UCU Scholarship Recipients

 

UCU supports students in our community by continuing to invest in their education. During this year’s AGM, UCU awarded 6 scholarships to post-secondary students who have been Members of UCU for at least 2 years.

The Scholarship Committee, headed by Board Director Taras Hetmanczuk along with Board Director William Roman, reviewed many applications from accomplished candidates and based their decisions on 4 different criteria - academic performance, leadership and community involvement, commitment to volunteerism and fit to the scholarship criteria.

UCU congratulates the following scholarship recipients:

Wasyl Sytnyk Memorial Scholarship - awarded to students showing community involvement and studying in the fields of business, finance, banking and wealth management.

Emmy Lebed - is studying towards a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Queen’s University. Emmy is the President of Queen’s Ukrainian Students Association, a volunteer for Help Us Help the Children and a Plast camp counsellor.

Michael Rebryk Memorial Scholarship - awarded to students showing community involvement and studying in the field of either sports & recreation or performing arts.

Sophia Holowaty - is studying towards a Bachelor of Kinesiology degree at the University of Toronto. She is Co-President of the University of Toronto Ukrainian Students Club, a year-round and summer counsellor for Plast, and a fundraising volunteer for the Ukrainian Care Centre.

Eugene Roman Scholarship - awarded to students enrolled in a post-secondary institution that will lead to a career in the technology sector, shows above-average academic skills and demonstrates leadership and community involvement.

Alexandra Pavliuc - is studying towards her PhD in Social Data Science at Oxford University. She is involved with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, leading impactful webinars and virtual presentations on topics related to Russian disinformation, data science and social media. She is also a volunteer with Plast and Help Us Help the Children.

UCU Community Leadership Scholarship – awarded to students showing community involvement and studying in various programs in a post-secondary educational institution.

Viktoriya Prykhodko - is studying towards a Master of Education degree at the University of Toronto.  Over the past 3 years, she has volunteered at various Ukrainian Saturday Schools and for the Special Olympics. She was previously on the executive of the University of Toronto Ukrainian Students Club.

Alexa Sochaniwsky - is studying towards an Honors Bachelor of Science degree in Math and Statistics at McMaster University. She is the Vice President of the McMaster Ukrainian Students Association and has volunteered at Barvinok Ukrainian Dance School and the Etobicoke Humane Society.

Larysa Stech - is studying towards an Honors Bachelor of Science degree in Life Sciences at McMaster University. She has been on the Dean’s List the past 2 years, is President of the McMaster Ukrainian Students Association, a volunteer peer mentor at McMaster Life Sciences Society and a program coordinator at CYM.

UCU congratulates the scholarship recipients and wishes all of our student Members a meaningful and successful academic year.

 

 

UCU Annual General Meeting

 

UCU hosted its 77^th Annual General Meeting on April 20th as a virtual Zoom event - following the guidelines set by Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health to ensure community safety as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yaroslaw Borys, UCU Board Chair, and Taras Pidzamecky, UCU CEO, presented the annual report which showed strong financial results despite the volatility set off by the pandemic. They revealed 2020 was a year of healthy growth, solid results and prudent increases in reserves that will serve to mitigate pandemic related uncertainties ahead.

Thank You to Our Employees

On behalf of UCU Members and the Board of Directors, a heartfelt appreciation was extended to all UCU employees who kept Branches open as an essential service – in particular the Branch staff who interacted directly with the public and meticulously followed health and safety protocols to keep Members, themselves and their families safe.

Many UCU staff had to take on new responsibilities to serve Members remotely through the expanded Call Centre. They helped Members navigate UCU’s digital landscape of online and mobile app banking to minimize the need to visit a local Branch.

2020 Financial Highlights

In 2020, UCU continued to grow and its underlying financial performance remained stable. Assets increased over $67 million, deposits grew just over $56 million and loans to Members increased by more than $40 million.

Long before the pandemic, UCU put into place a careful asset-liability management plan. This plan coupled with stronger revenues from Wealth Management, creditor insurance and service fees, resulted in an overall increase in total revenue for 2020.

Credit Report

UCU did not experience a year-over-year spike in loans written off – but Management was careful to set aside sufficient loan reserves to take into account possible fallout from the once-in-a-century social and economic turmoil brought on by the pandemic.

UCU indicators for credit risk and delinquent loans in 2020 remained well below that of the credit union sector overall.

COVID-19 Response

UCU was able to support Business Members through the administration of 170 CEBA loans totaling over $6 million. Management also implemented a successful loan deferral program to assist borrowing Members who were negatively impacted by the pandemic.

UCU increased its Call Centre capacity by four times and extended Call Centre hours to grow this service channel to help our Members discover the convenience and safety of doing their banking from home.

Sharing Our Co-Operative Success

One of UCU’s core values - Building Community - did not take a break during the pandemic when assistance was needed more than ever. UCU supported more than 130 organizations with donations and sponsorships in 2020 - maintaining the lion’s share of previous years’ community support in place despite the uncertainty and tighter economic conditions brought on by COVID-19.

2020 Annual Report

The full 2020 Annual Report, including the Audit Committee report, report of the Independent Auditor and summary consolidated statement of financial position can be found on the UCU website.

 

UCU Board of Directors Nominees

 

During this year’s Annual General Meeting, three current Board members and one new Board member were elected by acclamation to the UCU Board of Directors.

The newly elected members bring diverse knowledge and viewpoints to the Board and will work closely with other members to support UCU's Vision Statement. The Board members will be involved in strategic planning, policy development and management oversight of the Credit Union.

Meet the newly elected Board members.

Slawko (Yaroslaw) Borys

Slawko (Yaroslaw) Borys was elected to the UCU Board of Directors in 2013 and has served as Chair since 2019. He is also a member of the Governance Committee.

Mr. Borys has been involved in the Aviation Industry for over 20 years - primarily dealing with flight operations, safety & risk management and regulatory affairs. During his career he has held several management positions with Canadian airlines and is currently Director of Safety, Security and Regulatory Affairs for Air Canada’s new airline, Air Canada rouge.

He is an active member of the Ukrainian Canadian community with leadership roles in the Ukrainian National Federation and sits on the Board of UNF – Toronto.

Bob Diakow

Bob Diakow is a retired senior manager with a broad background in manufacturing, wholesale distribution and municipal government in the Information Technology (IT) sector. He has extensive experience in strategic planning, project management, governance and financial management.

Mr. Diakow served on the board of the Ukrainian (St. Catharines) Credit Union for 25 years, before its merger with Ukrainian Credit Union Limited, including ten years as President of the Board.

He is an active member of the Ukrainian Canadian community and is currently on the executive of the St. Catharines branch of the UNF and the Niagara Branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

Elena (Olena) Kroupa

Elena (Olena) Kroupa is the Director of Information Systems and Technology Solutions at United Way of Greater Toronto. She has been driving transformational change through complex corporate initiatives for close to two decades across multiple industries, including marketing and advertising, financial services, insurance, and pharmaceutical.

She is an active member of the Ukrainian Canadian community and supports many projects initiated by the Josyf Cardinal Slipyj School and the Ukrainian Heritage School of St. Nicholas Parish.

Taras (Walter) Rohatyn

Taras (Walter) Rohatyn has been a UCU Board member for the past 5 years. He has a broad employment background which includes working in banking, commercial credit, the provincial government and the non-profit sector.

He is an active member of the Ukrainian Canadian community and currently holds the position of Chair of the UNF Foundation. He was past Director of the National Executive of UNF Canada as well as past President of the Sudbury and Windsor UNF Branches.

More information about the UCU Board of Directors can be found on the UCU website.