DFA TO HONOR BCU CEO MIKE VALENTINE FOR CHAMPIONING HUMAN-CENTERED FLEXIBLE WORK CULTURE
Washington, DC (October 24, 2025) – DFA announced today that Mike Valentine, President & CEO of BCU, will receive its 2025 Flex Leader Award, which recognizes an executive moving their organization toward a more human-centered workplace through holistic flexibility. The award will be presented on November 5th, during DFA’s annual conference in Washington, DC: Evolving Leadership: Building Human-Centered Cultures. Register here.
“Mike Valentine is a transformative leader who embodies what it means to lead with empathy, trust, and a long-term vision for workplace well-being and growth,” said Manar Morales, Founder & CEO of DFA. “What BCU demonstrates so clearly is that flexibility is not a policy but a culture. Mike’s approach shows how centering employees leads to stronger engagement, higher performance, and sustainable business growth.”
“Receiving this award is a testament to the people-first culture we foster at BCU,” said Valentine. “Flexibility isn’t the result of a policy or guideline – for me, it’s a commitment to valuing our employees as individuals, empowering them to thrive both personally and professionally. When we put our people first, everything else falls into place, and our teams and the organization grow stronger as a result.”
Under Valentine’s leadership, BCU’s flexible, people-first approach has become a strategic advantage, directly impacting employee engagement, organizational growth, and member loyalty. Since implementing widespread workplace flexibility, BCU has achieved a Gallup Q12® employee engagement score of 4.47/5.0 and a near best-in-class net promoter score (between 79–80)—nearly double that of large national banks.
BCU measures success in flexibility through ongoing employee engagement surveys, their net promoter score, and continuous feedback loops. These initiatives reflect the core belief that “a score is an indicator, but it’s what you do with the score that counts.”
Long before the pandemic, BCU cultivated a people-centric workplace grounded in flexibility, trust, and connection. But when COVID-19 hit, Valentine saw the opportunity to deepen that culture even further. From creating new feedback loops like “Dew Chats” that offered direct insight from employees across levels, to revamping all-hands meetings for remote inclusivity, BCU leaned into the challenge and saw employee engagement soar.
This culture of trust and flexibility has had a ripple effect on BCU’s inclusion efforts, ensuring that employees—regardless of location—feel connected, valued, and aligned with the organization’s shared values of courage, collaboration, and integrity.
The Flex Leader Award is part of DFA’s mission to recognize executives who are setting a new standard for leadership in today’s evolving workplace. Previous recipients include Wendy Davidson (2024, Hain Celestial), Kathryn Cameron Atkinson (2023, Miller & Chevalier), and Lara Abrash (2021, Deloitte & Touche LLP), among others.
About DFA
DFA is a premier culture accelerator helping to lead change, humanize organizations, and empower people. For more than a decade, DFA has partnered with leading organizations to co-create the future of work by bridging the gap between policy and practice. Through our membership community, research, programming, and advisory services, DFA delivers practical, research-based strategies and measurable results for sustainable and inclusive culture change.