WYCUP Winners Announced!

(Rome, Italy) - For an exciting close to the 2005 inaugural World Credit Union Conference, World Council of Credit Unions, Inc. (WOCCU) announced this year's winners of the WOCCU Young Credit Union People Program (WYCUP) scholarship on July 27.

Since 2001, WOCCU has honored five bright, ambitious young credit union leaders from around the world with a scholarship to the following year's Institute. This year's winners, who will attend the 2006 meeting in Ireland, were chosen from a pool of 26 talented credit union professionals under the age of 35.

The 2005 participants include: Daniel Blue (Canada), Helen Carroll (Ireland), Martin Cuminsky (Ireland), George De La Rosa (Canada), Claire Fisher (Ireland), Sherri Fogwill (Canada), Eric Gagliano (US), Jeanette Genge (Canada), Tina Hall (US), Karla Herrera (Guatemala), Lee Kilsby (Australia), Marlee Kuhl (Canada), Tomasz Kukulka (Poland), Michael Mack (Australia), Beth MacLeod (Canada), Chris Maurer (US), Sharon McCotter (Ireland), Allan Moffatt (Canada), Sandra Phillips (Canada), Scott Robertson (Canada), Brandi Stankovic (US), Stawomir Szczepaniak (Poland), Edgar Vega (Guatemala), and Todd White (Canada).

The winners are: Sherri Fogwill, Newfoundland & Labrador Credit Union (Canada); Tina Hall, Verity Credit Union (US); Karla Herrera, FENACOAC (Guatemala); Michael Mack, WAW Credit Union Cooperative, Ltd. (Australia); and Sandra Phillips, Powell River Credit Union Financial Group (Canada).

Last year's winners, who attended the Rome Conference free of charge, are Glenn Bolger, Newfoundland & Labrador Credit Union (Canada); Catherine Coffey, Killarney Credit Union (Ireland); Hillary Jalafi, MUSCCO(Malawi); Dorwin Manzano, SFCCU CU Cooperative Society (Trinidad); and Irwing Pinares-Silva, Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito Santo Domingo de Guzman (Peru).

All of this year's WYCUP nominees had the chance to participate in networking and recreational events, such as a group outing to the Spanish Steps. On the second day of the conference, nominees were divided into four small groups to develop a presentation on the topic of credit union expansion and its relationship to cooperative values.

They presented their work on Tuesday night for WYCUP organizers and the WYCUP committee, which includes WOCCU directors Grzegorz Bierecki, Poland (committee chairman); Mark Bailey, Ireland; Síncrito Cifuentes, Guatemala; Ron Hance, USA; Sylvester Kadzola, Malawi; and Neil McDonald, New Zealand. These presentations were part of the competition, in addition to a written essay and application submitted prior to the conference. Presentation judges were Grzegorz Bierecki (Poland), Marcel Chorel (Canada), Ron Hance (U.S.), Sylvester Kadzola (Malawi) and Jim McMahon (Ireland).

"WYCUP is World Council's contribution to getting young credit union leaders involved in the credit union system," said Gregorz Bierecki. "It is good to see the program still attracting so much enthusiasm five years after its creation."

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.