Exactly what is Room (39)a?
There’s one at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center but today we are talking about the Room (39)a at CFCU, Community Financial Credit Union in Michigan, where past CU 2.0 Podcast guest Tansley Stearns serves as CEO and she has launched this Room (39)a as a CUSO that will offer subscriptions to its research.
As for what it does, CFCU’s Room (39)a describes itself this way: “a place where possibility and the unexpected collide. We blend the precision of research with human imagination to unlock new ideas, products, strategies and opportunities for companies and brands.”
Could this be exactly what credit unions need today as they battle with mammoth money center banks and fintechs with massive war chests.
On the show is Blake Woods, a CFCU SVP who also serves as chief ideator at Room (39)a.
The episode explores the Room (39)a approach to research, how it decides what topics to pursue, and why it believes the credit union industry very much needs the kinds of research it is doing.
Don’t think this is a propeller head show. Quite the contrary. We dive deeply into gambling, for instance, and also into questions about credit union sports sponsorship deals.
