The World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) introduced Michael Lawrence at a conference of the World Credit Union. Michael is the new board chair and CEO of the Australian Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA). Michael Lawrence is the first Australia to achieve it.
From 2018 on, he was a member of the World Council of Unions Board of Directors. He has too many services in the industry body for Australian credit unions, building societies, mutual banks, and direct members of WOCCU as CEO of COBS.
He worked for 30 years in the field of financial services. Michael Lawrence said that it’s not necessary what part of you or where you are from; the matter is our values and rules. The purpose is to help the community and people and collaborate with them in any power of our endeavors. I communicate with everyone in the world, have conversations with them, and connect with them because we face many challenges in our lives, so the need is to collectively face them.
He was elected to serve after the retirement of Diana Dykstra. Diana Dykstra belongs to the US, and she served 40 years in the WOCCU.
What happened with Diana:
Diana has been in trouble due to money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, false financial statements and spend 6 months in jail. She was involved in another incident in 2018 when she killed an Uber driver.
2024-2025 The Board Committee officers (WOCCU):
- The chair is Australian Michael Lawrence.
- Secretary and Vice-Chair Joe Thomas (USA).
- Treasurer/Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee is Dallas Bergl (USA).
- The Chair of the Governance and Elections Committee is Linda Bowyer, a Canadian.
- The Chair of the Committee for Relief and Reconstruction for Refugees is Rafal Matusiak (Poland).