By Barb Kachelski, CAE
I made a really embarrassing mistake last week at the African-American Credit Union Coalition banquet honoring CUES CEO Fred Johnson with its Pete Crear Lifetime Achievement A
ward. During my speech, I explained that in 20 years at CUES, Fred and I have had weeks where we’ve seen each other more than we’ve seen our spouses. I then introduced Fred’s wife Mary and my husband Joe … only I called Joe "Fred." Joe AND Fred laughed so hard they cried. The crowd went wild. Nobody could have gotten a stronger laugh with a planned joke. Perhaps I should have stayed in Vegas and tried a career in comedy? I know I make mistakes, but why did this one have to happen when I was trying so hard to honor my mentor?
Just to clear up any confusion, in the photo I'm between Joe (left) and Fred (right).
Barb Kachelski, CAE, is SVP/chief operating officer at CUES.
Read another post about Fred's award in which Barb gets everyone's name right.
