Thank you for joining us for our January CTC Friday Conversation:" Celebrating National Mentoring Month - Building Inclusive Leadership Pipelines: Mentorship and Professional Development."

National Mentoring Month is celebrated every January to recognize the positive impact of mentors and encourage more people to become mentors. Thank you for joining us as we explored strategies for developing diverse leadership through mentorship programs that cultivate future leaders across all backgrounds in credit union management, board governance, and financial services. This session highlighted the benefits of mentorship, shared inspiring experiences, and provided actionable frameworks for building inclusive leadership pipelines within your organization. 

Our esteemed panelists were:

• Grace Thompson, SVP Engagement, Diversity & Inclusion, Local Government Federal Credit Union
• Duane Day, VP of Electronic and Deposit Support Services, MECU Credit Union
• Christiana Hancock, Manager of Talent Acquisition, SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union
• Patty Corkery, President/CEO, Michigan Credit Union League & CUSG

Shellee Mitchell, Founder of 1-to-1Women Mentoring & Sapphire Dimension, LLC moderated the session. 

**RECORDING COMING SOON**

Keep reading to learn more about panelists and moderator. 

Grace Thompson
SVP Engagement, Diversity and Inclusion
Local Government Federal Credit Union

Grace Thompson is a Coach with over twenty (20) years of Human Resources experience, which includes coaching executives, leaders, and non-management staff. She has worked in the financial, engineering, music, television, chemical, and association industries.

She coaches and guides executives and non-management staff, focusing on achieving peak performance through relationship management and accountability. Her years of experience in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors give her a unique perspective on what is needed for success.

Grace helps corporate professionals and small business owners become effective leaders, maximize productivity through improved relationships, influence their organization's culture, increase profitability, and achieve personal career satisfaction. She also assists senior management with establishing succession plans, identifying high potentials, and provides customized development coaching based on the individual's readiness level.

Duane Day
VP of Electronic and Deposit Support Services
MECU Credit Union

Duane Day is a Washington, DC native currently residing in Baltimore County, MD. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Strayer University and has achieved the Certified Credit Union Executive Management designation from the Credit Union Executives Society. Duane’s professional background includes extensive management experience, particularly in online and retail operations, where he has consistently improved processes, defined strategic business initiatives, and successfully led corporate projects.

As the Vice President of Electronic & Deposit Support Services for Baltimore based MECU Credit Union, Duane oversees the strategic direction and daily operations of various critical functions, including deposit support, check processing, digital banking, payment services, and fraud mitigation. This role has honed his skills in executive leadership and operational management while enhancing the member experience across all digital and remote channels.

In addition to his professional work, Duane is proud to volunteer with the African-American Credit Union Coalition as the co-chair of their national mentorship program.

Christina Hancock
Manager of Talent Acquisition
SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union

Christiana Hancock is the Manager of Talent Acquisition at SchoolsFirst FCU.  She has worked in the Credit Union Industry for 22 years. Before this role, she was a Branch Manager for 19 years. Her work focuses on team engagement, development, coaching, and mentoring. These skills help her support her team and serve their members. She believes in ongoing professional growth and working closely with others to reach their goals. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, traveling with her husband, and spending time with family. These activities help her maintain a balanced lifestyle and spark creativity in her job.

Patty Corkery
President/CEO
Michigan Credit Union League & CUSG

Patty is the president/CEO of the Michigan Credit Union League and CUSG. At the League, she oversees all operations of the trade association and its service corp., MCULSC, including the advocacy, education, marketing and communications teams. Her role includes educating the community, lawmakers and the industry on the credit union difference and promoting the financial strength of credit unions in both Michigan and the nation. For the service corporation, wholly owned by MCUL, she works to maximize relationships with credit union partners. CUSG, a Michigan CUSO with majority ownership held by MCUL, operates three divisions: Marketing + Technology, Human Resource Performance, and Financial Empowerment. CUSG is a national partner of hundreds of credit unions, most leagues and thousands of other financial institutions and businesses nationwide. Patty holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, a law degree from Wayne State University Law School and earned her MBA from Walsh College. She sits on the boards of the American Association of Credit Union Leagues; the Credit Union House; the Michigan Business Connection; Lighthouse Michigan and CUSG partners, Marquis and CalcXML. Patty also helps lead the Michigan Sister Society for the Global Women’s Leadership Network. She is a collaborator and enjoys learning from her team. Her motto is: Because life is short, never stop learning or experiencing.

Shellee Mitchell
Founder
1-to-1Women Mentoring & Sapphire Dimension, LLC

Shellee A. Mitchell is the founder of 1-to-1Woman Mentoring and Sapphire Dimension, LLC. Through 1-to-1 Woman, Mitchell facilitates courageous conversations among women to address gender bias and racial disparity, helping participants uncover commonalities, develop professionally, and gain direction for social change.

She is a certified life coach and author of two books: Divine Madness and Consecrated: A Woman’s Guide to Virtuous Liberated Love. Mitchell served as an entrepreneurial coach in Filene Research Institute’s Phase II Racial Economic Equity Incubator and currently works with the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors.

Mitchell is a committed parent to two young adult sons.