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?

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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.

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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.

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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?

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Asset liability management – ALM as it’s known – can be fun, good for a credit union’s balance sheet and, dare we say it, sexy.

On the show is Daniel Ahn, CEO of Delfi, a company that – and I quote from the website – “combines deep public and private sector experience with cutting-edge AI expertise—bringing best-in-class technology to banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions.”

The website adds: “Transform your bank or credit union financial decision making and race to the top with our revolutionary platform.

Delfi delivers instant analytics, access to a deep inventory of solutions, and is powered by AI so you can pick the right solution for you.”

This an exciting new, powerful look at ALM in credit unions.  

Also on the show is Scott Daukas, a principal at One Washington Financial, a CUSO wholly owned by Washington State Employees Credit Union and an investor in a new Delfi CUSO.  But One Washington Financial is more than that with Delfi as you will hear in the show.  Indeed it approached Delfi with the suggestion that it form a CUSO – and long conversations followed, not the least of which was explaining what a CUSO is!

One Washington Financial also invested in two other companies that have featured in recent CU 2.0 podcasts – Remynt and Starlight.  Why is One Washington Financial making these investments?  Daukas explains.

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Do you want to talk about bad debts and collections and…what’s that, you’d rather discuss athlete’s foot and gyms?

Listen up: on the show today is Gwyneth Borden, founder and CEO of Remynt, a debt collection CUSO – funded  by One Washington Financial, the investment arm of Washington State Employees Credit Union and a recent guest on the show along with Starlight, an innovative fintech that also won funding from One Washington Financial.

So, yes, Remynt is doing collections but with a dramatic twist: it also emphasizes its mission is  financial wellness and it helps consumers pay off their debts and rebuild credit.

Face it, a lot of Americans are struggling to pay their bills.  Pew Research estimates that a quarter to a third of us struggle to pay their bills every month.

Remynt is there to help, while also helping credit unions collect the money they are owed.

If that seems paradoxical – indeed it is! – listen up as Gwyneth Borden explains Remynt’s approach to debt collection today.

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 400 Is Remynt the New, Kinder – and Effective! – Debt Collection Tool appeared first on CU 2.0.

It’s time to talk about something really, truly exciting in credit union land.

How about online/mobile calculators?

Calculators!

Yes, I hear those derive laughs but listen up: on this show you will hear from Tim Pranger at Appli, who has developed calculators that users genuinely like and use.  Katie Ullman, vice president of marketing and community at First Source Credit Union in Utica NY, is also on.  That’s an institution with around $1 billion in assets. Also on the show is Romanelli, First Source’s digital marketing agency.

What this trio will tell you is that a good calculator can be fun, it can  bring in new business to a credit union, and it doesn’t have to be expensive.  

The post CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 399 First Source CU and Appli On Calculators That Are Magic and Boost Loan Originations appeared first on CU 2.0.

What do you know about Gen Z?

That just may be the critical question confronting credit unions today and that’s because, age 13 to 29, Gen Z is increasingly the focus of fintechs, neo banks and non banks who all want to grab these consumers.

How can credit unions win in this battle?

On the show is Lee Wetherington, senior director of corporate strategy at Jack Henry, and lately he has been thinking in depth about Gen Z because this generation has entered a prime spending age.

Wetherington believes credit unions in fact have pathways to getting Gen Z as members and he offers a concrete strategy for doing so.,  He acknowledges this will be a tough fight – the competitors are well funded and focused – but he expresses optimism about  the ability of credit unions to win.

Along the way, Wetherington also offers insight into how credit unions can win at AI and how recent developments in crypto banking may turn out to be for the benefit of credit unions.

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