Credit union pioneer Larry Blanchard has been named one of four inductees in the Cooperative Hall of Fame of the Cooperative Development Foundation.
Blanchard has been active on every level of the credit union movement, and the foundation said he was being honored for being a “credit union development educator who helped guide the evolution of the Campus Credit Union Council. Leader of Operation Grassroots, the struggle to maintain regulatory independence for credit unions. Uniter of credit unions, credit union organizations, consumer and labor movements, other cooperatives, business leaders, and people of all ages to make H.R. 1151 law, without which there might not be a credit union movement today.”
Other inductees included National Rural Electric Cooperative Association President/CEO Glenn English; Werqu Mekasha, who revitalized the cooperative agriculture movement in Ethiopia; and David Thompson, who has worked in several sectors of the cooperative movement.
The four inductees will join the 139 people already in the Hall of Fame. The inductions will take place at a May 5, 2010 dinner at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C

Olpin Joins Econ Group

Glen W. Olpin, senior vice president, treasurer and chief economist for America First Credit Union of Ogden, Utah, is the newest member of the Credit Union Economics Group.
Olpin joined the $5 billion, 500,000-member credit union in 1975. He is on its asset-liability management and pension committees and is president of its Investment, Insurance and Trust Services Corp.
He earned a bachelor's degree in business economics from Weber State University and an MBA from the University of Utah. He is a graduate of the Western CUNA Management School at Pomona (Calif.) College.
“It is an honor for me to join this elite group of credit union professionals dedicated to sharing economic and financial research for the benefit of the credit union movement,” Olpin said in a statement.
“CUEG is excited to have a long-standing industry expert like Glen join our group,” said Tun Wai, director of research and chief economist of NAFCU. “The knowledge and expertise he can offer-especially in his region of the country-is an important perspective for CUEG, particularly when we visit with Federal Reserve staff.”
The Credit Union Economics Group is a working group of credit union officials, and its goal is to provide credit unions with consensus macroeconomic forecasts and industry trend analyses that will be helpful in their planning and operations.

CUES Upgrades
Online University

Credit Union Executives Society announced the launch of its new platform and Web site for CUES Online University, www.cuesu.org.
CUES partnered with Digital University for the upgrade. The new site and platform has a frequently updated compliance center, a transcript feature to get past certificates, a new curriculum and new learning plans and coursework in new easy-to-digest modules.
“After testing the system, I love that I don't have to print off the content and then grade the test myself. This will save a lot of my time and paper. I especially like the new added feature of the video introduction on the topics. I think it is a huge improvement,” Jennifer Wright, executive assistant at Mendo Lake Credit Union said during the BETA testing.
Cues Online University Plus with Learning Management System will be the next site and platform to be upgraded.

Tempe Schools CU
Launches Loan EMS

Tempe Schools Credit Union is getting medical with its loan diagnosis to members.
The credit union launched its “Health Education Loan Program” on Oct. 1. The program was inspired by the staff at Statewide Federal Credit Union in Flowood, Miss., which piloted a similar program called the “Credit Emergency Room.”
Tempe's program concentrates on reduced interest rates on the credit union's most popular loan products that includes auto loans, credit cards, mortgage loans and loan consolidation with “fiscal checkups.”
For the month of October, employees will wear hospital scrubs and will wear name tags identifying their areas of expertise, such as LOANcologist, AUTOstesiologist and CARDiovascular surgeons.
“Some of our members have been severely impacted by our current economic climate, placing a strain on their household finances. If we can help them in anyway, we are going to take a proactive approach and try to do what we can do for our members and others who wish to join our credit union,” said Margaret Hunnicutt.

CU Web Sites Offered
Cash Grain Prices

T8Design, a provider of web services for the financial industry, announced a partnership with Bozeman, a Montana-based source of cash grain market intelligence, to allow community banks and credit unions to provide cash market prices for commodities to members.
The partnership allows credit unions to post live data feeds on their Web sites to provide members with a database of more than 3,500 cash grain markets and with five co-op quotes from a defined radius of almost any U.S. location.
“T8Design's cash grain module offers an excellent opportunity for small-and mid-sized community banks to focus on agriculture and provide a superior service to rural American. Our partnership, and the resulting offers, will help improve the bottom line for rural bank customers,” said Kevin McNew, president of Cash Grain Bids.