DENVER–For the first time in its history the World Council of Credit Unions has a female chairman. At WOCCU’s annual meeting here, Anne Cochran, president and CEO of the Louisiana Credit Union League, accepted the chair's chain of office from outgoing chair Grzegorz Bierecki, president and CEO of the National Association of Co-operative Savings and Credit Unions (NACSCU), Poland's credit union trade group. While a woman has moved into WOCCU’s chairmanship, however, the board remains overwhelmingly male.
“There is nothing more dear to me than the credit union movement, both locally and internationally. This is an incredible honor and I am extremely humbled by this opportunity,” Cochran said in remarks to the joint World Council World CU Conference/CUNA America’s CU Conference here. “Members, credit unions, Leagues and associations have shared both successes and challenges. By working together, we have remained resilient and passionate about our common purpose of people helping people. I look forward to continuing the great work of our Council in the coming years and writing the next chapter in our always changing story of bringing the values of our movement to people across the globe,” said Cochran, who was born in Dublin, Ireland.
Cochran added that “I believe that through divine intervention I was placed on a path that I really didn’t have a say in and a higher power had directed me to this podium today.”
Cochran and the Louisiana league have been active in international CU development. In recent years, the Louisiana Credit Union League has hosted representatives from developing credit unions in Africa and Russia to discuss the credit union movement in Louisiana and how to establish a strong, growing credit union in communities across their countries.
Other executive committee members of the WOCCU board include: Daniel Burns of Canada as 1st vice chair; Patrick Jury of the Iowa CU League as 2nd vice chair; Manfred Dasenbrock of Brazil as treasurer, and Brian Mcrory of Ireland as secretary.
Other board members include Dr. Jaime Chavez Suarez, Mark Degotardi from Australia, Bruce Foulke from USA, Sylvester Kadzola of Malawi, Rafel Matusiak of Poland, Dr. Chul-san Moon of Korea, Steven Stapp of the USA, Doug Stoddart of Canada, and Yvonne Ridguard-Harris of Jamaica.