HARRISBURG, Penn.–The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association has named the winners of its William Pratt Professional of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award and the Joseph A. Moore Volunteer of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.
Recognized were:
Dave Whitehead, CEO of Merck Sharp & Dohme FCU, as winner of the Pratt Professional of the Year Award. According to the PCUA, Whitehead has served as the CEO of Merck Sharp & Dohme FCU for two decades, first taking over the role in 1997. At the time, Merck Sharp & Dohme FCU was in the middle of a period of low membership and poor financial performance. With his leadership, the credit union was not only successful in recovering, but excelling. Prior to his time at Merck Sharp & Dohme FCU, Whitehead was CFO at Atlantic Employees FCU, the PCUA reported.
“Whitehead is an active participant and firm believer in the credit union movement. He served on the board of the Montgomery County Chapter of Credit unions from 2002—2010 and the Board of Mid-Atlantic Corporate FCU from 2006-2016, the last three years as treasurer. He also has been on the Association awards committee since 2013. Whitehead boasts an impressive list of awards and honors from his years in the movement. Among this list is the National and State Dora Maxwell Award for Social Responsibility, several Louise Herring Awards for Philosophy in Action, the DesJardins Awards for Financial Education for both Youth and Adults, and CUNA's Diamond Awards for marketing.”
"Day by day, he always keeps the interests of the membership in high regard and remembers that he has a financial stewardship to properly manage the members' money so that they can achieve their financial dreams," said Bob Muzslay, VP of Merck Sharp & Dohme FCU's Board of Directors.
Donald Person, vice chair of the Belco Community CU's board of directors, has won the 2016 Moore Volunteer of the Year Award. He has long been a familiar face at Belco, acting as a volunteer at the credit union for 35 years, the PCUA said. For 33 of those years, he has served as a member of the board of directors — nine of them as the vice-chairman and two as the treasurer. In that time, he has also served on every working committee as both a member and chair.
Person is a frequent attendee of credit union events, such as the Association's annual convention and Fall Leadership Conference, the PCUA said. The PCUA noted that outside of the credit union movement, Person served in the United States Navy Reserves from 1961-1967. He was called into active duty in 1963, earning the "National Defense Service Medal," the "Vietnam Service Medal," and the "Navy Unit Commendation Medal." Prior to his retirement in 1998, Person worked at Bell Telephone Company of PA, now Verizon Communications, as a switching equipment technician. He has been a member of the Communications Workers of America union his entire working life.
"Don has been involved with the growth of Belco since it was a single-sponsor credit union to a multi-SSEG credit union, and finally a community chartered credit union," said Stephanie Miller, chair of the Belco board of directors. "Don is well versed and continuously practices and promotes the credit union philosophy in all aspects of his life."
The award winners will be honored at the Association's annual convention, Connect 2017, on Friday, May 19.