International Partners California & Caja Popular Mexicana Meet

California Delegation Of CU Leaders Experience Mexican CU Operations

A delegation from California representing the League and nine credit unions visited Mexico's largest and progressive credit union, Caja Popular Mexicana (CPM). Altura CU CEO Mark Hawkins, Board Member Cathy Nava, and Board Member Ofelia Valdez-Yeagar; Arrowhead CU Board Chairman Marie Alonzo; Alex Alonzo, and VP Branch Manager Joe Hernandez; Family FCU Assistant Manager Lourdes Ramirez; Food Processors CU Community Development Director Sandell McLaughlin; Mission Area FCU CEO Salvador Duran; Pasadena FCU CEO Shruti Miyashiro; Water & Power Community CU CEO Carl Stewart; Wescom CU CEO Darren Williams, and VP of Business and Government Affairs Yesceni Ramirez; and Xerox FCU CEO Bill Cheney attended the meeting, held on October 13 and 14, in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico with League Manager of International Relations Letty Cordon-Hernandez

The purpose of the trip was to visit CPM's central office and its branches, share ideas and discuss the following topics of interest: how to better reach out to the Hispanic community; the International Remittance Network (IRnet); marketing products and services to the Hispanic community; internships—opportunities for California credit unions to host CPM employees as well as employees of California credit unions to spend time with CPM; and ATM networks and shared branching. Another purpose for the visit was to globally strengthen credit union relationships.

During their visit, the California group met with CPM CEO Ramón Imperial Zuniga; COO Cirilo Rivera Rivera; CFO David Torres Ramírez; Regional Manager Fermín Olalde Balderas; Director of Administrative Services Alfonso Garcia Moreno; Director of IT Rene Vasquez; Marketing Manager Lorena Susana Mendoza; and WOCCU Project Director Mario Galaragga. They also toured CPM's central office and its downtown, San Juan de Dios, and Guanajuato branches. CPM has 328 branches throughout 22 states. The delegation also had the opportunity to visit the historic colonial town of Guanajuato and the World Council of Credit Unions' Mexico office.

Thank you on behalf of the California Credit Union League; World Council of Credit Unions; and Caja Popular Mexicana to all the credit union executives who participated in the California delegation visit to CPM in Mexico and for making this visit a successful one. The mission of globally strengthening the credit union movement could not be fulfilled without the support of credit unions like yours. Your participation supports the credit union philosophy of "People Helping People".

World Council of Credit Unions is the global trade association and development agency for credit unions. World Council 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. World Council 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.

World Council has implemented more than 290 technical assistance programs in 71 countries. Worldwide, 51,000 credit unions in 100 countries serve 196 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.