ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Visa Inc. is sending the CEO of an Illinois credit union to the summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Karen Brown, CEO of the $103 million Staley Credit Union, headquartered in Decatur, Ill., said she and her husband will make the trip which was the prize for the credit union winning the Visa's Fastest Way to Beijing Sweepstakes. To win, Staley had to beat out other credit union participants in a combination of two card metrics, overall card usage and transaction volume.
"This promotion was a great way for credit unions to increase Visa card usage, volume and Visa cardholder loyalty. The Olympic Games only come around every two years," commented Robert Hackney, CSCU president. "We wanted to make sure our credit unions had the opportunity to give their members a compelling reason to use their Visa card."
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The trip includes airfare and accommodations, ground transportation, Team Visa athlete appearances, meals, daily Olympic event tickets, Visa Olympic Games merchandise, a multilingual Beijing host and a local tour.
CU Crew Sails to Raise $7,000
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — A crew of California credit union members and vendors participated in the annual Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race and raised more than $7,000 for the Richard Myles Johnson Foundation.
"I would like to thank those who generously contributed to the RMJ Foundation and its cause of building supporting youth financial literacy," said Jim Updike, Honda Federal Credit union CEO, RMJ Foundation board member and skipper of the crew. "I would also like to thank them for their support of our crew, which spent 42 hours finishing this year's race."
The crew was made up for Don Gensler and Kevin Kindschi, CUNA Mutual Group; Jim Crowley, SWBC; Chris Gunnare, Matt Flynn and Brian Scott, The Members Group; Todd Lane, Executive Compensation Solutions; Tim Sidley, WesCorp; and John Willard, Camino Credit Union.
The team covered all racing expenses so that 100% of the funds raised could go toward the RMJ Foundation.
This is the seventh year Updike has led a credit union crew to raise money for charity. The crew chose RMJ Foundation as the recipient for the first time two years ago in order to support its financial education efforts. In total, group has raised more than $61,000 for the foundation as well as other charities.
"We appreciate the untiring support year after year of Jim and his crew to help us fund financial literacy programs across California and Nevada," said Debra Grisamer, RMJ Foundation board chairman and CEO of Alta Vista Credit Union.
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