Elissa McCarter LaBorde delivers her State of the Movement address.
Credit/WOCCU
During her "State of the Movement Address" at Monday's general session of the 2024 World Credit Union Conference, World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) President/CEO Elissa McCarter LaBorde laid out her vision to not only grow the reach of credit unions from 400 million to one billion people, but have that growth include at least 500 million members who are women.
McCarter LaBorde said, "We are putting out a bold statement for gender equity and equality for our movement of the future, and we want you to walk with us as we strive to make this possible."
According to WOCCU, its Board of Directors endorsed the aggressive set of goals.
McCarter LaBorde's announcement at the Boston event comes after the Global Women's Leadership Network gathered credit union gender data from around the globe.
During her speech, she told the conference crowd to prepare themselves to embrace even more innovation to help meet the new membership goals.
"No surprise, we are experiencing an even greater push for innovation at a pace and speed like we have never seen before," McCarter LaBorde said. "Each of our 100 country contexts present slightly different challenges. But on one thing we agree: The need to reach young people, to counter an aging membership. And on this, we need to do better."
The World Credit Union Conference runs until Wednesday.
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
