PENSACOLA, Fla. — Pen Air Federal Credit Union opened its doors recently for a visit with Manuel Bolanos, CEO of FEDEAC (Costa Rica's equivalent of a credit union league).

Bolanos, with World Council of Credit Unions Manager of International Partnerships Victor Corro and Financial Marketing Group (Ala.) Director Corrine Hodges serving as translators, visited with Pen Air to get a flavor for the operations of a U.S. credit union. The meeting was organized by the Alabama Credit Union League, which partners with WOCCU in Costa Rica.

This was Bolanos' first trip to the United States and face-to-face meeting with his American credit union colleagues. During his tour of Pen Air, he was impressed to learn how credit unions in the U.S. have developed plans for disaster recovery, how to run annual meetings, establishing vendor relationships, and accommodating the influx of Spanish speaking members. The learning went both ways. "It was surprising to learn that Costa Rica is a democracy with no military and the cooperative spirit is taught in schools," Pen Air FCU's President/CEO John A. Davis Jr. commented. "The Costa Rican government chooses to invest in education instead of the military." Many of their students choose to work in student-run credit unions or the credit unions themselves.