Enterprise CEO & ABCUL President Awarded CBE

Thursday 25 January 2024

Last month, CEO of Enterprise Credit Union and President of the Association, Karen Bennett received a distinguished CBE her services to the credit union sector and financial inclusion.

Karen has played a significant role in the success of Enterprise Credit union and has been the CEO for the past 23 years, helping it grow from a small voluntary based credit union to one of the largest community credit unions in the Britain serving over 23,000 members and holding over £28 million in assets.

Karen said: “I am truly honoured to receive this award and would like to dedicate it to the hardworking people who make our movement so special every day. At Enterprise Credit Union, like so many others across the world, we are doing amazing workday in and day out. We are all passionate about what we do, it is so rewarding to work in our sector, our co-operative values are so important to us, we are simply people helping people.”

Karen is passionate about credit unions and financial inclusion and is an advocate for credit unions both locally and nationally.  Alongside her work at a community level, Karen was elected President of ABCUL in 2018 and has played a pivotal role in developing a new, ambitious vision and strategy for British credit unions – Vision 2025.

ABCUL CEO, Robert Kelly said: “This recognition reflects Karen’s lifetime commitment and dedication to improving the lives of her community. She is an embodiment of the credit union message of ‘People Helping People’ and I’m exceptionally proud to call Karen a colleague and a friend.”