Chatfield, Nygren Named WOCCU Distinguished Service Award Winners

Five Also Honored with WYCUP Scholarships

BARCELONA, Spain—Two credit union movement veterans—one from the United States, the other from Canada—were honored with World Council of Credit Union's (WOCCU) highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award. In addition, five nominees received scholarships through the WOCCU Young Credit Union People (WYCUP) Program. All honorees were recognized during the closing ceremonies at WOCCU's World Credit Union Conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Dave Chatfield receives one of two WOCCU 2009 Distinguished Service Awards.

David Chatfield, who spent his entire career in the U.S. credit union movement and retired as president and CEO of the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues in 2006, was the first of two Distinguished Service Award winners. Wayne Nygren, a former economist for the bank of Canada who joined the country's credit union movement in 1975 and retired as CEO of Credit Union Central of British Columbia in 2006, also earned the prestigious honor.

"I am humbled and deeply honored to receive this award," said Chatfield. "I am reminded of a quote from Edward A. Filene, father of the U.S. credit union movement: ‘Our enemy is the cry, wherever it comes from, to let well enough alone.' World Council has never let well enough alone."

Canada's Wayne Nygren accepts the Distinguished Service Award from WOCCU director Ron Hance.

Both Chatfield and Nygren had served as members of WOCCU's board of directors prior to their retirement. Nygren's service included development activities in Hungary, Thailand and Latin America. Upon Chatfield's retirement, WOCCU's Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions established the David L. Chatfield International Training Fund to support international credit union development.

"World Council exists to change lives," Nygren said. "It often starts as financial services, but in the end it's about changing lives. There is no higher calling and that's what World Council is all about."

Also honored during the closing ceremonies were 16 WYCUP participants from 9

The 2009 WYCUP scholarship winners.

countries. Of those honorees, the following five received scholarships: Julie Ferguson, Ireland; Ross Lambrick, Australia; Carolyne Luvembe, Kenya; Jeff Rout, Canada; and Amy Stanton, USA. Each scholarship recipient will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to The 1 Credit Union Conference, a combined event held jointly by WOCCU and CUNA & Affiliates, the U.S. credit union trade association and WOCCU member, in Las Vegas in July 2010.

In addition, members of the first "international" class of Credit Union Development Educators were recognized. One of the requirements for earning the international DE classification, a program sponsored by the National Credit Union Foundation, is attending an international event. Attending WOCCU's conference in Barcelona helped participants meet that qualification.

To read more highlights of the conference, visit www.woccu.org/Barcelcona09. All conference breakout session presentations and photos are available to download on the conference homepage.

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) is the global trade association and development agency for credit unions. WOCCU promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. WOCCU advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.

WOCCU has implemented more than 275 technical assistance programs in 71 countries. Worldwide, 53,000 credit unions in 100 countries serve 188 million people. Learn more about WOCCU's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.