MCU: New York's Credit Union Since 1916
About MCU
MCU's CEO Kam Wong Chosen as One of Top 40 Alumni out of 36,000 by Dowling College
October 27, 2009, New York City - Municipal Credit Union President/CEO Kam Wong was selected to be honored as one o f the top 40 alumni in Dowling College's 40 year history out of its 36,000 graduates. The event, which was held at the Crest Hollow Country Club on October 9th, was a tribute to Mr. Wong and the other honorees by the Long Island based College. Dowling College President, Robert J. Gaffney said, "During the past forty years, we have taken great pride in our alumni and their levels of success in all fields. We recently honored forty individuals deemed to be the most outstanding alumni in our forty-year history. Kam Wong's achievements made him clearly stand out as an alumnus we wanted to celebrate. The honorees embody the desirable results of a Dowling education: personal achievement and purposeful service to society. Mr. Wong's instrumental role in the finance field truly demonstrates why we were proud to honor him." The honorees came from a wide range of fields and disciplines with a variety of academic credentials and achievements including attorney's, MD's, PhD's, Senior executives and CEOs, pilots and a high ranking United States Air Force Officer.
Mr. Wong's story started in Hong Kong, where he was born and lived until the age of nineteen when he and his family immigrated to the United States. He pursued his higher education and received his BBA degree in accounting from Baruch College. Upon graduation, he started his career in accounting positions at two other financial institutions before coming to Municipal Credit Union in 1981. In 1988, he became MCU's Chief Financial Officer, a position in which he was a chief architect of the credit union's solid fiscal framework and policies which have stood MCU and its members in such good stead over the years; particularly important now in these difficult times for financial institutions. A determined executive and dedicated student, Wong completed his MBA in Finance at Dowling College in 2001 with a 4.0 grade point average while shouldering his 24/7 fiscal responsibilities of the then $914 million credit union. On September 11, 2001, MCU, whose corporate offices are directly across the street from ground zero, lost its data center and connectivity in the downtown Manhattan area and went into disaster recovery mode. This crisis was unprecedented in its magnitude, and its impact on both MCU and other financial institutions located in the financial center of the world. MCU's recovery was led by Mr. Wong who, early in 2002 was named Chief of Staff in addition to his role as Chief Financial Officer. In 2006 he was named the credit union's President, and in 2007 he assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer. Today, Municipal Credit Union has an asset size of over $1.5 billion-extraordinary growth of 66% since that most challenging year year, 2001, during which the credit union continued to serve its members in spite of all of the 9/11 aftermath. It is truly a testament to Mr. Wong's leadership and incisive appreciation of risk management as well as his fierce commitment to the credit union and its membership.
In speaking of having been chosen to receive the Top 40 in 40 Award by Dowling College, Wong said, "I am truly gratified to receive this recognition from my alma mater, Dowling College. My experience as a student in the full-time Saturday MBA program could not have been more valuable to me, and I can say that because I first attended another university in the evening as a part time MBA candidate. As a busy executive with little time to spare and many responsibilities on my shoulders, I found myself at the end of the day, exhausted and unable to do more than attend the lectures and read the text books -hardly an enriched academic experience. My experience in Dowling's MBA program was academically far more complete. I had the opportunity to separate from the work day, truly immerse myself in the classes and, most important, to network with and learn from the other students in the program. We came from many different fields and were at different levels in our respective careers, but the experience at Dowling fostered a great deal of teamwork among us-and that, beyond the lectures and the text book learning, is one of the most important lessons of all."
About Municipal Credit Union
Municipal Credit Union (MCU) is the oldest credit union in New York State and one of the oldest and largest in the country. Established in 1916 and headquartered in New York City, today MCU has assets of over $1.5 billion and offers a full range of financial services to over 316,000 members. With branches in New York City, Westchester and Long Island, members also have access to the credit union’s large and growing ATM network. Eligibility to open accounts at MCU is available to New York City and Yonkers municipal employees; state and federal employees who work in the five boroughs; health care professionals who work in New York State; members of select industry groups; employees of private colleges in New York City and private and public colleges in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester; certain family members, and qualifying retirees. MCU is an equal opportunity lender and deposits are federally insured to at least $250,000 by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), a U.S. government agency. For more information about Municipal Credit Union, visit www.nymcu.org