OSWALD BEST (1954 - 1967)
Mr. Oswald Best, the first president of the Credit Union served between 1954 - 1967. He was the curator in the Department of Pathology. As President he will be remembered as a man who was on a pilgrimage to recruit members into the Credit Union. With missionary zeal he would introduce everyone he met to the Credit Union. At Annual General Meetings he would invite the very best from CUNA Mutual Insurance Society, the insurance arm of the Credit Union movement to address the gathering.

From the early days, it was expected that UWI's non-academic staff would also join the credit union, but it was not as easy obtaining membership from faculty. However, when the Credit Union employed the services of a contractor to build thirty houses for members in Nannyville, and later on provided loans to assist with home purchase in Mountain Terrace and Elletson Flats housing schemes, more persons on the campus started taking the credit union seriously. This influenced administrative staff and faculty to sign up for membership.

SMART MARTIN BRYAN (1967 - 1968)
Mr. Smart Bryan was the second president of the Credit Union. His tenure was relatively short and lasted from 1967 - 1968. He was employed to the Personnel Department and the period was characterized by some dark days in the Credit Union’s history, but the organization soon returned to its path of success.

DAVID BYFIELD (1968 - 1975)
The third president was Mr. David Byfield who worked in the Chemistry Department. He served the credit union from 1968 - 1975. During his presidency, with the assistance of Father McLaughlin, he secured housing for members at Mountain Terrace. The deposit for the houses was $1,284.00 dollars, the closing costs $800.00 and the monthly mortgage $655.00.

EWAN REID SNR. (1975 - 1984)

Mr. Ewan Reid Snr., the fourth President of the Credit Union served between 1975 - 1984. He recalled that his tenure was a challenging and checkered one. One of the main challenges was getting permission from the university to obtain a suitable site for offices. He made special mention of a former Vice Chancellor - Dr. A. Z. Preston who assisted the efforts to procure land. Mr. Reid recounted that during his tenure there was a turn in the type of membership of the credit union

EZRA AUGUSTUS LEWIS (1984 - 1988)

On November 30, 1971 the UWI (Mona) & Community Co-op. Credit Union Ltd. approved the membership of Ezra Augustus Lewis. He was destined to hold leadership positions in the cooperative. Through active participation in the affairs of the Credit Union, he was elected to the Board of Directors in 1977 and continued to serve at that level up to the time of his passing in 1998.

Upon recognizing his thoroughness and penchant for transparency and accountability, the other directors elected him as Treasurer in 1977, a position which he held until 1984. Steeped in the philosophy of the Credit Union Movement to provide quality life for its members, he was influential in establishing the Consumer Co-op. in an effort to source scarce consumer items for members. The Treasurer’s reports, which he presented over the years, were characterized by accuracy and precision, and guarded optimism in the face of declining economic conditions. His demonstrated leadership qualities and handling of the Co-op.’s financial portfolio made him the obvious choice for President when the position became vacant in 1985. He was elected unopposed.
Throughout his period of directorship, Mr. Lewis emphasized the need for the Credit Union to be engaged in activities that would lead to economic independence. He stressed the development of proposals for small economic ventures, which members could pursue. Mr. Lewis often lamented the fact that the accounts were so badly in arrears and exhorted his team to spare no effort to make them current.

This materialized in 1992, consequent to changes in operational procedures including computerization of the accounts in 1990. The Credit Union thus moved from a state of being among other Credit Unions, which were in arrears, to being among the only three Credit Unions in the island whose accounts, were current in 1995. His concern for the efficient operation of Credit Unions extended beyond the boundaries of this credit union. He initiated discussions for the constructive engagement of the University Hospital Credit Union, which was in difficulty in the 1990s.

With the help of the Credit Union League and the support of the members, an engagement was consummated in June 1995. Recognizing that there were persons in surrounding communities, who did not have credit union membership, he sought to widen the ‘common bond’ to facilitate them. This was approved and the name of the Credit Union was changed in 1997 to its current name, UWI (Mona) & Community Co-operative Credit Union Limited.

Both in his capacity as Treasurer and President, Mr. Lewis represented the Credit Union at national, regional and international levels. His last initiative was the acquisition of the new Credit Union building. He relentlessly pursued all avenues to achieving this goal, and spoke determinedly of breaking ground by the end of 1998. Unfortunately fate intervened. Ezra Augustus Lewis was a visionary, a tireless worker and a true Credit Union stalwart.

K. A. GRANT (‘KG’) (1998 - 2009)

Kenneth Grant joined the Credit Union in 1970 and received his first loan of $2,300.00 in 1976 to purchase a 1971 VW motor car for the princely sum of $1,800.00. The remaining $300.00 was used for insurance and miscellaneous repairs. By 1977 the young ‘KG’ was pressured by his best friends Pauline Samuels and Frederick Hemmings to serve with them on the Supervisory Committee, but after one year he was elected to serve as a member of the Board of Directors and within one year, he volunteered to fill a vacancy on the Credit Committee, created by the retirement of Mrs. Allwood, who was a long-standing member of the Committee at the time.

Then, the Credit Committee was comprised of three persons - Vecas Campbell, Sylvester Barrett and Kenneth Grant. ‘KG’ served the Credit Committee for nearly twenty years until he was again elected to the Board in 1995. He succeeded Mr. Ezra Lewis as President in 1998. By then he had already earned the reputation among his colleagues and the membership, as a man unwavering in his pursuit of the protection of workers' rights and an undiluted sense of fair play. Like his predecessor he demonstrated his keen-eyed business acumen in carrying out his duties.

The diminutive stature of ‘KG’ runs contrary to the immense contribution he has made to the Credit Union's success story. During his watch, the Credit Union experienced unprecedented growth. The growth of the Credit Union since 1998 is four times as much as it experienced in the previous forty-four years. When ‘KG’ became president in 1998 total assets were just over $100M this grew to a “whopping” $1.5B in 2009 when ‘KG’ demitted office as president.

Some of the credit union’s achievements during his presidency are the highest dividends payouts in consecutive years, commencing with 1999; the introduction of the CUMBO Mortgage Plan in partnership with the Victoria Mutual Building Society; the administering of the UWI/MONASA and UAWU Loan Schemes and the WIGUT Scheme; the introduction of the debit card service; the opening of the UTech branch; the introduction of the cambio; the collection of students fees on behalf of UWI.

In 2000, the Credit Union received the largest asset growth in Jamaica and Credit Union of the Year in Category II. We were also joint winners with the Jamaica Police Co-operative Credit Union Ltd. as Credit Union of the Year in Category I in 2001. The Credit Union staff became the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League’s 60th Anniversary ‘Pop Quiz Champions’. KG was also instrumental in the introduction of the ‘People 2 People Remittance’ Service.

KG now serves as Vice President on the Credit Union’s board.

RAYMOND EYTLE (2009 - to present)

Raymond A. Eytle succeeded Mr. “KG” Grant as president in 2009 and he has already begun to vigourously pilot our organization as seen in our asset growth of $1.576B as at December 2009. Since Mr. Eytle’s tenor in office the Credit Union has expanded its plethora of services to include internet banking, debit card services and SMS Messaging. The credit union also managed to leverage additional alliances with JN Money Transfer and Credit Union Fund Management Company Ltd. However, his greatest achievement to date was the piloting of the rule changes to accommodate Permanent Shares.

Mr. Raymond A. Eytle has been a board member and served as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the UWI (Mona) and Community Co-operative Credit Union Limited for a number of years before being elected president. He is also member of the Boards of Directors of Quality Network Limited and Mona Heights Community Co-operative Limited. He is currently Senior Assistant Registrar, the Human Resource Management Division, at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.

We look forward to his continued dynamic service during his time as President.