2020 Awards of Excellence-Ray Phillips

 

Ray Phillips' Nomination Letter reads: 

"We are asking the CCUA to consider choosing Ray Phillips as your CCUA Volunteer of the Year. Here’s why we think he’s an outstanding choice for this honor.

Ray, who has been a board member since 1994, was elected as Hanscom FCU's chairman in the spring of 2019. He brought with him a wealth of experience to his new volunteer role. He had been the board's treasurer since 2018 and served on its Supervisory Committee - which is responsible for engaging CPAs, performing audits, and ensuring that effective internal controls and risk management practices are adhered to at the credit union.

Ray retired as senior cost/price analyst for the U.S. Air Force in 2004, but continued to perform contract work for them through 2015. He also held a senior accounting position with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was a savings and loan examiner for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Boston.  Ray holds a bachelor's degree with high honors in business administration from Lowell Technical Institute in Lowell, MA, and received his MBA with honors from Babson College in Wellesley, MA. Before this, he served in the U.S. Navy for four years.

His professional achievements are noteworthy, but here’s what makes Ray extra special to us. Ray, who’s in his 70s, started running marathons in his 50s, a time when a lot of people start slowing down physically. But not Ray. Since then he has run the Boston Marathon 20 times and was on tap to run it this year until it was canceled. As a charity runner for #TeamHanscomFCU, his dedication and resolve has helped raise over $500,000 through the years for Boston Children’s Hospital via the credit union’s fundraising partnership with Credit Unions Kids @ Heart.

Ray runs the race every year for his Patient Partner Andy Martin, who was so inspired by Ray’s dedication and stamina that he made it a goal to participate in the race as an adult, a goal he achieved as a wheelchair entrant in 2014. Ray’s continued support of and dedication to #TeamHanscomFCU has made a significant financial impact at funding the research Boston Children’s Hospital is doing to find treatments and cures for pediatric neurological diseases.

Besides his participation in the Boston Marathon every year and fundraising for sick children, Ray is usually the first volunteer to show up at Hanscom FCU charitable events. Whether it’s building a ramp on frigid winter day for a disabled Army veteran or serving ice cream to members outside of a branch in the sweltering summer heat, Ray is there, ready to work, his wry sense of humor at the ready.

Besides running, Ray serves in a leadership role at his place of worship. He and his wife Susan enjoy walking their two dogs, Buddy, a Beagle mix, and Ginger, a Terrier mix, in the trails around their Acton, MA, home.

We suspect that once COVID-19 is a thing of the past, Ray will be back to running the Boston Marathon for #TeamHanscomFCU. We know he has the goal of running in the 80+ age group someday. He has mentioned that once he gets into this category, he will finally have a shot at placing in the top three. Until then, we are counting on Ray to be the same dedicated, kind leader we have today; in short, our number one volunteer."