Inducted: 2010
A shaper of today's credit union landscape, Larry Blanchard was an employee and organizer of credit unions who worked for every major credit union organization in the U.S. Blanchard has also worked as a credit union development educator who has been a valued mentor to countless credit union professionals and volunteers. Larry served as a key strategist behind Operation Grassroots and its struggle to maintain regulatory independence for credit unions. As a uniter of credit unions, credit union organizations, consumer and labor movements, other cooperatives, business leaders, and people of all ages, Larry orchestrated the effort to help make H.R. 1151 law, without which there might not be a credit union movement today.