CU*Answers recognized Bill Nikolauk, President CEO of 1st Community FCU in San Angelo, Texas, as the winner of its 11th annual “Spirit of CU*Answers” award. Nikolauk accepted the award at the CU*Answers 2021 Leadership Conference on June 16th, 2021, at the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The award was presented by Geoff Johnson, CU*Answers, who said that Nikolauk had been introduced to CU*Answers roughly five years ago at a meeting between CU*Answers and Sync1, where Nikolauk serves as board chair. Said Johnson, “Even though he assured me at the time that he was not looking for a new core, after that first introduction and some due diligence, Bill’s credit union moved quickly to become a CU*Answers client and a very active partner-owner. Bill continues to be a strong supporter of the network and an activate participant in our growth in the Texas region.”
Nikolauk was also instrumental in introducing CU*Answers to last year’s winner of the Robert H. Mackay award, Drake Tanabe, CEO of Hawaii Central FCU. That credit union was CU*Answers’ first partner from the Hawaiian islands, a region where, like in Texas, the CU*Answers CUSO’s presence continues to grow.
The Spirit of CU*Answers award, established in 2011, recognizes a client credit union for excellence in a variety of areas. In the past the award has also allowed the CUSO to recognize credit unions who have strong volunteer programs, who have demonstrated particularly strong execution and performance or a high level of adoption of CU*Answers tools, who show innovative examples of collaboration and cooperation, who have found new ways to demonstrate commitment to the 7 Cooperative Principles, or who’ve started new businesses in the network.