2011 Order of Merit
Wayne McLeod
Nominated by Westoba Credit Union
Wayne was hired as the GM of Brandon Consumers Credit Union in 1970 (renamed Westoba in 1972), and oversaw its expansion from a single branch to the sixth largest CU in Manitoba with over a billion in assets, forty thousand members and 20 branches throughout Manitoba.
Among its many achievements under Wayne’s leadership, Westoba was the first FI outside Winnipeg to install an ATM, and the first MB CU to connect to Interac. Wayne started serving the wider system in the early ’70s and never looked back. He is a past chair of the CU Stabilization Fund (DGCM) and CUMAM, MB’s current representative on The Co-operators and Concentra boards and, since 1984, district director on CUCM’s board.
Wayne’s work with the MCA and CCA resulted in being appointed chair of the Co-operative Development Foundation, an organization he is passionate about. Wayne’s work outside the system includes service as board member or chair of the Brandon C of C, general hospital and health authority, economic development board, community college and nine years on city council.
In addition to being named a Manitoba Distinguished Co-operator in 2011, Wayne was named Brandon’s Businessperson of the Year for 2002 in recognition of his community leadership, and in 2003 he won a CMHA Best Boss Award for Outstanding Promotion of Mental Health in the Workplace. Every single employee of Westoba Credit Union signed the nomination.
Mel Klassen
Nominated by Access Credit Union
An educator by training and vocation, Mel retired in 1995 after a 38-year career teaching and serving as principal at schools in the Altona area.
Mel served on the board of Altona Credit Union from 1974 to 2002, for 16 of those 28 years as president. He served for six years on CUCM’s board, part of his term as vice-president. In addition to his board and committee work on CUCM’s board, he sat on the MCA’s Distinguished Co-operator Selection Committee and served as president of the Southern Manitoba Chapter of Credit Unions. He also served as a system appointee on the board of the Deposit Guarantee Corporation of Manitoba from 2001 to December 2011, as chair of its bonding committee from 2003 to 2009.
In addition to his work for Altona Credit Union and the Manitoba credit union system, Mel has served or continues to serve on the boards of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, the Manitoba Employees’ Pension Fund, and the provincial government’s Green Manitoba Eco Solutions Advisory Board. In 1980, in an initiative close to his heart, he helped establish Altona Minor Ball, which exists to this day and is considered one of the leading baseball programs in Manitoba.
Mel has also served in a variety of capacities on numerous committees related to his church and various other community based organizations and initiatives.