Teachers Credit Union (TCU) has announced the recipients of this year’s David R. Sage Exemplary Leadership Awards.
The awards are inspired by former TCU board member David Sage who served a total of over 40 years on the board, 25 of which were as the board chair. Through his commitment to TCU and his strong work ethic, Sage was able to demonstrate quality leadership values that employees work to model even after his retirement.
“When David Sage came on board, we were a $500 million credit union. When he left the board, we were over $4 billion,” said TCU’s Vice President of Human Resources Tom Lee. “He just kept us focused on the mission and held the credit union very well.”
When Sage was going to retire, fellow board member, Roger Thorton, made the motion at Sage’s last meeting for the credit union to create an award in his honor. This marked the official beginning of the David R. Sage Awards.
Lee and the human resources team then got to work developing the criteria for the awards.
TCU employees can nominate their peers for the award annually.
“Any team member within the organization, no matter how long they've been here, can nominate someone, and any team member, no matter how long they've been here, can be nominated,” Lee said.
According to Lee, this factor is what made him really appreciate the David R. Sage awards. Instead of seniority, these awards focus solely on the quality of work by TCU employees and their commitment to the team, the community and to their members.
The awards are broken down into three leadership categories: leadership in the workplace, leadership in core values, and leadership in community service. Award recipients are selected anonymously by TCU’s executive management team.
The financial institution recognized four of its employees this year. TJ Aronson and Dhushyantha Mullakandage Don both received the leadership and core values award, while Catrina Tate received the leadership in community service award and Ryan Woodruff was honored with the leadership in the workplace award.
Recipients of these awards win more than just bragging rights; they also receive an award and cash prize.
“First and foremost, they win a beautiful award and they also win $5,000,” said Lee. The winners are also recognized throughout the credit union and congratulated by their peers.
Lee said this is an exciting opportunity for all TCU team members.
“It's really exciting to see team members know they can have a role in selecting employees who are being honored. It’s not just the managers or executives leading the process” said Lee. “We try to reinforce that once you're a winner, you're always a winner. It's not just you’re the winner for this year. You continue to be recognized, so that's what makes it exciting.”
For more information on Teachers Credit Union, visit www.tcunet.com.
