School named after Dade County School EFCU CEO Sibley set to open in fall

MIAMI-For almost 50 years, Dade County School Employees Federal Credit Union President/CEO Hubert Sibley Jr. has worked at the federal credit union that has just about doubled its size in that time to its present 47,000 members. As manager of the FCU and later CEO, Sibley put all his energies toward running the credit union that had just $1.3 million in assets during his first months there. Today, it has grown to $375 million. Sibley always went beyond the call of duty, however, like during the many years when he made a habit of attending weekly teachers' faculty meetings to talk to school employees about their financial affairs. Because he took the time and made the effort to touch so many peoples' lives in such a positive way, the Dade County School Board announced that it plans to name an elementary school after him. The school will open in fall, at about the same time as Sibley's 50th anniversary Oct. 1 of managing the FCU, recently renamed the South Florida Educational FCU. "This is the greatest honor in the world," Sibley said. "Most schools are named after school officials or public officials. For me, being an outsider so to speak, and not really connected with the schools, it is a big, big honor. "I just about flipped out when I first heard. I was very excited." To this day, the FCU's main select employee group is made up of educators or employees of the school district. According to State Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Miami), Sibley has been able to run the FCU in a way that was a distinct service to these members. "Mr. Sibley is credited with being the savior of a lot of people, teaching them thrift and protecting their investments," Wilson said, speaking to officials at the Florida Credit Union League for a story on the FCUL Web site. "His name is a household name in the Dade County schools." Wilson knows Sibley through a long association: she is a former teacher, principal and Dade County School Board member. Sibley, who was born in Atlanta, is a graduate of Georgia Tech. He worked as a federal CU examiner for several years prior to accepting the position as manager and treasurer with the FCU in Miami. His examiner duties took him to Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and later to Connecticut, he said. That was just a little too far North-both he and his wife longed to return to the South. So, when the former CEO of the FCU called him on that long-ago day and offered him the position managing the FCU, he accepted in the next breath. "After I hung up, I realized I hadn't even asked him what my salary would be! But I didn't care," Sibley reminisced. "I was going back to Miami." And come back he did in the Fall of 1950. As Sibley settled into his new position over the next years, he also searched for ways to help educate thousands of school employees, imparting precious knowledge of financial matters to them. "He has done more for school employees in this district than any other person in Dade County," said Holmes Braddock, school board member. Sibley believes in his members. He recently was asked about a loan application from a 30-year-old second-year teacher who hadn't established credit because, previously, he always had paid cash for purchases. But he needed to buy a car, so he needed the loan. "He's a second-year school teacher making $30,000 a year," Sibley observed. "Why shouldn't we give him the loan?" he decided, signing his approval. Days later, the teacher returned to request a credit card, asking for just a $500 maximum balance. Again, Sibley said he definitely could, without a qualm, offer the extension of this conservative amount of credit. Rep. Wilson reportedly told FCUL that Sibley had made similar decisions thousands of times over the last 50 years. "He is a true humanitarian," she said. When Credit Union Times requested an interview, Sibley was delighted to grant it. But instead of talking about his career of 50 years, he wanted to share such information as how the FCU selects its 15 scholarship winners each year from the hundreds of youths who apply. "We started our scholarship program five years ago, and it's the most honest program in the United States," he noted with pride. Each year, applications are taken and numbered as they come into the FCU. There are only two requirements-students must graduate in the year they request the scholarship, and their parent (or guardian) must have been members of the FCU for at least a year. Numbers are put into a basket, and a committee of school district staff members picks the 15 names out of the basket. Then, students who are chosen receive a four-year prepaid scholarship to any college or university within the state of Florida. "It's exciting!" Sibley says with a chuckle, visualizing all those young students going off to their brilliant futures. Despite having achieved the honor of having a school named after him, he has no intentions of resting on his laurels. Sibley said he has no plans to retire. "Every morning I get up and thank the Lord for giving me this job! I just love it," he said. -lide@cutimes.com