(October 17, 2006 – Durham, NC)  Long-time community development credit union (CDCU) advocate and supporter John Herrera has been nominated for the District 3, Class B seat on the Board of Directors of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).

Sen. Elizabeth Dole accepts an award from LCCU Board Chairman, John Herrera at the Federation's 32nd Annual Meeting in June.

Herrera currently serves as the volunteer Board Chairman of the Latino Community Credit Union (LCCU) in Durham, North Carolina, which has been one of the fastest growing start-up CDCUs in the country, growing to over $40 million in assets since the year 2000, and serving more than 49,000 members through six branches located across the state of North Carolina.

“The National Federation of CDCUs is pleased to announce its support for John Herrera's candidacy for the CUNA Board of Directors,” said Cliff Rosenthal, Executive Director of the Federation. “John Herrera has been a leader and driving force behind the Latino Community Credit Union, the most successful start-up CDCU in the Federation’s history.  He has distinguished himself by his impassioned support for cooperative principles and vigorous advocacy for expanding service to the underserved, especially immigrants. He is truly committed to the credit union philosophy of ‘people helping people’ and has broad knowledge of the credit union movement nationally and internationally. As a volunteer official of his credit union, and as a long-time volunteer on the Federation's Latino Credit Union Task Force, he would bring a valuable perspective to CUNA's board.”

Mr. Herrera has been instrumental in planning the Federation’s Latino credit union conferences, the most recent of which was held this year in Durham, North Carolina.
This year’s 4th Latino CU Conference & Federation Annual Meeting attracted over 400 participants, including national leaders from the credit union movement, United States Senator Elizabeth Dole, and the United States Treasurer, Anna Escobedo Cabral.

His work on the conference was crowned with an historic agreement between LCCU and Mexico’s BANSEFI network.  The agreement set a $3 flat-rate on all remittances between LCCU members and Red de la Gente institutions.  A special report on the Federation’s 2006 conferences is available at: www.cdcu.coop.

Born in Costa Rica, Herrera immigrated to the United States in 1983, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1999.  In addition to serving as the board chairman of LCCU, he is also a senior vice-president at another CDCU, Durham’s $250 million Self-Help Credit Union.