San Diego CA— As part of its ongoing commitment to cultural diversity and responsible banking, MUFG Union Bank, N.A., joined KPBS to honor 19 inspirational individuals at the 17th Annual Local Heroes celebration. The honorees were announced as part of the 2014 Local Heroes program, which recognizes and pays tribute to exemplary leaders who are making a difference and enriching the lives of others by improving their community, region and the world at large. The year-long celebration of diversity culminated with a ceremony and reception held at San Diego State University’s Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union on November 16, 2014.
During the ceremony, the following 2014 Local Heroes were recognized: Tessie Bonner, J.T. Inge, Joe Earl Jackson and Dr. Carrel Reavis (Black History Month); M. Eloise Battle and Vickie E. Turner (Women’s History Month); Helene Bortz, Myrice Goldberg and Ed Samiljan (Jewish American Heritage Month); Dr. Allen W. Chan and Dr. M.C. Madhavan (Asian Pacific American Heritage Month); Rev. Canon Albert Ogle and Robert Gleason (LGBT Pride Month); Myra Curiel and Carmen Kcomt (Hispanic Heritage Month); Alex Montoya and Travis Ricks (Disability Awareness Month); and Dr. Daniel J. Calac and Roy Cook (American Indian Heritage Month).
Click on image to enlarge photo
“MUFG Union Bank is proud to partner with KPBS to celebrate San Diego’s 2014 Local Heroes who bring leadership and dedication to their work and communities,” said MUFG Union Bank Managing Director Pierre P. Habis, who heads Consumer, Business and Private Banking. “These individuals embody our 150-year commitment to inclusion and diversity.”
“I really love this event because time after time I have the honor to meet incredible and heroic individuals from our community,” said KPBS General Manager Tom Karlo, who has been a part of this partnership since it first began. “The main reason this program has succeeded all these years is that both KPBS and Union Bank seek to inspire, motivate, and celebrate the people and good work being done in our neighborhoods.”
KPBS features a wide range of programming throughout the respective commemorative heritage months. For more information or to nominate a future local hero, please visit kpbs.org/heroes or unionbank.com/heroes.
About KPBS
KPBS serves our local communities with news and entertainment programming that respects our audience with inspiring, intelligent and enlightening content. KPBS will deliver this content via multiple outlets, including television, radio, and digital media and will adapt and remain relevant in a rapidly changing world. KPBS values integrity, truth, transparency and lifelong learning. At KPBS we strive to engage with our citizens and showcase the unique neighborhoods and people that make our community thrive. And as a public service of San Diego State University, education is a core value – from our children’s programming to our local news coverage. KPBS is committed to being a reliable source for in-depth, thoughtful, and high quality content.
About MUFG Union Bank, N.A.
MUFG Union Bank, N.A., is a full-service bank with offices across the United States. We provide a wide spectrum of corporate, commercial, retail banking and wealth management solutions to meet the needs of customers. The bank also offers an extensive portfolio of value-added solutions for customers, including investment banking, personal trust, capital markets, global treasury management, transaction banking and other services. With assets of $110.9 billion (USD), as of September 30, 2014, the bank has strong capital reserves, credit ratings and capital ratios relative to peer banks. MUFG Union Bank is a proud member of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (NYSE: MTU), one of the world’s largest financial organizations with total assets of approximately ¥264 trillion (JPY) or $2.4 trillion (USD)1, as of September 30, 2014. MUFG Americas Holdings Corporation, the financial holding company and MUFG Union Bank, N.A. have corporate headquarters in New York City.