The Permaculture Credit Union

The Permaculture Credit Union pools the financial resources of people who believe in the
ethics of Permaculture - care of the earth, care of people, and reinvestment of surplus for
the betterment of both. We apply those resources to earth-friendly and socially responsible
loans and investments.
The history of financial institutions is one of focus on the bottom line which results in
overexploitation of the earth's resources. Now, an innovative new financial institution -
Permaculture Credit Union - has been established to allow its members to share their
excess with other members of like mind who would use it for green and sustainable
projects. The Permaculture Credit Union is perhaps the leading green credit union in the
United States. We welcome new members seeking to deposit their money with a green
bank or green credit union, or seeking green loans.

Our 10th Anniversary

2010 marks the 10th Anniversary of the Permaculture Credit Union! This year is an
opportunity to reflect on our past, honor those who helped us to succeed, and look to the
future. To continue to serve you and to continue to be a leader in the financial community,
we are reaffirming our Permaculture values by pledging to "Going Way Beyond
Sustainability." We welcome your thoughts, comments and suggestions as we move
forward together!

PCU Board of Directors

The Board of Directors monitors the financial condition of the credit union, insures
compliance with bylaws and state and federal regulations; develops short- and long-term
objectives. These objectives while meeting the needs of the PCU members should also
reflect credit union philosophy.
Message to the Board
The board of PCU welcomes your anonymous comments, messages and suggestions.
Simply click here to get in touch. If you would like a response, please include your email
address or phone number.

PCU Board Members:

Mary Lynn Collins: Long before permaculture and sustainability became trendy
buzzwords, I was interested in our connection to each other and to the Earth. To me,
permaculture is more than backyard gardening. How do we maintain people and cultures
while sustaining the planet? Is it possible to convince people that they can have rich, full
lives without destroying the environment? Do we tell them or do we show them?
My formal education includes a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of
Connecticut and a Master’s degree in Mass Communication from Emerson College in
Boston. While in graduate school, I worked at a mutual fund company and learned about
the financial markets and how to explain them in easy to understand language. This led
me to my current career.
Professionally, I consider myself a financial educator. I have over 15 years of experience
training on a variety of topics in the corporate world. I’ve spent many years teaching the
pre-licensing training for a variety of stock broker licenses. I have banking experience
through my position as training director of First National Bank of Santa Fe. I’ve taught
college courses on public speaking. Now I’m focusing on financial literacy and feel I have
found my true calling.
I enjoy working with the PCU board and members to help us all reach our financial goals
while living the principles of permaculture…and showing others that they can do it too.

Carrie Freeman: Carrie has been studying and collaborating on how business can be a
key contributor in an ever advancing civilization for 15 years. She strongly believes that
it is the purpose and responsibility of business to improve society. Thankfully, she gets to
put her passion to work in a leading corporation. She is the director of sustainable
business innovation in Intel’s Eco-Technology Office and is responsible for developing
the business opportunities to use Intel technology to solve major environmental problems.
In her previous role as corporate sustainability strategist, she directed corporate wide
strategic sustainability efforts working with stakeholders across the company to ensure
that Intel continues to build upon its industry leadership in sustainability. Since joining
Intel in 1998, Carrie has been a regional environmental relations manager working to
drive corporate and community initiatives, as well as an engineering manager and
technical program manager in the most technically advanced manufacturing facility in the
world. Although, never her core job responsibility, Carrie is known for her work in the
areas of diversity, personal mastery, leadership and career development. Carrie is
passionate about creating a sustainable world, learning and exploring. She and her
husband of twelve years enjoy being outdoors kayaking, rafting, skiing, cycling, rocking
climbing and traveling. When not on the go Carrie is usually reading, volunteering or
immersed in all things related to plant foods. She holds an MBA in environmental policy.

Brendan Miller: My personal mission is to promote permaculture and sustainable

communities. I currently work for the New Mexico Economic Development Department
as its first Green Economy Manager. In this role, I promote the growth of clean energy
and clean technology business in New Mexico and staff Governor Richardson's Green
Jobs Cabinet.
I have worked with a hydrogen fuel cell company and real estate development company
focused on energy- and location-efficient projects here in New Mexico. I have experience
working for industry, government and the non-profit sector and I am interested in business
and government collaboration to improve quality of life.
As a Director of the Permaculture Credit Union, my priorities are to 1) grow our
membership base and assets to give more loans, and 2) ensure that PCU stays a national
leader in providing innovative loans for permaculture and sustainability that mainstream
banks are not providing. A variety of banks are starting to provide "green" loans, which is
wonderful and certainly partly a result of the work done by PCU. PCU may not be big, but
the ripples effects of its leadership are. That is why it is important to keep pushing the
boundaries of what is possible.
I have a business degree from MIT, and a public policy degree from Harvard. I have been
a student of permaculture and sustainability for a long time. I have taken a permaculture
course from Scott Pittman at EcoVersity, as well as a course on raising goats, and look
forward to talking more courses there. I was born in New Jersey but moved to Santa Fe
after getting engaged to my wife, Tamara Bates, who went to the College of Santa Fe. We
live in a house with passive and active solar heat and hot water and I drive a VW Jetta
using only B20 biodiesel. I have lived in the Northeast, the Southeast, the Northwest and
now the Southwest and love the variety of landscapes and people across the United States.
Charlie Moss: Now retired, my professional life began as a CPA working for a, then, Big
8 accounting firm. Subsequent jobs which built upon my concentration in banking
included being the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of a bank holding company in New
Mexico and a CFO of a large mortgage banking conglomerate, also here in New Mexico.
After leaving traditional employment I became a mental health counselor, primarily doing
drug and alcohol work, and later had my own custom home building company.
Retirement proved quite boring. I now spend “professional” time
runningwww.aspensandtrays.com, a small woodworking operation, and Evergreen
Institute,www.evergreen-institute.org . Evergreen exists to help individuals with drug and
alcohol problems and is funded by a for profit company which Evergreen also runs. The
entrepreneurial spirit continues to keep me going.
Education is from UNM in business and accounting and later includes a Masters of
Counseling. Non-profit associations have included The Nature Conservancy, as state
President, the Zoological Society as treasurer, and the Supportive Housing Coalition as
Treasurer for 13 years. Recreation includes most all things on the water, including sailing
and a collection of unusual boats, and home improvement.
Hugh Roberts: My commitment to the philosophy of cooperatives in general and credit
unions in particular occurred over fifty years ago when I became a founding member and
the first treasurer of the employees credit union at Sterling Drug Company in Windsor,
Ontario. In 1993, as a United Methodist minister in Northern New Mexico, I became
aware of socially responsible investing and the concept of ‘doing well by doing good’. I
moved my personal savings into socially responsible mutual funds. Since 1999, I have
done all of my banking with a credit union.
I became involved in sustainable agriculture in 1976, when I partnered with John Jeavons
(author of "How to Grow More Vegetables...") to organize the firstInternational
Conference on Small Scale Food Production, which I chaired. That conference persuaded
the American Society of Agronomy to officially recognize organic agriculture, and
specifically bio-intensive food production, as scientifically sound. I am currently Vice
President of the Board of Directors of the Sustainability Fund, a California-based non-
profit organization created to be a funding intermediary between major foundations and
small non-profits working in sustainable agriculture.
Prior to entering the Ministry in 1991, I directed research and development in
agribusiness, held executive positions in several non-profit organizations working on
international development and world hunger, and taught business courses at both
undergraduate and graduate levels at Eastern New Mexico University. I retired from the
Ministry in 1999. I chaired the Soil, Food and People Conference at the University of
California-Davis, in 2000; and in 2005 I co-taught a course, “Sustainable Solutions for an
Overused World”, at the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos.
I became a member of the Permaculture Credit Union in 2004, was elected to the Board of
Directors in 2005 and have served in various capacities.
Wesley Roe: was born in Hamilton Canada in 1950 to parents who were
environmentalists, union members and supporters, political activists and credit union
members. He was encouraged to be involved in community service. Education: High
School and two years McMaster University studying Urban Planning. He opened an
Alternative Health Clinic in Santa Barbara, CA in 1981 where he worked as a colon
therapist and iridologist until 1988. He then moved to Hawaii and began living in Waa
Waa on the Big Isle working in the small community growing food. He moved to Los
Angeles in 1993 where he took Permaculture Design Courses with Bill Mollison and Scott
Pittman. Wesley moved back in Santa Barbara in 1997 and with a group of people from
the Design Course in Ojai, CA, helped to organize the South Coast Permaculture Guild.
He was also involved in organizing the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, a nonprofit
organizationin Santa Barbara that runs Permaculture Programs in the community and
organizing grassroots Book Tours for Permaculture and Natural Building authors in CA
and Arizona . He has opened a health clinic that was totally renovated using non toxic
green building products in Santa Barbara in June of 2003 . As soon as he found that a
Permaculture Credit Union was being formed he volunteered his assistance and has been
an active board member for the last 3 years. Wes is married to Marge Erickson who has
provided amazing financial and emotional support to allow him to do this important
community work.
Andrew ‘Drew’ Tulchin, I am Managing Partner of Social Enterprise Associates, a
management consulting company focused on the triple bottom line and a registered ‘B
Corp’. I bring more fifteen years professional experience advancing sustainable
initiatives.
My consulting spans more than 30 countries, throughout the U.S. and in Indian Country.
Recent clients include the SEEP Network, Environmental Defense Fund, City of Santa Fe,
U.S. Dept. of Treasury CDFI Fund, and Fort Apache Heritage Foundation on the White
Mountain Apache Indian Tribe.
Previously, I was Program Officer for the microfinance institution Grameen Foundation,
serving as founding staff person on the Capital Markets Group. I led a US microfinance
institution catering to immigrants and refugees in the Washington, DC metro area. My
work has generated more than $100 million for socially motivated efforts leveraging the
power of the marketplace. Prisma Microfinance's co-written plan was a Global Social
Venture Competition award winner.
I began my career in National Community Service, as a VISTA (US domestic Peace
Corps) providing Red Cross post disaster assistance after Los Angeles’s Earthquake.
I completed his MBA at University of Washington and my BA, Cum Laude from
Washington University. My studies included a year abroad at Sussex University in the
UK.
In my free time, I play ultimate Frisbee, hike, and enjoy bad puns.

Contact Us

PCU Santa Fe Office Hours

Hours listed below are MST (Mountain Standard Time)
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Thursday and Friday 10:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.
Mailing Address for USPS
Permaculture Credit Union
P.O. Box 29300
Santa Fe, NM 87592-9300
Physical Address for UPS, FedEx, DHL
Permaculture Credit Union
4250 Cerrillos Road
2nd Floor, State Employees CU Building
Santa Fe, NM 87507
Phone
866-954-3479 (toll free)
505-954-3479
Fax
505-424-1624
Email: PCUSTAFF
Holiday Closings
New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President's Day, Good Friday, Memorial
Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day,
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve

PCU Online Banking

Click Here
OPEN AN ACCOUNT
APPLY FOR A LOAN

Top of Form
Donate to the PCU Capital Campaign

Bottom of Form
For more donation opportunities, click here

Donate to the PCU Solar Fund

Top of Form

Bottom of Form
For more donation opportunities, click here