Debra Penny never envisioned a career as a union activist. She certainly never imagined receiving the UFT’s highest honor, the Charles Cogen Award.

But there she was on Oct. 29, on stage in the Grand Ballroom of the New York Hilton, accepting the Cogen Award from UFT President Michael Mulgrew in front of a packed house of family and friends and her UFT brethren.

You see, for almost as long as she can remember, Penny planned to become a teacher. The reason was Miss DiSogra, her 2nd-grade teacher at PS 42 on Staten Island.

In 1st grade, which was her first year at school due to overcrowding, Penny “decided not to talk.” But Miss DiSogra changed all that.

“I’m not sure what she said, but she made me feel like I was safe and valued, which gave me the courage to speak in school,” Penny said. “I decided at that moment, that very second, that I was going to be a teacher just like Miss DiSogra.”

Santa brought Penny a blackboard the following Christmas, “and I used to play school every day in our basement,” she recalled.

She eventually got a job at PS 32 on Staten Island — a great place to work, she recalled, with a supportive principal.

But that principal retired, and so did the chapter leader. Penny was nominated to take the chapter leader job because she was teaching conflict resolution as a cluster teacher.

The new principal brought changes. “All of a sudden, she was putting letters in teachers’ files,” said Penny. “She wanted people to redo their bulletin boards and have the desks set up in certain ways.”

Penny reached out to Emil Pietromonaco, the UFT District 31 representative at the time. “I started calling him every night,” she said.

Pietromonaco’s advice helped get the chapter — and the new chapter leader — through the crisis. Perhaps more importantly, Pietromonaco discovered a union leader.

“Debbie went from being a reluctant chapter leader to being a great advocate for her members,” Pietromonaco said. “She’s a great person — a very caring person — and an excellent listener who has the best interests of the members all the time.”

Penny left the classroom to work as a UFT educational liaison in 2008. Pietromonaco asked her to become the borough’s political action coordinator in 2011. She became a full-time special representative for the borough in 2012. The following year, she succeeded Pietromonaco as borough rep.

“It was rewarding to see her grow into the role,” Pietromonaco said.

Coincidentally, Penny and that principal became great friends out of a mutual respect for each other and still see each other socially.

In 2016, Penny was elected to serve as a teacher-member of the Teachers’ Retirement System board and began working in the UFT’s Pension Department. She also became the UFT liaison to retirees that year. In September 2018, she was elected UFT treasurer, a position she stepped down from in early December. She served as the chair of the TRS board from 2019 to early 2023.

“Debra has been a respected and trusted fiduciary and advocate for our pensions,” UFT Assistant Treasurer Tom Brown said. “I am constantly amazed by her knowledge, her diligence, her dedication and especially her compassion for our current and future retirees.”

In presenting the award, UFT President Michael Mulgrew spoke of Penny’s compassion, noting that she called the families of every union member who died from COVID-19 during the pandemic.

“It’s the humanity she brings to her job at all times,” Mulgrew said. “She’s just a person who never stops caring.”

Penny found that caring was reciprocated during crises in her own life — like when she gave a kidney to her youngest of three sons, Brandon, when his kidneys failed in 2017, and when he passed away at age 32 this past March.

“My family, friends and work helped me get through that,” said Penny. “My UFT colleagues — including people whose names I didn’t know — would reach out and let me know they were thinking about me.”