NCBA CLUSA Board Member Debbie Wege among 2025 Herb Wegner Memorial Award winners

Debbie Wege, Cooperative Community Advocate at BECU and a member of NCBA CLUSA's Board of Directors, is among recipients of the 2025 Herb Wegner Memorial Awards, the credit union's highest national honor.

Announced by the National Credit Union Foundation on October 2, the awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement and Outstanding Program go to Teri Robinson, CEO of Ironworkers USA FCU (Oregon); Michael Valentine, president and CEO of BCU (Illinois); Debbie Wege, Cooperative Community Advocate at BECU (Washington); and Maine Credit Unions' Campaign for Ending Hunger.

"This prestigious honor highlights Debbie's commitment to bold, innovative and visionary leadership," BECU said in a LinkedIn post. Wege has worked for BECU for more than 30 years. In her current role, she champions the cooperative business model, finding creative space for BECU employees to engage in thoughtful work around co-op principles and values, building empathy and deepening their understanding of member needs. At the community level, Debbie represents BECU in areas that promote local, inclusive and healthy economies. This includes building relationships with other cooperatives, especially as chair of the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, which works to foster community economic development through the cooperative business models.

Wege and the other honorees will be celebrated at the annual Foundation Dinner on March 3, 2025 at the Marriot Marquis in conjunction with America's Credit Unions' Governmental Affairs Conference. Sponsorships and tickets for this black-tie optional dinner will be available mid-October.

The Herb Wegner Memorial Awards were established to honor the memory of Herb Wegner, a visionary leader who served as president and CEO of the Credit Union National Association (now America's Credit Unions) in the 1970s who is noted for seeing the credit union movement not as it was but how it could be. The awards that bear Wegner's name recognize his spirit of "innovative, creative and risk-taking" leadership.

View past award recipients

About the National Credit Union Foundation

The National Credit Union Foundation is the charitable arm of the U.S. credit union movement and works as a catalyst to improve people's financial lives through credit unions. Through grants and programs, the Foundation is strengthening financial well-being, igniting passion and instilling knowledge about the credit union difference, and uniting resources to help credit union people during disaster. Donations to the Foundation ultimately enable credit unions to help their members reach life-changing goals and achieve financial freedom.