Bill Sterner

By Joyce Moed, Reporter

BOULDER, Colo.–The National Credit Union Foundation will present a Herb Wegner Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement to Bill Sterner, a long-time CU pioneer, who died in 2008 at the age of 66 after suffering a heart attack at the Credit Union Association of Colorado’s Legislative Forum.

Sterner was nominated for the award by many leaders in the credit union movement, who poured out their hearts in nomination letters sent to NCUF.

“Bill demonstrated so many great qualities from mentor, educator, and credit union philosopher to his great sense of humor,” wrote Douglas Burke, president/CEO of the Credit Union Service Network.

“Above all, Bill had a genuine passion for credit unions and the cooperative business model, which he continually demonstrated through active involvement,” wrote Lynn Walloch, Elevations CU past chair.

The nomination list is very extensive, with many nominators citing similar words.

But nobody had more to say about Werner’s achievements than his wife, Pat Brownell Sterner, who used to lead the NCUF.

“He spent his whole career basically in credit unions,” she said. “He was very involved, very focused on service.”

She said that although he would have been pleased to receive this award, he also would have been “a little embarrassed.”

“He was not an attention-seeker,” she explained.

She added that while Sterner was “incredibly generous with his time” in CU world, “he also had a good balance with worth and the rest of his life.”

“He kept his priorities straight,” she said. “He was a very good mentor, as well. He was also incredibly respectful of other people’s opinions. Even the most bizarre ideas, he would say ‘Let’s talk about that.’”

In the 1960s, Werner began his professional career when he worked for seven years with the Peace Corps in South America where he helped villagers in Colombia and Ecuador establish financial cooperatives.

Sterner is also recognized for the saving the Credit Union Development Education program. When he served as a VP for CUNA in the early ‘80s, he advocated for federal legislation establishing Biden-Pell grants, which empowered CU leaders launching the education program. In 1990, Sterner led a CUNA program–Credit Union Moonshot–aimed at increasing CU membership to 100 million by the year 2000. At the time, total CU membership was less than 70 million. The goal was not reached, but Sterner continued to work with CUs, helping them grow membership.

In 1997, Sterner went to work at the University of Colorado FCU in Boulder as VP of marketing, hoping to reach out to young people. In 2000, he was named the interim CEO for the CU. He was later named permanent CEO. He held this position for eight years. During this time, he changed the CU’s name to Elevations CU, expanded the CU’s FOM and created many unique products including a 0% bicycle loan for students.

At the time of his death, was still CEO of the $790-million Elevations CU. (The CU had $340 million in assets when he became CEO.)

Sterner also served as chairman of the CU Association of Colorado, and volunteered as a director for SunCorp Credit Union. He was also on the board of CUSN.