Credit union league holds annual meeting, discusses services (07/11/99)

Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations

Credit union league holds annual meeting, discusses services

by Steve and Nusia Kerda
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Ukrainian National Credit Union Association (UNCUA), a league comprising 22 member-credit unions in the United States, held its annual meeting in Arlington, Va., on June 24-26.

The Ukrainian Washington Federal Credit Union (FCU) was the host credit union for this assembly. In total 112 credit union officials, managers, employees and spouses attended portions of the conference and annual meeting.

The UNCUA meeting took place in conjunction with meetings and conferences held at the same time and location by 12 other Ukrainian organizations comprising doctors, lawyers, engineers, librarians, architects, veterans, and other business and professional organizations.

As a result, hundreds of people registered and participated in some portions of the conference, either at joint sessions or specific sessions covering topics such as the growing role of financial institutions and the renewal of the credit union movement in Ukraine.

The idea for joint conferences was first broached by credit union activists two years ago at the UNCUA annual meeting in Parma, Ohio. Tamara Denysenko, CEO of the Rochester Ukrainian FCU, proposed that the next annual meeting of the UNCUA be held in conjunction with the annual Leadership Conference held by The Washington Group (TWG). In the meantime, representatives of the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America and the Ukrainian American Bar Association had discussed holding a joint conference.

Later the UMANA, UABA and UNCUA met to initiate plans for a joint meeting of these three organizations along with TWG.

As time went on and more plans were made, other organizations joined into what was dubbed the Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations.

On Friday, June 24, participants of the UNCUA conference were able to meet and talk with Norman E. D'Amours, chairman of the National Credit Union Administration and the NCUA board. The NCUA is the federal regulatory and supervisory body for all federal credit unions and those state-chartered credit unions that have federal insurance protection.

Mr. D'Amours spoke for over an hour to the assembled on the direction in which NCUA is moving as far as regulations, Y2K compliance, future growth and support for small credit unions, service-sharing among credit unions, executive- or leadership-sharing between larger and smaller credit unions, and credit-union-to-credit-union mentorship.

The assembled then heard about the status of the Loan Protection/Life Share Trust shared by member-credit unions for credit unions members. The trust is a free service to all their members provided by credit unions. It protects member loans up to $10,000 in the event of a member's sudden death or impairment. The trust also provides for a benefit of up to $2,000 or $3,000 to the member upon his/her death - the final figure depending on the age when the member joined the credit union and the amount of share savings that the individual had in his/her account at various points during his/her lifetime.

The afternoon sessions covered the credit union movement in the diaspora, and the presenter was presented by Bohdan Leshchyshen of Toronto, president of the World Council of Ukrainian Cooperatives. Additionally, presentations were made by Lucy Ito, Petro Kozynets and Ivan Ivasiuk on the status of credit union revival in Ukraine and the status of the National Association of Credit Unions in Ukraine (the league in Ukraine).

The Friday sessions were chaired by Stephen Kerda, president of the Ukrainian Washington FCU.

Saturday's sessions were devoted to the formal annual meeting and reorganizational meeting of the executive board. Reports covered the status of UNCUA and its subsidiary, the Cooperative Agency, the insurance side of the UNCUA based in Chicago. Presentations were made also by the president of the association, Dmytro Hryhorczuk, and the outgoing chairman of the board, Vsevolod Salenko.

Ms. Denysenko was elected chairman of the board of UNCUA by the assembled delegates. The board of directors comprises one representative from each member-credit union. The following delegates were elected to the presidium of the board: Ihor Laszok, vice-president; Bohdan Watral, vice-president for external affairs; Ihor Rudko, secretary; Rozalia Holowka, treasurer; Bohdan Kekish, Lew Futala, Valentine Olijnyk and Lubomyr Lepeckyj, members. Mr. Hryhorczuk was re-appointed president of the association.

The UNCUA is presently preparing for its semi-annual meeting and managers' conference. The semi-annual meeting is to be held in conjunction with the anniversary celebrations of the Ukrainian Selfreliance Hartford (Conn.) FCU during the September 30 - October 3 time frame. The managers' conference is scheduled for the fall in Detroit, to be jointly facillitated by the Ukrainian Future Credit Union and Ukrainian Selfreliance Michigan Federal Credit Union.

The next annual meeting of the UNCUA will be hosted by the Ukrainian Selfreliance FCU in Philadelphia during the weekend beginning June 30, 2000. The annual meeting will be held in conjunction with the Ukrainian Diaspora Olympiad 2000 scheduled to be held at the Tryzub Ukrainian American Sports Center in Horsham, Pa., during the same weekend.

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