GSB Co-operative Credit Union
GSB Co-operative Credit Union, one of the top ten credit unions in Jamaica, was founded in 1944 and registered in 1946. Its bond is opened to two groups - (a) public sector employees and their families; and (b) members of registered professional groups and their families.
Father Peter John O’Sullivan, A Roman Catholic Jesuit priest who founded the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League, and many of Jamaica's credit unions, was instrumental in its development under the first President, D.V. "Jerry Smith and the first Treasurer, S. Kellog Wilson who served for a short while to be succeeded in 1947 by Austin E. McClaren, who, as Treasurer. Back then, membership was restricted to the clerks of GSB, excluding the more affluent managers and executives of the bank, hence the inflow of funds were measured and the demand for loans great. Despite all this, GSB Clerks was the first credit union to accumulate £1,000 in deposits in 1950, which was cause for great celebration. The members of GSB Clerks saw the need to amend the rules to allow all civil servants to be eligible for membership and a subsequent amendment in March 1948 further broadened the membership bond to include spouses and children and staff of the Statutory Boards and Public Corporations. In 1997, in accordance with the various amendments to the bond, the name was changed to omit the word “Clerks” to now GSB Co-operative Credit Union Limited.
Bond
Over the years GSB’s bond has been widened to include brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles and parents of members. GSB was the first credit union in Jamaica and the Caribbean to engage the services of the international body CUNA Mutual Insurance Society – in 1950, to provide the now standard protection for members’ savings and loans. In 1954 the credit union rented offices at the Teachers Mutual Aid Society Building located at 28 Duke Street and moved to that location, hiring Horace Abrahams as the first General Manager of a credit union in Jamaica. In the late 1960s the office was relocated to the residence of Canon Walter Brown of the All Saints Anglican Church which was later reconstructed to that of the building which currently houses our Head Office and main branch located at 10 East Avenue, Kingston Gardens and was officially opened for business in 1974. The building was since renamed in memory of first President – D.V. “Jerry” Smith in 1986.
Expansions
GSB later acquired the portfolio of the neighbouring Metropolis Cooperative Credit Union (formerly Lands Clerks Co-operative Credit Union Society) in December 1999, with a membership of 1,862. Continuing in this growth mode, GSB acquired the assets of the Kingston and St. Andrew Credit Union in June 2003 along with some 500 members. In June 2001, GSB decided to spread its wings and extend its distribution to an office at 20 Dominica Drive, New Kingston, which houses the first fully fledged branch office of the credit union. This branch operates as a full service location for all members and those wishing to become members. In 2010 the members agreed to expand in 2010 that the bond bond to include members of formalised professional associations.
Today there are three branches located in Kingston Gardens, New Kingston and May Pen, Clarendon.
Leadership
Its current president is Michael Roofe, lecturer at the University of the West Indies, and its CEO is Courtney Lodge. They are supported by a Board of six members and a management team of seven.
Michael Roofe has been President of GSB since 2008. He is a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies and associate lecturer at the Norman Manley School of Law at the University of the West Indies (UWI). His area of expertise is Accounting, and his academic research interest focuses on “Determining the factors that inform the compensation package of executive management in the private sector.”
A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), registered with the state of Georgia, USA, Mr Roofe holds both a Master of Science degree in Accounting and a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Studies (majoring in accounting) from the UWI. He has also completed a Bank Examination course conducted by the Federal Reserves, USA.
Mr Roofe has been a consultant/trainer for a number of business, banking and educational entities. These include Eagle Information Systems; the Jamaica Institute of Management; the Lascelles Demercado Group and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Jamaica (now FirstCaribbean International Bank). In addition to this, Mr. Roofe has been actively involved on the boards of several institutions, serving as Director of the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union Limited and the Credit Union Fund Management Company Limited, Director and Finance Committee Chairman of CPTC Limited, Treasurer of the Jamaica Paralympic Association; He also serves on the Budget and Security Committees of the Faculty of Social Sciences at UWI.
Under his leadership, the GSB Co-operative Credit Union has ridden through the challenging financial crises of the last decade and has developed radical strategies to expand GSB’s reach. Two of these initiatives are, expanding GSB’s bond to serve members of registered professional associations and their families; and slashing interest rates on loans in response to the needs and abilities of its core constituents.
Courtney George Orlando Lodge, is chief executive officer of the GSB Co-operative Credit Union.
It has been a cyclical journey, as he has previously served as general manager for the 65-year-old entity, founded by employees of the former - Government Savings Bank. Following a brief tenure as general manager, he responded to the call to lead the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions as CEO where he had oversight responsibility for more than 342 Credit Unions in 18 Caribbean countries. His passion for service delivery have defined the man also called a credit union evangelist and he is regarded as a key ‘go to’ man on credit union related matters.
In between this however, there were his roles as vice president and manager of two of the island’s largest building societies – Victoria Mutual and Jamaica National respectively - where he has been credited with boosting the companies’ overall business profiles.
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC; and a Masters degree in Business Administration from the Nova Southeastern University, Florida.
In his private sphere, Lodge is a Strategic Management Consultant and director of Strategic Corporate Interventions Limited, a self-owned company with a client pool spanning North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Among them are specialist agencies including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); the Commonwealth Secretariat; the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC); and the Caribbean Association of Indigenous Banks (CAIB).
Fittingly, his motto is “I work to learn, not just to earn. I allow my assets to earn for me. My assets generate multiple streams of increasing income.” Beyond his academic and professional pursuits, is what he describes as his personal mission to, “to maximize (my) talents and the talents of others, and to enhance my personal well-being.”
A firm believer in the resilience of the human spirit, and the role of the family and community, Lodge has invested heavily in youth and community empowerment. He is currently a Director on the Board of Jamaica Paralympic Association, and has served as the Assistant Chairman of Tacky High School in St. Mary, and as the Treasurer of the Jamaica Police Credit Union. He is also Director of Strategy on the Caribbean's largest media training entity, the Creative Productions and Training Centre (CPTC). Lodge has served in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), starting out as a Constable in 1987 and rising to the rank of Deputy Superintendent. His time in the Force, also included a stint with the German ‘FBI’ (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA) in Germany.
A published author, his latest work is a reflective novel titled - Lives of a Soul--A Metaphysical Autobiography of Your Soul...and Mine!
Member Ownership
Like all credit unions, GSB is owned by its members but run by a President and board which is elected annually at general meetings. The Board serves voluntarily and carries out the mandate of the members, democratically. GSB members have consistently given positive feedback on their experience of the credit union; elements of which may be key contributors to its enjoyment of consistent of being among the top ten of all credit unions in Jamaica.
References
[2] [3] http://www.allvoices.com/s/event-5342607/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5qYW1haWNhLWdsZWFuZXIuY29tL2dsZWFuZXIvMjAxMDAzMDQvbmV3cy9uZXdzOC5odG1s [4] [5]
External links
[7] [8] http://www.allvoices.com/s/event-5342607/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5qYW1haWNhLWdsZWFuZXIuY29tL2dsZWFuZXIvMjAxMDAzMDQvbmV3cy9uZXdzOC5odG1s [9] [10]
