2024 Order of Merit
Brent Thomas
Over his career of more than 40 years, Brent Thomas earned a well-deserved reputation as a committed, collaborative leader who focused his energy on the people he served and worked with. Members, colleagues and employees will all attest to the strong corporate culture he established and grew at Casera Credit Union.
In 1983, Brent began as Operations Manager at Heritage Credit Union. Following the 1988 amalgamation of Heritage with Cambrian Credit Union, he spent a year as Accounting & Audit Manager before becoming a Branch Manager. In 1992, he was named General Manager of Buffalo Credit Union, where he served until 1999 when he was appointed CEO of Transcona Credit Union.
Under Brent’s leadership, the credit union’s assets grew from $65 million to $522 million by the time he retired in 2023. With the opening of a new branch on St. Anne’s Road in 2006, a new name — Casera — was introduced, reflecting the credit union’s growing scope and more contemporary identity.
In addition to his responsibilities as Casera’s CEO, Brent also contributed to the Manitoba credit union system through his work on behalf of Peer Group 5, as well as CUCM’s Collaboration Group and Management Advisory Committee.
Transcona Collegiate’s innovative Titan Credit Union flourished during Brent’s tenure, inspiring credit unions across Canada to adopt its curriculum in their community high schools. In 2006, Casera received a youth leadership award from the Manitoba Cooperative Association for the program; Casera was also instrumental in launching Dakota Collegiate’s Lancer Credit Union in 2015.
A tireless supporter of his community, Brent has devoted countless hours to the Springfield Employment Network, Transcona Council for Seniors, St. Vital Museum and Save Our Seine River Environment. He received the Mayor’s Award in 2023 for his service on the board of the Transcona Business Improvement Zone (BIZ), which included a four-year term as chair. He also spent some time behind the bench as manager of the Winnipeg Lightning, his daughter’s fastpitch team.
Brent’s professional credentials include designations and academic training from the Canadian Institute of Management, Canadian Institute of Financial Planning, Red River College, Governance Solutions, Humanity Financial Management and Volunteer Manitoba.
Ed Bergen’s selection for the Manitoba Credit Unions Order of Merit award is the natural culmination of his 50-year career of professional accomplishment and dedication to the members and communities he served.
While his journey began in 1973 at Winnipeg South (now Cambrian) Credit Union, Ed is best known for the outstanding growth that marked his tenure as CEO of Sunova Credit Union.
When he was named General Manager in 1981, South Interlake Credit Union was a modest $8-million credit union, with branches in Stonewall and Teulon, a sub-branch in Inwood… and a $1.3-million deficit. Over the ensuing forty years, SICU evolved to become Sunova Credit Union, with a network of 14 branches and $3 billion in assets at the time of its amalgamation with Access Credit Union in 2021.
Ed’s leadership was particularly impactful in 2000, when BMO pulled out of Pinawa, Beausejour and Lac du Bonnet. SICU stepped up to fill the void by purchasing the bank’s books of business at those branches, ensuring residents had continued access to financial services in their home communities.
The Sunova rebranding in 2008 brought a fresh new name and look to the credit union, as well as major community projects such as the Sunova Centre in West St. Paul and Sunova Arena in Warren. Among many award-winning creative initiatives was Sunova’s Director of Greetings (D.O.G.) program, featuring a group of furry, friendly ambassadors that quickly became favourites of members and staff alike.
As well as his involvement on Sunova’s Executive, Audit and Nomination committees, Ed served on Credit Union Central of Manitoba’s Management Advisory Committee from 2002 to 2012. He was elected to the CUCM board in 2019 and was part of the Investment Committee in that capacity.
As a member of the Credit Union Executives Society, Ed attended executive classes at MIT, Harvard, University of West Virginia, Johnson School of Business at Berkeley and Ithaca. He was inducted into the CUES Hall of Fame in 2021.
In the community, Ed has committed significant time and energy to organizations in the health sector, as chair on the boards of the Stonewall & District Health Centre, Health Insurance Reciprocal of Canada, Canadian Health Organization and Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Association. He has also served on the boards of the Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg Regional Health and Health Care Pension Fund.
Ed Bergen
Alexander (Sandy) Wallace
Sandy Wallace was nominated for the Order of Merit award by Niverville Credit Union, in honour and recognition of his 28 years of service on their board — including seven years as chair — as well as his 18 years on the board of Credit Union Central of Manitoba.
His time on Central’s board included significant contributions to the System Credit, Audit and Risk, Investment, Governance and Conduct Review, and Executive committees, with terms as chair on several of them. He served as the board’s First Vice-Chair for ten years and represented CUCM as delegate to The Co-operators regional committee and on the boards of the Manitoba Cooperative Association and Canadian Cooperative Association. He also participated on CUCM’s Human Resources Advisory Committee.
Throughout his years on the Niverville and CUCM boards, Sandy demonstrated his commitment to cooperative principles through ongoing education. To meet the many challenges faced by boards in the complex and rapidly changing world of corporate governance, he completed courses and achieved accreditations from the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D), Credit Union Institute of Canada (through Dalhousie University) and Canadian Institute of Management (through the University of Manitoba).
Always an enthusiastic advocate and promoter of co-operative values and principles, Sandy continues to support the Canadian Co-operative Association and its work. In true co-operative spirit, he enthusiastically shared his knowledge and experience in Malawi and Ghana, through the CCA’s Credit Union Governance Coaching Program — and was forever touched by the life changes his work brought to the people he worked with.
His community work includes an appointment by the RM of Taché as delegate to the Seine-Rat River Conservation District. He also served many years on the boards of the Ile des Chênes Minor Hockey Association and Niverville Heritage Centre.
Sandy’s working career began with Manitoba Hydro — first as a lineman, then in a customer service role as a Key Account Officer. He retired from Hydro in 2006. With his two brothers, he also operated a grain farm from 1978 to 2012.