2022 Board Nominees

Keisha Deonarine serves in a dual role as the inaugural Executive Director of Nspire – A Park Community Initiative, Inc. (Nspire) and Executive Director of Philanthropy and Corporate Relations for Park Community Credit Union. In the past three years, Keisha was awarded over $5 million in federal grants and $122.5 million in secondary capital for Park Community Credit Union. Keisha has gifted over $1.2 million in funds to non-profits and small businesses in marginalized communities across Kentucky...Read more.

James Hunter directs the cultural diversity and community inclusion efforts for New Orleans Firemen’s Federal Credit Union.  As a certified credit union manager, financial counselor, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mastermind, he actively partners with management and leadership to embed DEI and the credit union difference into every strategic initiative. As the executive director of The Faith Fund, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, Hunter is committed to serving the underserved by providing...Read more.

George Joseph is President & CEO of Dade County Federal Credit Union, where he has worked for the past 23 years. He is a graduate of Andrews University with a BBA in Accounting & Theology. Under his leadership Dade County Federal’s assets have quadrupled in size, growing from $190 million to $1.2 billion.  Dade County Federal was recently awarded a $25 MM grant from Miami-Dade County.  This grant along with a number of smaller awards are currently being...Read more.

Angela Morrison was named Meritus Credit Union’s first ever Community Development Manager in 2019. Since joining in 2016, Angela led the effort to earn CDFI certification, as well as to re-brand the credit union from Lafayette Schools to Meritus Credit Union. Angela is responsible for developing high impact community outreach programs, events and communication materials that promote the credit union's partnership with the community; as well as developing long term partnerships...Read more.

Few careers in the financial services industry can match a 37-year career of creating circles of wealth for and within low- and moderate-income (LMI) households and communities at the same financial institution - and Jacqueline Moore's 34 years at Faith Community United Credit Union is just that Ms. Moore was named President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Faith Community United Credit Union (or "Faith") in 2017. Faith was established in 1952 out of...Read more.

Carma Parrish is CEO of NorthPark, a $46M LID and CDFI community credit union in central Indiana. She believes in the grassroots of small credit unions with a mission and passion for serving the underserved. Taking over a failing credit union in 2015, Carma was faced with the need to reallocate staff resources towards income generation. This, along with the very favorable input of her LID advisory board, prompted Carma to transition her credit union to be the first and only 100%...Read more.

Steve Pagenstecher is the Chief Innovation Officer at Point West Credit Union in Portland, OR, a low income designated, CDFI certified credit union, where he oversees the credit union’s strategic initiatives, IT, and marketing, as well as leading Point West’s community, business, and product development initiatives. He previously served as the Vice President of Member Relations at Valley Credit Union in Salem, OR and has over 17 years of experience in financial services...Read more.

Robin Romano has served as CEO and Chief Bottlewasher for MariSol Federal Credit Union, a CDFI in Phoenix, Arizona, for 20 years. She is proud to work every day on financial empowerment and inclusion for MariSol's members and serve the community needs of metropolitan Phoenix's low-income and disenfranchised markets. The credit union creates unique products and services for members often overlooked in the banking community is what puts a smile her face...Read more.

Nereida Seda Vargas has a Master Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting. As a professional, she has dedicated more than 25 years to public service and cooperative movement. For 7 years worked as an examiner of cooperatives for the COSSEC. Since 2017 she has held the position of Executive President of Lajas Coop. A cooperative over $80M in Assets and a CDFI, located in the southwest of Puerto Rico and with two branches...Read more.

As President and CEO of Kauai Federal Credit Union, Monica Belz shapes a dynamic island vision for economic growth grounded in sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Her 20 years of experience in social impact community development complements a diverse portfolio of work that includes disaster relief, wilderness survival and first aid, documentary filmmaking, numerous humanitarian projects and stints as an EMT Firefighter and PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer...Read more.

Ruben Cisneros brings over 28 years of experience in the credit union industry and within the cooperative movement. His credit union career started in 1994 at South Texas Federal Credit Union in McAllen, Texas. After five years working there, Ruben left his Branch Manager position to take a job at Border Federal Credit Union in Del Rio, Texas as the Vice President of Lending. At present he is the Chief Operations Officer for Border Federal Credit Union and part of the credit union's Senior Management team...Read more.

Luis Pastor is the current President and CEO of Latino Community Credit Union (LCCU) and Executive Director of Latino Community Development Center (LCDC). Soon after joining the credit union in 2000 as a volunteer, he was asked to be the first President and CEO. Under Luis’ leadership, LCCU developed a uniquely tailored, full range of bilingual financial products and services to help its members enter the financial mainstream and thrive fiscally...Read more.

Dave Prosser is Senior Vice President of Community Development at Freedom First Credit Union (FFCU), where he has worked since 2004. Freedom First serves 22 counties across Southwest and Central Virginia, which includes 1.1M residents mostly representing rural markets. Freedom First has 11 branches, over 57,000 members and over $900 million in assets. Freedom First became s Certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in 2000 to better serve families in need...Read more.

Diane Sandoval-Griego is the Chief of Financial Empowerment at Guadalupe Credit Union, where she has worked for 16 years. She is very passionate about identifying needs in the communities of her home state of New Mexico, which is ranked 3rd highest for poverty in the US.   GCU’s reach covers seven counties in Northern New Mexico and strives to provide access to fair financial services to the unbanked and the underbanked. Diane implemented the Financial Coaching department at GCU...Read more.