Who We Are

The Ontario Credit Union Foundation (OCUF) was incorporated May 11, 1979. Over the past 44 years we have supported credit unions and co-operatives with their philanthropic giving in communities across Ontario. OCUF receives oversight and strategic direction from a nine-member volunteer Board of Directors elected by members of the Foundation at the annual general meeting. The Foundation is similar to private and local community foundations in that it administers funds created by donors for specific charitable purposes. In addition to the 30 plus funds we manage, we maintain a general fund we use to support our main charitable activity, the support of youth education and leadership.

Charitable Registration #11906 7692 RR 0001

What We Do

We are a registered public foundation. What this means is we are registered with the Canada Revenue Agency and the Charities Directorate and as such have high standards (read that legal obligations) to uphold. We exist exclusively for charitable purposes. We are required to give more than 50% of our income annually to other qualified donees (e.g. registered charities) but are also permitted to carry out our own charitable activities. We receive funding from arm’s length donors.

Our primary activity is managing funds established by a donor that are held by the Foundation. These funds are gifted to the Foundation (ownership passed to OCUF) and we are required to ensure disbursements go to registered charities, support our charitable activity, or are moved to another foundation. The donor specifies where they wish the funds to go, or they may leave it to our discretion. We have two types of funds. Community Investment Funds and Permanent Capital Funds. Please refer to the Fund Information tab for more detailed information about our funds including out gift acceptance policy, fund description document, terms of reference for each fund type, and fee schedule.

We also offer services to member Credit Unions. We provide grant disbursement services for some of our credit unions. We also offer grant assessment and scholarship/bursary assessment. We have the advantage of being an independent, objective, third party which helps member organizations achieve their transparency obligations.

Additionally we conduct our own charitable activity in the form of a bursary program for financially deserving youth, resident in Ontario who are strong community citizens. Bursaries are granted to assist with post-secondary tuition at accredited college, university or vocational institutions.

 

Our Mission

“We partner with the credit unions of Ontario in support of youth education and leadership.”

With contributions from most of the credit unions of Ontario, we offer the CU Succeed Youth Bursary program for post secondary students (resident in the province) to assist financially deserving youth who are solid community citizens, with their tuition to accredited colleges, university and vocational institutions.

Board of Directors

Lissa Woolley

Liisa Woolley, Chair – SVP Member Experience, Northern Credit Union

With over 25 years of dedication to the Credit Union system, Liisa Woolley, Senior Vice President of Member Experience at Northern Credit Union, is a seasoned leader known for shaping member-centric strategies. Throughout her career, Liisa has been a driving force behind transformative initiatives, consistently elevating member satisfaction and loyalty.

Liisa is a collaborative and inspiring leader, who is a passionate advocate for financial literacy and community engagement. Actively involved in initiatives that promote financial education, Liisa is committed to empowering individuals and strengthening communities through accessible and responsible banking practices.

In her role as Senior Vice President of Member Experience, Liisa continues to champion member-centricity, ensuring that every interaction with the Credit Union leaves a lasting positive impact. Liisa is not only a passionate leader but a catalyst for positive change.

Frugina Ball, Vice Chair – Region Head, Member Experience, Greater Toronto Area, Alterna Financial Group

Frugina has over 25 years of Financial Services industry experience with the majority spent in senior leadership roles at both Alterna and a national Canadian Bank. These included the areas of Commercial Banking, Corporate Office, Wealth Private Client Services and Retail Distribution.

Specifically at Alterna, as part of her mandate, Frugina leads the growth and profitably of the branch portfolio; provides guidance and coaching to deliver superior member and customer experience in all channels; contributes to business development activities; overall leadership to the Retail branch teams in GTA, Wealth Management, Contact Centre and Affinity team oversight.

In her spare time, Frugina is a passionate champion of the benefits of a post secondary education. She has been an active volunteer in her high school, Toronto French School, as well as with Enactus Canada and her Church youth program. Frugina has an Honours Bachelor of Science from University of Toronto and obtained an MBA from Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontario. She lives in Toronto with her husband and their daughter.

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Adam Kirilo, Secretary-Treasurer  Vice President of Operations & Finance, Luminus Financial

Adam started in the Credit Union industry in 2006, joining the Audit Committee for Food Family Credit Union. Adam became Chair of the Board and an instrumental voice to lead merger discussions as his vision and determination proved influential amongst the other Directors. Adam continued his leadership on the Board as FFCU joined Luminus Financial in 2011. As Luminus Financial grew, its development fostered interest from Adam to join the Senior Management Team; to which he stepped down from the Board in early 2014 to live the dream of working for his Credit Union on a daily basis.

Adam is a Chartered Professional Accountant with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University. He led the integration of an enterprise content management system, Laserfiche, and helped earn Luminus Financial a Run Smarter Award for Best Human Resources Initiative at the 2017 Laserfiche Empower Conference. He has governed a handful of minor sports organizations but currently enjoys watching his son play high level baseball and his daughter skate across the ice.

Archie Bonifacio, Director – Chief Community Officer, YNCU

Archie Bonifacio, Chief Community Officer of YNCU. Archie started his financial services career 20 years ago in a leadership role with a full-service brokerage firm where he was responsible for marketing in Canada and led marketing initiatives in the UK and US. He joined the credit union system in 2013 and served as head of wealth for two large Ontario credit union before joining YNCU.

Archie is a huge advocate for education and believes the CU Succeed Youth Bursary is an incredible initiative. He is a co-author for McGraw-Hill’s Education “Marketing: The Core.” He obtained his BSc in Psychology from McMaster University and MBA from Wilfrid Laurier. His designations include Certified Financial Planner, Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute and Responsible Investment Specialist.

Chris Inniss, Director – CEO Mainstreet Credit Union

Chris Inniss, CEO & President of Mainstreet Credit Union, brings a strong and diversified background in financial services. A charismatic culture builder and big-picture thinker, Chris leads by example, fostering open communication and mentorship to empower his team to achieve the vision. Chris looks forward to transforming Mainstreet into a more digital organization while maintaining what differentiates us: caring for our members’ financial well-bring and our commitment to communities and local businesses.

In his down time, Chris enjoys spending time at home with his wife, daughter, and their three rescue dogs. He also enjoys making fun cocktails, competing in triathlons, travelling, and making connections.

Jason Moran, Director – Chief Executive Officer, HEMCU

Jason Moran has been part of the Credit Union system for over nineteen years, with the majority of his experience taking place within Manitoba and Ontario. Throughout his career, Jason has held virtually every retail branch position.
“Leaders instill in their people a hope for success and a belief in themselves”
As a lifelong learner, he earned his MBA in 2017 and has completed education in areas such as Business Administration, Human Resources, Leadership and Innovation.
He values the importance of community involvement and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Ontario National Young Leaders Committee and helped establish the Growing Minds Childcare Centre in Manitoba.
Jason enjoys Tillsonburg and time with his daughters and wife and is looking for opportunities to contribute to the community.

Randy Murray, Director – Senior Vice President, Member Experience Retail Banking, FirstOntario

Randy Murray is a financial industry executive with over 30 years of strategic leadership experience. Throughout his career Randy has always pursued his passions of developing people-focused work cultures and leading and motivating teams in surpassing organizational goals and expectations. A seasoned sales and operations professional, Randy contributed to the success of a number of financial institutions and service providers prior to joining FirstOntario Credit Union in 2009.
Randy’s demonstrated track record of leading FirstOntario’s retail branch networks to deliver exceptional member experience and achieve sustained performance and growth resulted in his rapid progression through increasingly senior roles from Regional Director, Member Experience to Associate Vice President, Member Experience, and being elevated to his current position as Vice President, Retail Branches in 2019.
Randy lives in Ancaster and loves spending time with his family, and he plays hockey and golf in his spare time.

Mimi Regimbal, Director – CEO, Sudbury Credit Union

Mimi Regimbal has worked with Sudbury Credit Union for more than 25 years.  She began her career with the Credit Union as a part time teller, moving from there into the marketing area, and then to finance once she received her professional designation as a Certified Management Accountant.  Prior to becoming CEO in 2009, she held the position of CFO.   Mimi also holds a designation of Associate of the Credit Union Institute of Canada. In the credit union system, she is a member of the Central 1 Payments Advisory Committee and the CUSA Board (Credit Union Services Association).
In her community she is a board member with the Sudbury McCulloch Hospice Foundation Board; the treasurer for a local Community Action Network and she also serves on parent council of her son’s high school. Mimi is a life-long resident of Copper Cliff, and very proud mom of her daughter and son.

Ron Smith, Director – CEO Talka Credit Union

Ron Smith, who has held the role of CEO of Talka Credit Union since 2017. Prior to that he held senior management positions with two Ontario credit unions. Ron was the Controller at Credit Union Central of Ontario for 20 years, overseeing the account of OCUF. Ron has a life-long career with Ontario credit unions. How long you might ask. Ron tells us his connection to the Foundation started with one of his first audits at Ward Mallette was with Ontario Central’s Corporate Secretary, Kevin Fleming who looked after the ledger book of the Foundation at the time. Ron is a Certified Public Accountant and is excited to share his knowledge and experience supporting the good work done by OCUF.

Director Emeritus

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Guido Chezzi, Retired Executive

Guido Chezzi has been involved with the Credit Union for 50 years. He was Vice Chair of the Ontario Credit Union Foundation and has received an achievement award from this organization. He has facilitated with young co-op leaders and has received a “Youth Mentorship Award” from the ON co-op. He was an avid member of Northern Credit Union. In June he received “Safety Recognition” for presenting to co-op students in various high schools about job safety in the workplace. His presentations covered the “Industrial Accident Prevention Association” in Toronto. Guido has managed the Credit Union for 15 years as a founder of the Coniston community. He was the chapter president in Sudbury for 33 different Credit Unions throughout the city. He also sat on the Cumis Board for 10 years on the International Program Committee and spent another10 years being a part of the Canadian Cooperative Association. Guido also dedicated his time in Africa working with various Credit Unions. He was a volunteer fireman for 35 years as well as being a community Lions Club member. He worked at INCO for 38 years. He enjoys spending time with his 2 daughters and their 5 grandchildren.

Director Emeritus

TonyNweb

Tony Niessen, Retired Executive

Tony Niessen has been involved in the credit union system since 1967 and was CEO of Family Savings & Credit Union until 1999 when he became CEO of FirstOntario. During Tony’s tenure with Family Savings, his credit union was honored at that time, to be the only credit union in Canada to receive the National Economic Community Development Award twice, as well as the St. Catharines Corporate Achievement Award in company with General Motors, TRW and Dana Corporation. Tony initiated the Ontario Group of 12, is Past Chair of the Credit Union Executive Society Ontario Council, and was a director of CUMIS Insurance. Tony’s involvement with the Charitable Foundation began in 1987 as a Director until the board hired him into the position of the Foundation’s first permanent Executive Director in 2005. From its very beginning, Tony has been a strong proponent of the Foundation leveraging its funding through partnerships with Ontario’s credit unions.

Staff

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Clayton Shold, Executive Director

Clayton brings more than three decades of proven leadership and business development experience to OCUF, having held a series of increasingly senior positions with several of Canada’s largest and most prominent financial institutions. As VP Marketing Services with Foresters, he lead the successful pilot for a major change initiative across Canada, the U.S. and U.K. A dozen years ago he shifted gears to the not-for-profit sector. A lifelong volunteer, Clayton is the Board Chair of the Oakville Milton Humane Society, President of the Canadian Club of Halton, and sits on the executive of his golf association. Clayton and his wife are avid golfers and share their home with their ten year old boxer.

Rea Vriends, Digital Media & Marketing

Rea is a four-time CU Succeed Youth Bursary recipient who is now working on the other side of the campaign. As a user of the service and a university student, she brings a unique perspective to the table. She has a strong interest in the not-for-profit sector and is passionate about her community. She has previous experience in the not-for-profit world working as the Community Outreach and Engagement Representative for Brant United Way. In her free time, she loves to spend time playing sports, hiking, reading, and, of course, volunteering.

Credit Union Members

We are proud to support the credit unions in Ontario. Collectively we make a difference in communities throughout the province.

Individual Membership

An annual membership in your Foundation provides a host of tangible and intangible benefits, including:

  • Membership in a charitable organization which funds the CU Succeed Youth Bursary
  • The opportunity to make a difference in your own community with like-minded individuals
  • Be part of a provincial organization showcasing credit unions of all sizes who are promoting charitable giving in Canada
  • Access to our quarterly newsletter
  • A tax receipt for your membership fee
  • The opportunity to set up a monthly recurring donation from your credit card to support youth education and leadership
  • Eligible to vote at the Annual General Meeting
  • Eligible to be nominated to become a member of our Board of Directors
  • Sleep well at night, knowing you have helped a deserving student get a step closer to achieving their dreams.

All for $20.

Sign up today!      Become a Member        Renew Membership