Sandra Patino of IDB Global Federal Credit Union recently earned her Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE) designation.

Patino was among 54 credit union leaders from across the United States who earned their CUDE designation after completing the National Credit Union Foundation’s signature Credit Union Development Education™ (DE) program on September 4.

Delivered as an immersive week-long, in-person experience, the DE program offers a learning journey designed to strengthen leadership to improve financial well-being. Through collaborative group work, experiential learning, and interactive discussions, participants deepen their connection to the cooperative model while exploring how credit unions can create meaningful impact in their communities. Participants leave equipped with new perspectives, lasting relationships, and tools to help move the credit union mission forward.

This class joins a growing community of more than 3,500 credit union advocates from 35 countries who have graduated from the U.S. DE program since its launch in 1982.

For Sandra, the experience provided an opportunity to reflect on the challenges facing members, employees, and communities and how credit union leaders can create meaningful change.

“Earning my CUDE designation feels incredibly rewarding. It was an amazing week of learning, reflecting, and thinking differently about the challenges our members, employees, and communities face. I came home highly motivated but also realizing that there is so much more we can do and that creating change can start with small actions within our own credit unions and communities. DE reminded me that making an impact doesn’t always have to be something big. Sometimes it starts with what we can do right where we are, ” said Patino.