At their recent Leadership Conference, CU*Answers announced the winners of two annual awards. Patrick Basler, CEO of First Financial Credit Union in Chicago, Illinois was presented with the Robert H. Mackay Leadership award and the Spirit of CU*Answers award was presented to Services Center Federal Credit Union in Yankton, South Dakota.

The Robert H. Mackay award was established in 2005 to recognize the leadership contribution of Robert Mackay, retired CEO of Berrien Teacher CU (now known as Honor Credit Union,) who served as a member of the CU*Answers Board of Directors from 1985 to 2007 and as Chairman for 19 of those years. Randy Karnes, CU*Answers CEO said “Bob’s leadership and inspiration served not only as a guide but as the compass for CU*Answers to grow and prosper into a CUSO that is now known in the industry for its core values of cooperation, collaboration and innovation.” Each year this award is presented to an individual who exemplifies these leadership skills. Patrick Basler’s leadership is visible in the cuasterisk.com network, has been recognized as a CU Trailblazer 40 Below, and served as a guest panelist at the THINK Conference 13.

The Spirit of CU*Answers award, established in 2011, recognizes a client credit union for excellence in a variety of areas. This year’s winner, Services Center FCU, was presented this award for starting a business in the network. Site-Four, does daily operations for 46 credit unions and almost 165,000 members in all 4 time zones, and has performed 3 major disaster recovery rollovers.