Alterna Leader Participates in First Global Women’s Leadership Forum

Toronto, August 24, 2009 – Kimberley Ney, Alterna’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility, is one of only 40 women worldwide to participate in the 2009 Global Women’s Leadership Forum, the inaugural gathering of the newly created Global Women’s Leadership Network.

The network, launched earlier this year by World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) and the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA), is the first of its kind. It brings together women credit union leaders from around the world to connect and share ideas through a peer advisory program. The one-day forum, held July 30 in conjunction with WOCCU’s World Credit Union Conference in Barcelona, Spain, brought together women leaders from 17 countries to share ideas and participate in peer advisory sessions on strategic credit union issues.

Participants addressed broad industry concerns as well as issues in daily credit union operations back home in roundtable discussions, with topics including strategies for driving growth, controlling costs and enhancing influence on national and local levels. Participants included top women CEOs, executive staff and board directors from credit unions and industry vendors. Countries represented ranged from Australia and Belarus to Mexico and Zimbabwe. 

Faced with the global financial crisis, credit unions worldwide recognize that cultivating future leadership is more critical than ever. The Global Women’s Leadership Network, supported by credit unions and individuals alike, is designed to enable women in credit unions to connect, communicate and seek confidential advice from their peers around the world. Donors supporting the network also fund WOCCU and CCA programs that help credit unions reach out to women living in poverty to provide them with basic financial services that will help them lead the development of their communities.

In addition to the 40 women attending the Global Women’s Leadership Forum, women leaders from around the globe have joined the larger network. The full list of current network members is posted at www.woccu.org/womensleadership.

For complete information about the network, visit www.woccu.org/womensleadershipor contact Valerie Breunig at vbreunig@woccu.org. Canadians can contact Julie Breuer at the Canadian Development Foundation jbreuer@coopscanada.coop. The next Global Women’s Leadership Forum will take place July 2010 in Las Vegas, Nev., USA.

For more information, please contact:
Kimberley Ney,
SVP, Marketing, Communications and CSR
1-877-560-0100, ext. 7906 / 416-252-5625, ext. 7906