2013 CFLA Fellows

Rachel Barker started at HRCU in July 2012 as an AmeriCorps VISTA. As a VISTA she worked to build capacity for business services at Holy Rosary Credit Union. She will continue her work with small businesses during her fellowship. Rachel began her career in financial services at Wells Fargo Bank as a teller & personal banker. She graduated cum laude from Truman State University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication & minor in Spanish. Her interests are continually learning Spanish and using her skills to help to Spanish-speaking community. She is a member of Alliance for Economic Inclusion in Kansas City and certified to prepare income taxes through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.

Alex Bibb has long wanted a career in community development. He worked as a field researcher for the US Financial Diaries Project. There he collected data on how working class households in the Brooklyn, NY managed their daily income and expenditures through biweekly interviews. Alex has also interned at the Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union and taught English in Colombia for a year. Alex earned his BA in International Studies in 2009 from Morehouse College.

Monique is a business development & marketing professional. With an eye on helping others excel in a global economy, Monique knows a broad range of experience and multiple areas of expertise are required. Her journey has included constantly seeking personal and professional growth by enhancing and expanding her skill set. She earned her Bachelor’s in Business Administration with Concentration in Business Management and a MBA in Strategic Management both from Davenport University. Monique is best described as a determined, open-minded, resourceful, goal-oriented young professional.

Ash Exantus is a thirteen year banking professional, motivational speaker, business consultant and financial literacy educator. He has helped countless people get their finances back in order from credit, to home ownership to retirement and investments. He is also a Certified FICO Professional (FICO PRO), a national designation that recognizes those individuals who have a strong understanding of FICO® scores and how the FICO® score impacts both the lender and the consumer. Ash is on a mission to financially re-educate every spectrum of humanity.

Lauren Hudson is a recent graduate from Sarah Lawrence College, where she concentrated in Studio Art and Human Geography. Since then, she has continued her interests in Solidarity Economics, Feminist Geography, and Participatory Action Research as a collective member of Solidarity NYC. Lauren also serves on the board of the Data Commons Cooperative. She recently finished her term of service as a New York City Civic Corps member where she was a Program Coordinator at New York Writers Coalition. A California native, she now lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Josh was originally introduced to credit unions during an internship in 2010. He recently received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing at San Jose State University. He decided to continue his credit union career path and moved to Tennessee to work for ACFCU. He will play an integral part in the advancement of its community development programs that serve the underserved in rural Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and SW Virginia. In his free time he enjoys working out, playing sports and hanging out with friends and family.

Lila Phimmasone is a recent grad from State University of New York: the College at Brockport with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in English Literature with a minor in history. While studying at Brockport she was actively involved in the campus service group, Brockport’s Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities that strive to build awareness about differently abled persons. Her future plans are to continue working at the credit union and continue writing her first novel.

Hudson Presume attended college at Georgia Southern University on a football scholarship, receiving a B.A in International Studies and minor in Spanish. Presume is passionate for competition and strives for success in anything he participates in. Hudson is outgoing, energetic, and people oriented which makes him a perfect candidate for a career in the credit unions. He is very active in his south Florida and has volunteered for several organizations including Relay for Life and Habitat for Humanity. Hudson will work with member services and the lending department at MCFCU.

Preeya Saikia's interest in economic development and credit unions began after witnessing the effects of the recession on low-income communities. She plans to pursue a career in which she can craft legislation that provides opportunities for low-income Americans. Preeya is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Public Administration with a focus on econometrics at CCNY. In addition to her coursework, she is Policy Director of Economic Development within the Roosevelt Institute Campus network at CCNY. She recently directed discussions on relief and recovery efforts post-Hurricane Sandy at Yale University with other officers of the Northeast Roosevelt Institute chapter. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a concentration in finance from the Macaulay Honors College at CCNY.

Phelicity Thompson has caught the “credit union bug.” What started out as an internship has turned into a career path. Her volunteer experience with the credit unions was a major help to the new CEO of the credit union. As she pursues her dance aspirations, Phelicity will work full-time at the credit union providing all aspects of back office support. She is well versed in communications and does publicity for the credit union.

Ashish Verma is an Electronic and Communication Engineer. Before joining CFLA program, he was working with Entercoms as an analytics intern in Solutions team. His responsibilities included data mining, predictive modeling, developing algorithms for supervised and un-supervised learning for business decision support. He worked with Toluna Pvt. Ltd., a market research organization, as a programmer/analyst. At Toluna, along with his analysis and programming responsibilities, he was also the subject matter expert for omnibus studies – short turnaround time online surveys. His first job after his under graduate degree was with Infosys, India based software giant, as a system programmer. He is currently a graduate student in Information Science.