About the competition
In the fall of 2013, the Saskatchewan Young Leaders Committee partnered with Currency Marketing to hold the first-ever innovative competition for young credit union professionals in Saskatchwan. Called Sask CU Advance, the initiative’s mandate was to search for emerging credit union leaders with ideas to advance Saskatchewan’s credit unions. Almost $5,000 in prizes was awarded along with recognition to those who are advancing our credit unions.
Sask CU Advance provided a venue for sharing ideas and perspectives, while raising conversations throughout the entire credit union system. Through this competition, we were able to share ideas between emerging and established senior leaders, which directly focused on solving some of the challenges facing the system today.
Through our website and social media presence, Sask CU Advance provided a venue for sharing ideas and perspectives. Many great ideas have been uncovered and shared by Saskatchewan’s young leaders. At the same time, the Sask CU Advance competition provided an unparalleled development opportunity for emerging leaders.
The SYL received 20 fantastic applications from across the province. View a summary of the ideas that were brought forward by the applicants. We encourage you to review and utilize these ideas to continue to grow and foster the credit union system forward.
Our entrants
The winner
Ashley Hamilton, Member Service Representative with Prairie Centre Credit Union in Eston, SK, was named the winner of the Sask CU Advance competition.
For her effort, she won a $3,500 educational stipend. Hamilton’s idea was to develop informative and fun financial literacy presentations for high school students. Hamilton’s goal is to teach young people about debt, credit and savings to empower them with the knowledge they need to make smart financial decisions. The idea is designed to appeal to young people while educating them. In her presentation, Hamilton provided suggestions for how credit unions of any size could implement similar programs of their own.
Ashley’s idea was chosen from a group of 20 original entries, and was one of three voted into the finals by the public in October 2013. The 3 finalists completed a final live presentation at Saskatchewan Credit Unions’ CEO Peer Group meeting in Nov 2013. Hamilton emerged the winner after a two-part scoring process that included Saskatchewan CEO audience voting along with an online public vote.
The finalists
In addition to Ashley, the other finalists were Shaun Henry of Synergy Credit Union in Kindersley and Chelsey Protz of Cornerstone Credit Union in Yorkton.
Watch Ashley’s presentation