The DE Difference | Justin Rezkalla
A Spotlight on the impact of DE training and the projects that attendees have brought to life.
Name: Justin Rezkalla
Organization: Corporate One Federal Credit Union
Title: AVP, Digital Product Manager
When did you attend DE Training: June 2023
When did you mentor: September 2024
Why did you decide to attend DE training? I finally attended DE training after working at Corporate One for 25 years. The organization had only had a few DE’s during that time, and no one socialized it much. What little I did know about it, I just assumed it was not for someone at my position or level. So, I had never spent a moment even considering going. In early 2023, my supervisor and I mapped out my plans for the year, and he recommended that I look at DE. He had just become a graduate a few years earlier and thought I would be a good candidate.
What were your thoughts about DE training before you arrived/attended? Before I got to Madison, I knew small bits and pieces about the class but never put together what it all meant. I probably assumed it would be “just another training class.” I certainly did not think that DE would open my eyes and change my approach to my professional career while leaving me wanting more. It was the best week of my career, and going back to mentor was probably my second-best week.
How did DE change you? As a long-time, internally-focused employee at a corporate credit union, I never really got to see firsthand the direct impact that credit unions make in their communities. I always understood the differences that credit unions make, but DE put them right in my face. It opened me up to try to find ways I could make meaningful impacts in my community through my role at Corporate One.
As I was wrapping up DE as a student, I wanted to come back and mentor, and with that came the very real possibility that at the end of that week, I would share my DE project with the entire class. Even though I’ve told our Duchenne story countless times, it was a little tougher to do this time. It was emotional to open that side with a group of 50 people I had just bonded with over an intense week, all while doing it at a place I care so deeply about.
What were your top three takeaways from DE training?
- It was eye-opening to see the ALICE class statistics and realize how many working individuals struggle to afford the basic cost of living. These challenges are compounded by various developmental barriers that prevent them and their families from achieving financial freedom.
- The important roles that cooperatives, specifically credit unions, play for those underbanked individuals and families and how we have a unique mission to help them.
- That there was a bigger place for me in the credit union network than what I had allowed myself for the first 25 years of my career.
How did you incorporate what you learned at DE into your job? When I returned to Corporate One, the first thing I did was socialize the importance of the DE program. I shared my DE journey in our officers’ meeting and presented it separately to our executive team. I knew we needed other employees to attend and gain the same experience. I also noticed that in other areas around the country, DE graduates had organized service projects in their communities.
Ohio didn’t have a group like that, so with the help of the Ohio Credit Union League, we have started gathering a group of DE graduates together. I think we are all really motivated to help move the DE program’s philosophies forward and help those in need around the state. While we were in the early phases of organizing the Ohio DEs, I was offered the opportunity to be the chairperson for the Ohio Alliance of CU for Kids. This organization fundraises for the state’s six Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. That organization directly connects me with my advocacy in my personal life.
DE project: Fundraising for research to bring effective therapies to market to treat Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
In the summer of 2015, my 4-year-old son, Alex, was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Duchenne is a heartbreaking diagnosis as those who are affected slowly lose the ability of all their muscles before dying in their mid-20s of heart or lung failure. When Alex was diagnosed, there were no approved therapies for treatment. But, as we started our journey, we quickly learned multiple drugs were coming to fruition and that patients living with disease had a chance to have a different path. Alex was quickly enrolled in a clinical trial for what eventually became the first drug approved by the FDA to treat Duchenne.
My wife and I quickly became advocates in this space as we felt compelled to help not only Alex but all other families who suffered from this terrible disease. Our major fundraiser has been an annual golf outing to fund research. The event has been a major success as we fill two golf courses annually. We just completed our ninth outing and have raised over $600k. In July 2023, we formed our non-profit, the Alex Rezkalla Foundation.
We feel that, through our foundation, we can scale up our impact in this space while telling our personal stories. There are now multiple approved therapies, but none are cures. We will continue to push the efforts of this community forward until we cross the finish line for all who suffer from this disease.