San Diego CA—As part of its ongoing commitment to cultural diversity and responsible banking, Union Bank, joined KPBS to honor 18 inspirational individuals at the 18th Annual Local Heroes celebration. The honorees were recognized as part of the 2015 Local Heroes program, which 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 the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla on December 2, 2015.
During the ceremony, the following 2015 Local Heroes were recognized: Gail Knight, MD, Andre Jones and Aaron Wooten (Black History Month); Starla Lewis and Shara Fisler (Women’s History Month); Robin Rady and Virginia Gordon (Jewish American Heritage Month); Azim Khamisa and Daniel Hoang (Asian Pacific American Heritage Month); Terry Cunningham and Christine Kehoe (LGBT Pride Month); Karemi Alvarez and Enrique Morones (Hispanic Heritage Month); Cynthia Jones, William Stothers and Stephan Wampler (Disability Awareness Month); and Stan Rodriguez and Vickie Gambala (American Indian Heritage Month).
“Union Bank in partnership with KPBS is proud to pay tribute to San Diego’s 2015 Local Heroes who exemplify leadership and community service and uphold our goals of giving back to the community,” said Union Bank Pierre P. Habis, Head of Retail Banking and Enterprise Marketing. “With a deep sense of commitment to diversity, we honor these community leaders and the great work they do to make San Diego a better place for all.”
“Meeting these amazing local heroes and learning about their achievements has been an honor and a pleasure,” said KPBS General Manager Tom Karlo. “These are the stories you don’t often hear about, and through our partnership with Union Bank, we have created a platform to let people know about the good works going on right here at home.”
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 and retail banking and wealth management solutions to meet the needs of customers. We also offer an extensive portfolio of value-added solutions for customers, including investment banking, personal and corporate trust, global custody, transaction banking, capital markets, and other services. With assets of $114.3 billion, as of September 30, 2015, MUFG Union 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 ¥289.2 trillion (JPY) or $2.4 trillion (USD)¹, as of September 30, 2015. The corporate headquarters (principal executive office) for MUFG Americas Holdings Corporation, which is the financial holding company and MUFG Union Bank, is in New York City. The main banking office of MUFG Union Bank is in San Francisco, California.