This year our CEO, Diane Kocet is reaching a monumental milestone in her career. For 30 years at the Energy Credit Union, Diane has been guiding staff, board and members with passion and vigor. Her qualifications include an Accredited Credit Union Institute of Canada designation, Bachelors of Arts degree and she is an Accredited Mortgage Professional.
For those of you who are new to our organization, you may not know some of her accomplishments. She was awarded Allan Lanctot Mentor-ship Award by Central1. The Energy Credit Union was awarded a Golden Mirror Award from CUES for best website with her at the helm. Diane received the Credit Union Professional’s Association Professional of the Year Award in recognition of outstanding professional leadership and service to the credit union system and the community. Her co-operative efforts have been recognized by The Ontario Co-operative Association and she also received the Co-operative Innovation Award. Diane has served on the Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario’s (DICO) board advisory panel for Director Training and Education. She was elected to the Ontario Credit Union Managers Association Board of Directors (CUMA). This year she was also asked to represent Ontario Credit Unions as a member of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) advisory committee.
Although her career in the co-operative sector began before her time at the Energy Credit Union, she spent the majority of her career sharing her illustrious skill set with us here. With extensive experience in multiple departments from deposits to lending, she has continued to lead us all by example. Her spirit and drive have led the CU to a stronger and better position. Diane gave our small credit union a big voice, becoming a player on the larger field, by becoming a valuable member of various boards and committees. This let the big guys see that we can hold our own in this ever-changing environment.
Through it all Diane has made the tough decisions with grace. She has a long successful track record – one in which she held true to the principles of our Credit Union – Trust, Loyalty and Compassion. She showed us all that you can be rooted in the traditions of an 81 year old entity, and still be focused on the future. Her vision saw us releasing products and services before the big guys -even with their deep pockets. In a time of constant and dramatic change, her passion for excellence taught us how to stay the course, persevere and come out shining. She made it a priority to help staff believe in themselves and in their own capabilities. Her instinct, compassion and understanding have had a great impact on the lives of us, her employees as well as Energy CU members. In the past 30 years, Diane has shared her leadership with all of us at the CU and in her time here as CEO she has lead the way for our growth from a credit union with $20 million dollars in assets to over $70 million in assets. We’ve had mergers and banking conversions and multiple branch moves and we have adapted to all the changes with the help of her leadership and guidance.
So, from all of us here at the Energy CU, we’d like to congratulate Diane on 30 exciting and impressive years! We all look forward to 30 more!
