Winner Trophy
LEAGUES
The American Association of Credit Union Leagues (AACUL) announced two award recipients.
Keith Sias, SVP, government affairs for the Illinois Credit Union League (ICUL), was recognized with the 2025 Eugene H. Farley League Leadership Award on March 1. This award honors a credit union league/association professional who has demonstrated visionary leadership at the state and national levels. Sias has served at ICUL since 1993. His advocacy work has resulted in improvements to the State Credit Union Act every year for the past two decades. Sias previously served on the AACUL Advocacy Committee and the legacy-CUNA Advocacy Committee.
Fred Robinson, president/CEO of the Tennessee Credit Union League, was also recognized with the 2025 Eugene H. Farley League Leadership Award on March 1. Robinson has served at the Tennessee Credit Union League since 1983, including as the president/CEO since 2012. His accomplishments in Tennessee include advancing advocacy initiatives year over year to create a better operating environment for credit unions, achieving extremely strong financial stability for the League while maintaining one of the lowest dues amount in the country, helping the Shared Branching program in the state thrive and developing a new compliance solution to benefit his member credit unions. Robinson has also served on many regional and national boards, including 13 years as chair of the Southeast Regional Credit Union Management School, six years on the CUNA Board and four years as chair of the National Advocacy Fund. He is currently a director on the America’s Credit Union Board.
The Michigan Credit Union League (MCUL) and Michigan Credit Union Foundation (MCUF) announced six individual recipients of the 2025 MCUL/MCUF Awards.
Vickie McIntosh of the $328 million, Clinton Township, Mich.-based FreeStar Financial Credit Union received the Distinguished Service Award. McIntosh has over 30 years of experience in the credit union movement. She was recognized for being a steadfast leader, advocate and mentor, and for her work in financial literacy, advocacy and community engagement that has made a significant difference in Michigan.
Roger Sosebee of the $179 million, Saint Johns, Mich.-based Journey Federal Credit Union was named Board Member of the Year. In 2024, Sosebee continued his nearly 40 years of service by championing financial literacy initiatives and strategic growth efforts at Journey, helping ensure a strong financial future for its members, according to MCUL.
Martha Fuerstenau of the $685 million, Jackson, Mich.-based American 1 Credit Union was named Professional of the Year. According to MCUL, Fuerstenau’s leadership in 2024 drove American 1’s expansion to $685 million in assets, bolstered financial education programs and reinforced the credit union’s commitment to community impact.
Phillip Thompson of the $328 million, Clinton Township, Mich.-based FreeStar Financial Credit Union was named Young Professional of the Year. Thompson was recognized for playing a key role in the credit union’s recent successful core system conversion, merger integration and expansion of financial literacy programs, furthering FreeStar Financial’s mission of member service excellence.
Julia Kaiser of the $470 million, Southfield, Mich.-based People Driven Credit Union was named Team Member of the Year. Kaiser was recognized for securing a $90,000 scholarship grant in 2024, leading multiple financial education workshops and orchestrating key community initiatives to support underserved populations in Michigan.
Jacob Purman of the $1.4 billion Frankenmuth Credit Union in Frankenmuth, Mich., received the MCUF Financial Well-Being Champion Award. Purman was recognized for leading 52 financial literacy events in 2024, impacting over 2,000 students; expanding in-school credit union branches; improving Financial Reality Fair accessibility and launching a financial education program for underserved youth in Scouts of America.
During its 23rd Annual Meeting of Members on March 2 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Washington, D.C., Credit Union House held an election to name directors to the board. Directors serve two-year terms. Two board directors, who were appointed to their positions last year, were elected to the Credit Union House board:
Samantha Beeler, president of The League of Credit Unions & Affiliates.
Caroline Willard, president/CEO of the Cornerstone League.
Three directors were also re-elected to the board:
Patrick Conway, president/CEO of the CrossState Credit Union Association.
Patty Corkery, president/CEO of CUSG and the Michigan Credit Union League.
Troy Stang, president/CEO of the GoWest Credit Union Association.
TRADES
Casillas-Madrigal is a 35-year credit union veteran based in Napa, Calif., who started her career as an intern for a small credit union. According to Inclusiv, Self-Help FCU members and colleagues describe her as a devoted leader who puts her heart and soul into serving her community.
Berean CU, where Washington serves as a board member, is a faith-based credit union in the predominantly Black South Side of Chicago. At one time, faith-based credit unions were the only financial institutions that would lend to people of color and provide them the opportunity to build assets, according to Inclusiv. Washington not only supports Berean but all of Chicago’s faith-based credit unions through his leadership in the Faith Based Credit Union Alliance (FBCUA).
America’s Credit Unions presented Debbie Smith, CEO of Georgia United Credit Union ($2.2 billion, Duluth, Ga.) and founder of the Georgia United Foundation, with the trade group’s Councils Executive Committee’s 2025 Greg Inman Servant Leadership Award. Smith received the recognition during the Governmental Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C. on March 4. This industry-wide award honors and values the principles of servant leadership. Smith was recognized for her commitment to developing and helping others, strong leadership, service to the Georgia community and efforts to advance the entire credit union system.
Please send your People news items to Natasha Chilingerian at [email protected].
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
