Centra Credit Union and Centra Foundation are awarding a total of 35 scholarships to graduating high school seniors and adult students throughout the Communities it serves. The Loretta M. Burd Scholarship Program typically awards one high school scholarship per Centra branch location, a number of adult scholarships, and two internal scholarships. This year, an additional six scholarships are being awarded to celebrate Burd’s career and service to the Credit Union.
Loretta M. Burd began working at Centra in July 1965, and quickly learned multiple facets of the business. Throughout her career, she established many new departments within the Credit Union, including the Human Resources, Inventory Control and Facilities departments. Burd became the President/CEO in July 1987, when Centra had $123 million in assets.
When Burd began working at Centra, the Credit Union had almost 7,000 Members. At the time of her retirement in December 2012, Centra’s Membership had grown to 126,291 Members and $1.1 billion in assets. She continued to serve the organization on Centra’s Board of Directors, until her retirement from the Board in March 2022.
“Loretta’s service to Centra Credit Union has been instrumental in guiding us to where we are today. Her passion and commitment to serving our Members’ best interests has set the direction of our Credit Union and exemplifies our mission and vision. Loretta’s valuable contributions have been vital to our organization, the credit union industry, and our communities,” Centra CEO/President Rick Silvers said. “We’re honored to have had her expertise and guidance define Centra’s foundation.”
Burd also served the credit union movement in other capacities, at both state and national levels. She served as a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Indiana Credit Union League, Vice Chair of the Credit Union Centers of Indianapolis Board of Directors and Chair of the Indiana Corporate Federal Credit Union Board of Directors (INDICORP).
In 1996, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the CUNA Mutual Group, a provider of insurance, financial products and services for credit union and their members throughout the world. Burd served as Board Chair for six years, the longest serving chair in CUNA Mutual Group’s history. From 1997 through 2004, Burd served as a member of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions Board, an appointment made by the governor. Nationally, she has also served as Chairwoman of Credit Union National Association’s (CUNA) Roundtable Council for the nation’s top 100 credit unions and was Chair of the National Credit Union Values Campaign.
Burd has been presented with many awards for her achievements and contributions, including being named one of the 100 Most Admired CEOs in the credit union industry in 1990, CEO of the Year by the Indiana Credit Union League in 1993 and being inducted into the Indiana Credit Union League Hall of Fame in 1996.
She was also recognized for her service and contributions to business and her community with the Sagamore of the Wabash award in 2004, which is the highest honor bestowed on Indiana citizens by the governor. Some of the organizations Burd served include the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Columbus Regional Hospital Foundation, Bartholomew County United Way, the Mayor’s Advisory Council and Vision Committee, the IUPUC Advisory Board, the kidscommons Children’s Museum Board and the Heritage Fund.
Named in honor of Burd, the Loretta M. Burd Scholarship Program is designed to invest in Members’ futures. The full list of 2022 scholarship winners is available at online at Centra.org. Please join Centra in congratulating these deserving students on their award!
The Centra Foundation would also like to recognize to Shirley Shea for her support to the Loretta M. Burd Adult Scholarship Program. This year’s adult scholarship recipients are Alexa Howser (Scottsburg), Gayle Hill (Sellersburg), Octavia Tolbert (New Albany) and Christina Shaw (Columbus).