CLAREMONT, Calif.—Dr. James D. Likens, the well-known president and CEO of Western CUNA Management School, said he will retire at the end of 2015.
More than 3,700 people have graduated from WCMS since its founding, including numerous well-known CEOs.
Likens joined Western CUNA Management School in 1972 when its annual enrollment was less than 100; today that enrollment is more than 400. The school was certified for college credit in 1979 by the American Council on Education, which it has maintained, enabling graduates to apply for credit toward their degree from colleges and universities. In addition, Likens implemented testing and comprehensive mid-term projects.
“It’s time to acknowledge Jim’s numerous contributions to WCMS and to remember all he has done to advance the credit union movement,” said WCMS Board Chairman and Rogue Credit Union president and CEO Gene Pelham (WCMS alumnus ’95) in a statement. “We are amazed by the thousands of lives he has touched.”
Under Likens’ direction WCMS was incorporated as a 501c3 organization in 1995.
Likens—the Morris B. and Gladys E. Pendleton Professor of Economics at Pomona College—has served on the board of directors of First City Credit Union for 40 years. He received the California Credit Union League’s Outstanding Volunteer Award in 1998 as well as its highest honor, the Leo H. Shapiro Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2002.
He was awarded the Herb Wegner Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Credit Union Foundation in 2005. The Credit Union Executives Society has honored him twice—with National Director of the Year in 2002 and inducting him into its Director Hall of Fame in 2009.
He was recognized with the Pomona College Wig Distinguished Professor Award for Excellence in Teaching and is the former chairman of the Pomona College Department of Economics. He directed the centennial celebration of Pomona College in 1987 and has served on its most important committees and task forces.
In 1991, the WCMS Alumni Association created the annual James D. Likens Alumni Award, given to a WCMS graduate who has gone on to distinguished service in the credit union movement.
He holds a BA in economics and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Minnesota.
“As I look back I feel warm satisfaction about our school, especially our students” Likens said in a statement. “It is they who have made WCMS such a special place. On my watch a generation of women and men have graduated and grown into enhanced leadership roles at their credit unions. Many alumni have also served in positions of responsibility throughout our industry. How blessed I am to have been permitted a part of all that. I leave in the full confidence that WCMS is in good hands and that this school will continue to help strengthen our entire credit union system.”
The WCMS board of trustees is planning recognition events to honor Likens later this year.
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