Can a banker successfully transition into a senior role in a credit union?  

Can a credit union deploy a financial wellness initiative that also works as a competitive edge in marketing?

Kevin Miller, CEO of $5.7 billion Travis Credit Union in Northern California, is on the show today and he is guilty of that banking background but he has logged 4+ years as Travis CEO.

And he also strongly believes that not only are financial wellness initiatives a key part of a credit union’s doing good in its communities, they also are a competitive edge against both mega banks and community banks.

As for Miller’s past work experience, he logged 4+ years at regional bank TCF as EVP of retail banking, 2 years at Santander, 4 years at BMO, and 6 years at Bank of America. A stint at a fintech rounded out his background.

In the show he explains why he jumped into a credit union and why hiring bankers is good business for a credit union.

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 411 Travis Credit Union CEO Kevin Miller on Why Bankers Make Good CU CEOs appeared first on CU 2.0.

Two threads run through this show: the human impacts of AI and the credit union of the future.

Ultimately the threads are connected.  If a credit union is its people, what is it when AI does an increasing amount of the work in a credit union?

On the show to explore these ideas is Nenuca Syquia, CEO of BoxD, “Better Organizations by Design,” a Silicon Valley consultancy.

Herself a longtime credit union member, Nenuca is convinced there are important roles for credit unions to play in our lives in the future – and part of getting there is asking and exploring tough questions such as what happens to our people as agentic AI takes over more and more tasks?

What happens indeed?

Be prepared to mull on very big ideas as you listen.

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 410 The Credit Union of the Future Meets AI – BoxD CEO Nenuca Syquia Explains appeared first on CU 2.0.

When will instant payments come to smaller credit unions?

Perhaps the better question is: Will instant payments ever come to smaller credit unions?

On the show are Bob West, CEO of CUSO CU*South, which serves  some 360 credit unions (in 42 states, not just the south), and Keith Riddle of Payfinia, which has launched an instant payment platform that integrated with CU*South’s technology – meaning it’s straightforward for a CU*South customer to integrate into Payfinia’s tools.

Now get this: most CU*South credit unions are smaller institutions.  Lots are under $350 million in assets.

What might have seen a dream – available only to the likes of Chase and Navy Fed – now is available to small institutions.

Does it matter?

Will members use this instant payments technology?

Instant payments are a reality – that’s a fact in today’s immediacy economy.  Credit unions need to climb aboard this train.  

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 409 Instant Payments Have Come to Smaller Credit Unions appeared first on CU 2.0.

How does a lawyer – by education and employment history – become a top executive at fintechs?  

Good question.  But here’s another one: how can a fintech help credit unions win members for savings accounts paying in the vicinity of 4% APR?

On the show is Alastair Wood, CEO of Raisin, a fintech that helps credit unions market innovative products – high yield savings included – to attract new members.

Understand, Raisin does essentially all the lifting involved in marketing and opening new accounts for new members.  Memberization included.  

Raisin, by the way, is relatively new to the US market. But it has a long history in Europe.

This episode starts with Wood explaining why, just maybe, a trained lawyer is an ideal leader for a fintech, especially one operating in a highly regulated environment.

Wood, by the way, traces his hands on involvement in fintechs and credit unions back to a multi year stint at Silvur, whose CEO, Rhian Horgan is a past CU 3.0 Podcast guest.  

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 408 Raisin’s Alastair Wood Brings High Yield Savings Accounts to Credit Unions appeared first on CU 2.0.

Come join Peter Rice, CEO of $2.3 billion Hanscom Federal Credit Union, on a walk.  A Long walk.  70+ miles.  On the Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal.

Rice did that walk three times for his book Break or Become: How Hard Roads Make Good Leaders.

What’s the book about? In an hour long podcast Rice explains and, listen up, it’s about the death of a spouse, raising two young boys as a single dad, entering a second marriage, and lastly a Camino with two co-workers.

Stuff goes wrong.  Stuff goes right.

In the walks Rice explores big topics: what’s a leader’s role, what’s a father’s role, what differentiates credit unions, what’s the future of credit unions, and why would a groom wear kilts to a wedding in Lisbon, Portugal?

Rice by now has added one more Camino to his achievements and, as for your host, I have done two and must admit Rice’s enthusiasm for the path has triggered in me a desire to add one more.

But know this is not so much a book about walking the Camino as it is about leadership — but it just may be the most unusual leadership book on the shelf.

There’s a link in the show notes to the book, buy it.

Rice has been on the show before In 2021 he talked about helping members manage stress.  In 2025 he had been named CEO at Hanscom Federal Credit Union and he returned to the show to talk about credit union federal tax exemption, even the history of his native Ireland. Links to those shows are in the show notes.

When he told me he had published a book, I had to get him on.

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 407 Hanscom FCU CEO Peter Rice on His New Book About Walking the Camino and Leadership appeared first on CU 2.0.

Careful or courageous?

Which are you?

James Grenon, vice president of administration at Summit Credit Union, a mid-sized institution in North Carolina, raised exactly that question in a recent CUInight story entitled: “Careful or courageous: The leadership choice that shapes culture.”

Regular listeners know I have a bugaboo about what I see as the unhealthy risk aversion of many CU executives and boards so you can guess I am all in on Grenon’s topic.

Grenon sets the stage with a heavy snowfall in North Carolina.  His young daughters hadn’t even seen so much snow, they initially were frightened and wanted to stay inside.

Grenon picked up the story: “they bundled up anyway. Carefully at first. Testing their footing. Adjusting their pace. Before long, there were snowball fights in the yard, sled runs down the hill, and laughter echoing through the neighborhood with other friends.

“They respected the conditions. But they did not let the conditions decide for them.

That is the balance leadership requires. Acknowledge risk. Prepare for it. But do not let caution become confinement.”

In our conversation we explore the cautious-courageous dynamic at credit unions involving everything from a core conversion – a recent project at Summit – to the roll out of AI initiatives.

Meantime, fintechs embrace risk.  They grow in part by taking risks.  Nobody is saying credit unions should be as ready to plunge into risk – but should they take more risks?

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 406 Summit CU’s James Grenon on Careful vs Courage appeared first on CU 2.0.

Can bill pay be revived at credit unions?

You may remember, perhaps a generation ago, when bill pay was revered by financial institutions because it was viewed as creating stickier members who, having inputted a dozen or two bill pay recipients, were reluctant to change FIs because of the work involved.

Bill pay lost a lot of its stick when various fintechs rolled out widgets that collected billpay data so it could be transferred to another institution.

The death blow came when many vendors – including most credit card companies – created auto pay tools where a user can choose to pay the minimum or the balance due or amounts in between automatically.  That’s what I use to pay all my recurring bills and the closest I’ve come to using oldfashioned bill pay is when I’ve paid contractors with Zelle a couple times.

Cary Strange is on the show to tell how PayOnward plans to change that current practice and, hold on, know that PayOnward is a portfolio company of Black Dragon Capital which talks about PayOnward this way: “PayOnward is a cloud-native universal payments platform that empowers Community Based Financial Institutions to offer a full suite of AI driven digital payment solutions for both business and consumers through an easy to use and efficient integrated solution.”

Now know that Black Dragon Capital  is a private equity firm founded by Louis Hernandez, Jr. a dozen years ago.  He’s a longtime credit union tech innovator – think the DNA core system. Hernandez is not a guest on this episode but he is much referenced in it.

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 405 Cary Strange on PayOnward’s Plan to Revolutionize Payments appeared first on CU 2.0.

How could I not talk with the CUEvangelist who sees his calling as “Spreading the Good News About CUs!”

My interest in the CUEvangelist was triggered by a provocative piece titled “Black history is credit union history” that was posted at CUInsight and then I saw the author, Mark Brantley, dubbed himself the CUEvangelist. 

Brantley has the chops to warrant that moniker.  He’s Asst. Director of Operations at Arizona State University but – notably – he is  the former vice-chairman of the AACUC, former board member of CUNA, and former Chairman of the Municipal Credit Union.  

Along that path he has formed strong opinions about what a credit union’s mission should be and he talks about what he believes.

All in, this is an upbeat podcast about credit unions and members who need them.

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 404 Mark Brantley The CUEvangelist Spreading the Good Word appeared first on CU 2.0.

How ELGA Credit Union and Vertice AI Use Data Intelligence to Drive More Profitable Auto Loans and Smarter Member Offers

Wouldn’t you like to make more – and more profitable – auto loans? Just about every credit union would say a loud yes and that is why this episode is a must listen.  On the show is Zach Eychaner, the VP of Digital Experience at ELGA Credit Union, a $1.5 billion institution based in Michigan.  Also on the show is Mitch Rutledge, CEO of Vertice AI, a Georgia based company that says it provides actionable and measurable account holder intelligence to help credit unions  offer their members the right products, solutions and services at the right time.

How to do exactly that? Rutledge tells how on the show and Eychaner gives the verdict about whether it’s working at ELGA.  

Every credit union wants to know how to make more targeted loan offers and, explains Rutledge, the answers are in the data – the institution’s data that it already has if it learns to mine it properly.

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 403 ELGA Credit Union and Vertice AI Explain How to Make Smarter, Targeted Loan Offers appeared first on CU 2.0.

Amanda Wick is a name to know when talking about things crypto.

A onetime US government prosecutor, Wick specialized in crypto currencies and money laundering.  Later she went on to found the Association for Women In Cryptocurrency and now she is a principal in Incite where she provides expert advice on crypto related matters.  

Wick’s current focus: stablecoin.  

In the show Wick talks about the risks posed by stablecoins to credit unions and also the potential benefits.  

Should credit unions get involved in stablecoin?  Wick’s answer is yes but with eyes wide open.  

Note: this is not a show exclusively for gearheads.  Language throughout is non technical.

Along the way, Wick talks about her book The Catalysts: The Accelerating Forces Forging the New World Financial Order.  Read the title again.  She is talking about what she sees as the inevitability of a new global financial order that indeed changes just about everything.

In the show she refers several times to Napster which provided peer-to-peer file sharing and that may sound innocuous but the reality is that Napster revolutionized how music is distributed and shared.  It shut down a quarter-century ago but its impacts only grew until today recorded music is a digital phenomenon. Think how that has impacted record companies, bands, and an entire huge industry.

Similar is happening today in finance, says Wick, and you ain’t seen nothing yet.  Bigger changes are ahead.  Are you ready?

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 402 Amanda Wick on Stablecoin and the New World Financial Order appeared first on CU 2.0.