Foundation. George has contributed to numerous financial publications, including in the International Co-operative Alliance Book: “The Capital Conundrum for Co-operatives” which was published and disseminated on October 2015.

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Michael Ray is currently the Vice President of Business Development at PAHO/WHO Federal Credit Union in Washington DC. For nearly six years, Michael was President and CEO of Georgetown Federal Credit Union until it merged with PAHO/WHO FCU in July 2021. Prior to joining Georgetown and later PAHO/WHO FCU, Michael worked for 26 years for Congressional FCU, the credit union that serves the Members of Congress and staff of the House of Representatives. Michael is an International DE and has devoted efforts in working with credit unions throughout Africa for the last six years. He is a repeat speaker and trainer at conferences for ACCOSCA in Nairobi Kenya. Michael has also worked with credit union throughout Russia, on behalf of ACDI-VOCA between 2004 -2008 and has been associated with AACUC since 2001. Michael is a graduate from the University of Maryland and holds a master’s degree in counseling and psychology from Bowie State.

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“The African American Credit Union Hall of Fame has become as prestigious and important as the AACUC Pete Crear Lifetime Achievement Award. To recognize these deserving and superior leaders is an honor and our duty,” said Larry Sewell, AACUC Chairman of the Board.