A failed payment transaction is easy to dismiss as a service issue. Michigan State University Federal Credit Union ($8.5B, East Lansing, MI) treats it differently. It uses the moment to shape the member experience and turn payments into a point of leverage for loyalty.

In late 2024, the credit union introduced a service that automatically updates card details with major platforms like Amazon, Netflix, Venmo, and more. Members can take advantage when they open a new card or need to update an expiring or compromised card.

“People don’t need a loan every day,” says Benjamin Maxim, chief technology officer at MSUFCU. “They don’t need new deposit accounts every day, but what they’re paying with is daily brand engagement.”

The credit union’s innovation CUSO, The Reseda Group, joined forces with a fintech to offer the service, dubbed “Card Updater.” That fintech, Strivve, works with banks and credit unions to manage the relationships and connectivity with digital service providers, often using AI or low-tech robotic process automation.

According to Maxim, few things erode cardholder loyalty faster than a payment that doesn’t work. This service is essential in heading that off.

“Making sure our card stays in the stored payment areas was our main focus,” he says. “Interchange revenue is a focus of ours. We’re going to cut debit card interchange in half when we hit $10 billion in assets. The more transactions we can have on the credit card side, the stronger.”

MSUFCU has linked Card Updater with both its credit and debit portfolios and has built the service into its mobile banking and online platforms. As of year-end 2025, 891 unique cardholders used the service nearly 1,300 times, according to Maxim.

Beyond Interchange

Although Card Updater will help drive interchange revenue for the cooperative, Maxim says the service is more broadly about improving the member experience.

“We’re trying to add things to the digital experience and facilitate that embedded payment experience everyone’s moving toward,” the CTO says. “Think about all the places you store your card — your Starbucks wallet, Venmo, Uber, Airbnb. When the card breaks, all those payment methods break. Is it MSUFCU’s fault you can no longer book your car or do X, Y, and Z? We want to make sure we’re not to blame, but we’re also resolving whatever you can’t do in the moment. This helps make sure all those embedded payments are working.”

Card Updater is a relatively new feature for MSUFCU, but Maxim says it has already provided a strong ROI and leadership is confident the service has prevented attrition to other plastic providers like Capital One. And, says Maxim, plenty of members have been vocal about their positive experiences with it.

“The loyalty we’ve built is probably worth its weight in gold,” he says. “It helps retain members, and if you’re new to the credit union, it helps you adopt the credit union as one that you trust and use versus needing to do a lot of work to update stored payments. If we can make it easier, you’re more likely to use this card that you chose for a reason.”

Lessons Learned

Card Updater is situational, Maxim says, and credit unions need to build it into their workflows so members have it when they need it rather than seeking it out as an extra service.

“They need it in a certain moment and you need to deliver it in that certain moment,” he says. “If you were to run ROI calculations, you need to look at how many people you issue new cards to and how many members or new cards you issue every month because of fraud or new memberships or whatever reason. That’s going to be your value. Then compare that for an ROI but also consider the lift and the loyalty.”

Loyalty isn’t accidental. MSUFCU’s Card Updater shows how removing friction at the right moment builds the kind of trust that keeps members from drifting to other providers. Gallup research shows emotionally engaged members are 5.4x more likely to stay and 5.6x more likely to trust their credit union as a financial advisor. The Member Engagement & Financial Wellbeing Consortium helps credit unions build that trust intentionally, across every touchpoint. Learn more.

The post MSUFCU Turns A Break In Payments Into A Member Experience Moment appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

If there’s one person who knows the history at SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union ($36.7B, Tustin, CA), it’s Marina Miller. More than 40 years ago, when it was still known as Orange County Teachers Credit Union, she inquired about a summer job before college. She’s been there ever since.

Although opportunities just kept showing up, Miller says it’s the culture that has kept her there.

“We make a difference for the community members we serve, and serving the educational community is so impactful,” she says. “This is where I belong and where I can do the best work.”

For more than a decade, Miller has served as SchoolsFirst FCU’s vice president of history and culture, a job that connects her to the credit union’s roots and helps her educate others on where the credit union came from and where it’s going.

What is your elevator pitch when someone asks what you do?

Marina Miller: I’m responsible for ensuring our culture stays alive and our values are embedded into everything we do. I also get to work on finding ways to show appreciation for our team, so recognitions, rewards, and celebrations are hosted in my area. We know that if we take care of the team, they will take care of the members. That’s been our secret sauce.

We’re 92 years strong at this point. It’s important we understand where we came from so we know where we’re going. In our new corporate office, we dedicated a room to display the rich history and legacy of our credit union. We start with the beginning of the credit union movement and walk through the years of how SchoolsFirst FCU — then known as Orange County Teachers Credit Union — was formed and who our founding fathers were. We have wonderful pictures and artifacts built out in the space. It is an experience. All of our new hires go through it to understand where we’ve come from and what we’ve done.

What’s the story behind your title?

MM: Rudy Hanley was the CEO here for 32 years, and when he retired, he said the one thing that kept him up at night was wondering what was going to happen with the culture of the credit union. He led with a member-service focus, and that’s what we’re here for.

We took a lot of time trying to figure out the best way to keep our culture alive. He felt it was important to create a position, which is the position I’m in now, to preserve the history and culture for the credit union, and he felt I would be the person who could lead it. What an honor to have your CEO approach you and say, “I want to make sure our culture stays alive and that our history is always at the forefront, and I want you to lead that.”

It was an opportunity I could never say no to. I was flattered, and I hope I’ve made him proud. We’ve really grown the role, and it’s been infused into everything we do.

What makes your role interesting?

MM: To take our history and make it interesting and relevant to today in different ways has been exciting. I also lead the meeting and event technology side of the house, so we’ve been able to lean into video and technology for some of the learning tech. The more new ways to get our history in front of our team, the better. Especially now that we serve the whole state of California, folks don’t always have an opportunity to visit and explore our history room.

What part of your role energizes you? Conversely, what part challenges you the most?

MM: We serve four different generations of a workforce, and not everybody wants to be taught, recognized and celebrated in the same way. Finding ways to make those connections is a challenge, but I view it as a fun opportunity to make an impact at different levels. Trying to figure out what motivates and keeps team members engaged is interesting — you think you understand it until you don’t, and then you have to pivot.

For our Dream Team conference, an annual event celebrating all 3,000 team members at once, we needed new ways to make connections. We used to do in-person conferences, but today it’s hard to do that, so we had to find new ways to make it more engaging. We came up with an app where we can have interactive activities during the conference for team members to join remotely. That’s been different because we’re going from in-person to virtual but still engaging team members and ensuring they’re able to participate.

Are there any misconceptions about your role?

MM: People think we’re the party people; we’re always just having fun. Little do they know there’s a lot of work that goes into everything we do because everything has to be curated for the special activity or event to ensure alignment and at the same time, stay on budget. We’re very resourceful, and we have to get super creative which can be a challenge when planning over 50 events each year. Team members might not know all the details it takes to make everything come together; they just experience it when it’s pushed through.

What is the No. 1 skill you need to do your job?

MM: A passion to serve.

Could someone from outside the credit union step into this role?

MM: I don’t think you need tenure to be successful in this role. I took the responsibility of this role to a level where I would want to make Rudy Hanley proud. Everything I do is documented — we have photos, videos, we have storyboards, we have printed material about our history. If someone really wanted to be successful in this role, they could learn about it and become engrossed in it. If they have that passion to serve, they’ll figure it out.

Clearly, it would be easier if you knew a little about the credit union’s history, but you can learn that. The right person who has passion and creativity can be successful.

How does your role contribute to the success of the credit union in ways people might not expect?

MM: I have a team of four direct reports, two of whom assist me with organizational events and meetings, a manager who primarily oversees a team of 10 who runs our Dream Team Orientation and Service University, and a fourth person who supports our media and event technology. Our success is the fact that we help tell the credit union’s story. We build a foundation for incoming team members and we help tell the story through technology.

How do you define success in your role?

MM: Through our team-engagement scores and member-engagement scores. They’re outstanding — they’re top class. We try to get the pulse of our team on how they’re feeling, how engaged they are, and we have team members openly share if they have issues or concerns through our annual team engagement survey. We have a great recognition platform that we lead and host — called the Pulse, funnily enough — and our team members tell us how we’re doing.

If your role didn’t exist, what would your credit union be missing?

MM: I don’t know if we’d have as much of a focus on and respect for the past. In the next decade, there’s going to be so many tenured people, with so many years of credit union history who will be retiring and leaving the credit union in the hands of those who come behind us. It will be interesting to see whether it will continue in that same manner.

Why do credit unions need this role?

MM: We need to realize where we came from; some of those humble beginnings and how we made an impact on the lives we serve. We can shape our future with our past if we understand this is where we came from, this is what sets us up for success, and if we continue on this path, we’ll continue to grow and thrive. That says a lot about who we are. It’s all of those member stories and the impact we make in the school districts and the way we give back to the communities we serve. We are definitely here to serve our members, not ourselves, and people need to understand that difference.

What should people know about your role that you haven’t addressed already?

MM: Our stories and impact we make to the communities we serve extend beyond our doors. Whenever we need to rally on the legislative front, we have a story to tell and we’re ready to put it out in front of them. It’s not just internal, it’s about how we continue to stay at the forefront when it comes to the political scene.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Member engagement begins with employee empowerment. SchoolsFirst FCU’s investment in culture, from onboarding experiences to recognition programs, reflects what Gallup research confirms: when employees feel connected to the mission, they deliver experiences that build emotional trust and drive member loyalty. The Member Engagement & Financial Wellbeing Consortium helps credit unions activate this internal shift from the inside out. Learn more.

The post What’s In A Name: Vice President Of History & Culture appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Those developments come as the industry’s average member age remains in the mid-40s, and credit unions of all sizes search for ways to attract young members and hold them over the long haul.

From First Account To Adulthood

In 2025, SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union ($36.7B, Tustin, CA) had more than 139,000 members who were age 17 or younger. That’s a triple-digit increase of 142% since 2010. Even better, the credit union has tracked that cohort’s engagement upon reaching adulthood and has noted a steady uptick in participation and engagement that rivals its average adult member.

SCHOOLSFIRST FCU MEMBERS WITH 4 TO 7 PRODUCTS
FOR SCHOOLSFIRST FCU | DATA AS OF 2025
SOURCE: SCHOOLSFIRST FCU

Young members of SchoolsFirst FCU have two youth account options, depending on their age. Those up to 12 years old may join the credit union’s Junior Varsity Club, whereas 13- to 17-year-olds may join the Varsity Club.

Parents generally open youth accounts when children are approximately 6 years old, although enrollment is balanced across all age groups. Regardless of age, the credit union offers age-appropriate products and services for each cohort, such as the College Saver Share Certificates and a Youth Debit Mastercard with spending and withdrawal limits. A whopping 69% of Varsity memberships carry the youth debit card, with 53% of those members actively using it.

A full 87% of youth memberships are opened in the branch, but the credit union notes a growing number of youth membership application coming in across digital channels, including online and mobile. To bolster that growth and highlight its youth offerings, the cooperative is producing web content, print materials, educational workshops, and more.

Once the credit union signs up a young member, it offers financial workshops as well as online and mobile services to serve them as they grow into adulthood. It also leans on modern communication platforms, including social media video, to connect with young members on channels they prefer.

SchoolsFirst FCU builds its youth-to-adult engagement model around four key areas:

• Early Financial Education And Workshops — This includes money management, in-school events, digital and print resources, and more.
• Youth Products — From youth debit cards to savings accounts and beyond, SchoolsFirst FCU supports all its youth products with education, resources, and guardrails like ATM usage limits to encourage responsible use.
• Parental Engagement — Those overseeing the accounts have guidance on different product tools and features, best practices to support youth financial development, and more.
• Automatic Transition To Adult Membership — This step at age 18 ensures continuity and minimizes friction to preserve member relationships. It also provides immediate access to checking and debit products, savings tools, credit-building opportunities, and more, with no new onboarding required.

No Substitute For School

Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union ($2.2B, Lowell, MA) has operated in-school branches since 1997 and currently runs three, the newest of which has been in place for a decade. The credit union tracks member engagement for those who start their accounts as students and reports 80% are still active 15 years later.

What does that engagement look like? The cohort holds more than a single savings account, and credit union leaders are digging into whether those members have taken out loans and how their participation has changed over time.

“We build their trust and get them at the start of their banking relationship,” says Robin Lorenzen, chief marketing officer. “They trust us because we were there when they were growing up.”

Jeanne D’Arc recruits high school branch managers to engage with the students, teaching the basics of banking and writing scholarship recommendation letters. It also offers student interns class credit for working the in-school branch. Those interns also help spread the word about the credit union.

Even with modern digital banking and financial education tools, Lorenzen says there’s no replacement for the in-school branch experience and classroom-based financial education.

“They’re engaged on multiple levels because we’ve come to them instead of trying to get them to come to us,” she says. “We’re meeting them where they are, and those high school branches create a unique relationship with the students.”

“This generation wants to do it themselves, but they want somebody there when they need help,” she says.

But branches alone aren’t enough, Lorenzen adds. The credit union also has a six-person financial education team that supplements the in-school branches and teaches in the classroom. Those multiple touch points reinforce themselves over time, building a relationship with the students that leads to trust and long-term engagement.

The credit union provides in-person support and builds relationships through high school branches. As those members age out, they know they can still turn to a branch when they need help, but they also know how to navigate online banking and self-service resources.

The growth of self-service channels in the past 15 years has been instrumental in forging long-term engagement, Lorenzen says, because graduating students know they don’t need to find another bank or credit union after high school.

“They know they can still bank with us,” the CMO says. “That trust is there, so they take us with them.”

Lessons Learned

To replicate the success of SchoolsFirst FCU and Jeann D’Arc, both credit unions say it’s important to understand this a long-term commitment to member development, not short-term product growth.

SchoolsFirst FCU also says its crucial to empower front-line staff to act as advocates for members. Thoughtful questions paired with the right solutions, not a focus on pushing products, builds trust early and establishes the foundation for a durable relationship.

For Jeanne D’Arc, maintaining touchpoints with students is key. This includes the in-school branch as well as the classroom, student activities, Reality Fairs, and more.

Equally important? Try to keep it light.

“In high school it’s not all about selling and teaching,” Lorenzen says. “There are ways to bring in the kids to interact, whether it’s trivia or giveaways or something like that. It’s not always about banking; it’s about connection.”

The post 2 Tactics To Increase Young Member Engagement appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Coffee at the branch and a friendly smile aren’t gonna cut it anymore. Members still appreciate those amenities, but just like low rates, low fees, and a top-tier digital experience, that’s all table stakes now.

Once a conversation centered on front-line service, member experience has become an enterprise-level responsibility shaped by digital channels, data, and rising expectations.

CreditUnions.com is all about member experience this week. In the days to come, keep your eyes peeled for:

• The three C’s of the modern call center.
• Six hot takes on MX from the leaders tasked with shaping it.
• How all-digital Alliant puts the human experience first.
• FORUM Credit Union’s approach to MX oversight that ensures nothing gets overlooked.
• Callahan Client Webinar: Learn how Travis Credit Union cut contact center wait times by 90% in less than a year. Register now.

Now it’s your turn. Simply put, what is your credit union doing to maximize member experience? Drop us a line, and we might feature your story on CreditUnions.com.

The post Coffee And A Smile? Not Good Enough. appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

The contact center at University Federal Credit Union ($4.2B, Austin, TX), splits approximately 65 employees between phone and digital channels. As part of the member service department, the contact center is evolving along with the larger institution.

“Our headcount depends on where the organization is with our digital and self-service tools,” says Becca Pike, director of member services. “We’re still building the foundation of our digital transformation, so our headcount is fairly consistent today with what it has been historically, although I see that shifting as we see what volumes come in through which channels.”

UFCU typically starts all contact center staff in the phone channel so they can build a solid understanding of the organization’s systems and its sales and service model. As employees build on that foundation, gain confidence, and learn to appreciate the empathy needed, they can then shift to digital channels.

Similarly, GreenState Credit Union ($11.2B, North Liberty, IA) splits its team of 60 between phone and digital channels, with the latter group focused on chat, email, and ITM service. The credit union serves more than 400,000 members across branches in three states; the contact center alone supports approximately 50,000 interactions each month.

Staffing is split roughly 60/40 based on where the growth is at any given time. If the credit union is deploying ITMs, for example, it’s likely to increased hiring on the digital side. If it has released new products and expects an influx of phone calls, it’s likely to staff up the call side.

To create pathways for advancement and avoid turnover, GreenState employs three levels of contact center specialists that take on higher-risk tasks — from credit card advances and mortgage and wire calls to eventually call monitoring, quality assurance, training, and more. And to reassure staff that AI and automation won’t be taking their jobs, GreenState is upskilling specialists for more complex needs beyond what is now level three.

“Our North Star is always going to be member experience and reducing friction, but our star right next to it is employee engagement,” says Amy Stevens, senior vice president of member experience.

Out west, Desert Financial Credit Union ($9.5B, Phoenix, AZ) has slightly more than 150 contact center employees to serve its more than 500,000 members. It divides that group into four different teams, including service — which is the largest group with the highest turnover — sales, digital, and member loyalty. That latter is focused on member retention.

Desert Financial expects the sales team to generate at least four times the monthly revenue of a branch salesperson, and the contact center drives approximately 60% of the credit union’s lending support. Christina Mijares, assistant vice president of the member engagement center, staffs for specific teams and says moving to a universal model would change staffing needs for the entire contact center.

Integration And Food For Thought

Contact center leaders often struggle to help their staff members feel they are a part of rather than apart from the rest of the organization.

GreenState runs a relatively lean team, and Stevens says she has “lots of champions embedded in business units” across the credit union, which ensures the executive leadership team knows what’s happening in the contact center.

Stevens’ team also has monthly liaison meetings with cards, marketing, collections, and other departments to understand what’s happening in those areas. That not only keeps the contact center up to date but also creates growth and integration opportunities for those employees. Executive leadership also listens to calls every month to get a sense of what members are reaching out about.

“Senior leadership gives a lot of shout outs to this team, and it wasn’t always this way,” Stevens says. “Contact centers can have a negative connotation, and we’ve been able to garner respect.”

At UFCU, Pike says there’s a clear understanding that the contact center is the intake for the credit union.

“We’re the place people go if and when a journey broke,” she says.

That requires a high level of awareness about what’s going on across the organization. If members reach out and the contact center doesn’t know what’s going on, that doesn’t instill a high level of confidence, the director says.

To mitigate that risk, contact center leaders regularly meet with staff in key departments. For example, they meet monthly with branch and payments leaders because service inquiries frequently relate to those departments.

Desert Financial’s quarterly “Food For Thought” sessions bring in senior leaders across different departments to eat lunch and observe the contact center to gain a better understanding of how their work affects the contact center.

“Doing that repetitively and being consistent about it has created more awareness,” Mijares says.

A quarterly contact center newsletter also helps keep the entire institution informed about what’s happening there, and Mijares makes sure to mix data with photos to deepen the connection to the center.

Building Culture

The cadence of contact center work is different from the branches or back office, where there are more opportunities for employes to chat and form relationships. Because the contact center has a much faster rhythm, Mijares says she’s intentional about building a culture that matches the rest of the organization yet support contact center requirements.

“You cannot overstate how critical that onboarding process is,” she says. “It’s uncomfortable for people to take a call, have no idea what it’s going to be, and be unprepared. The call center onboarding experience is a game changer. It’s make or break.”

Since staffing the contact center can often feel like running a complaint line, UFCU’s Pike says internal culture is important.

“All of us are in it together,” she says. “How we support one another — from phone reps to leadership — is a crucial part of how we’re empowered to solve issues.”

No matter how technology, consumer preferences, or regulatory agendas change, Stevens at GreenState says culture and a laser focus on the member-service mission is critical.

“As long as you have that, you can weather whatever changes you go through,” she says. “The people on the team need the mindset that we’re going to collect feedback, do something about the feedback, and improve on that while at the same time ensuring the member that their voice was heard.”

The post The 3 C’s Of Contact Center Success appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Consumer credit card debt rose by 116% year-over-year in 2025, according to a 2026 study from WalletHub. A full 78% of that increase came during the fourth quarter. With gas prices up more than 30% since the start of the Iran war and other prices expected to remain high, consumers could be reaching more for their credit cards in the months to come.

TOTAL OUSTANDING CREDIT CARD DEBT (ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION)
FOR U.S. CONSUMERS | DATA AS OF 12.31.25
SOURCE: WALLETHUB

STRATEGIC INSIGHTS

• At $1.33 trillion, total credit card debt is only slightly lower than its $147 billion peak in 2008.
• From a credit union industry perspective, credit card loan growth closed out 2025 at 3.41%, according to data from Callahan & Associates. That’s well below the fourth quarter 2022 peak of 15.88% but in line with historical norms since the Great Recession.
• Adjusted for inflation, average U.S. household credit card debt topped $11,561 at the end of 2025, a 2.3% increase from the prior year.
• The average member balance at credit unions was $3,403 at year-end. Some of that difference could be tied to lower interest rates at credit unions, which compound into comparatively lower balances over time.
• The rise in credit card debt is augmented by increases in the BNPL space. According to a PYMNTS series, 38% of credit union members say they would use BNPL if their credit union offered it. That figure nearly doubles for millennial and Gen Z members, nearly half (48%) of whom say they’ve already used outside providers like Affirm, Klarna, and others.
• It’s unclear how many credit unions currently offer in-house BNPL solutions. A March 2024 study from PYMNTS and Velera found just 1.5% of credit unions offered the service.

The post Consumers Are Financing The Future Any Way They Can appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

It’s like we put all these awesome ingredients in the oven and the cake is starting to rise. I think it’s gonna taste pretty good when it comes out fully baked.

Dave Widener had two dreams as a kid: to make maps and live in Maine. Flash forward a few decades and, in a roundabout way, he’s doing both.

As a kid growing up in Ohio, Widener loved maps and dreamed of living in Maine. After college he worked briefly with legendary mapmakers Rand McNally. Today, he lives in Portland, Maine, and commutes into New Hampshire for Service Credit Union ($6.5B, Portsmouth, NH). There, he serves as assistant vice president of member insights, overseeing strategy management and the organization’s member-engagement program.

Put another way, he’s designing member experience maps to help the credit union reach its long-term goals.

Widener spent his career up until 2022 largely in IT and project management, but he’s a full convert to the credit union cause today.

“I wish I had found the credit union movement earlier in my career,” he says. “I’ve never felt more passionate about what I’m doing.”

What is your elevator pitch when someone asks what you do?

Dave Widener: I make sure what we’re doing is focused not just on our sustainable growth, but on the best outcome for our members. It’s almost the triple bottom line of doing well by doing good. That’s the credit union model, the more we do well for our members, the better we do.

What’s the story behind your title?

DW: I came from IT, I have a project-management background, and I was a business analyst at one point, so understanding processes and how to build alignment and shared purpose really came to bear here. I’ve always had a strategic mindset, so when Michael [Dvorak, CFO] said, “I want to build this function with you helping lead it,” I couldn’t say no.

What makes your role interesting?

DW: We needed some way to centralize what we’re doing with strategy, and although we’ve got more work to do, I see so much more purpose and alignment than we had before. Even though it can feel messy, we’re becoming that unified team we always knew we could be.

It’s like we put all these awesome ingredients in the oven and the cake is starting to rise. I think it’s gonna taste pretty good when it comes out fully baked.

What part of your role energizes you?

DW: I love a good problem to solve. Over my career I’ve been given things that couldn’t be fixed and I’ve fixed them, so I’ve never run from those challenges. I see these construction signs on the way to work that say, “Bridge work in progress,” and that’s what we’re doing — we’re creating bridges to the future and bridges between people and processes and member experience. Once these bridges are built, folks are walking across them and using them, and that’s when the engagement really starts.

What part challenges you the most?

DW: Historically we’ve been an organization whose heart has been in the right place. We love saying yes to things but then not understanding, respectfully, the difficulty of making them stick. I think a lot of folks saw the strategy office like this, so the winds were definitely against us. Year One was not easy.

Now we’ve brought in our chiefs as our steering committee, which has created this resurgence of belief. What we’re seeing now is this doesn’t need to be the latest flavor of the day. This can be something that sustains us into the future. The model is sound, the results are sound, and we have fantastic human potential we are beginning to powerfully capitalize on.

What did it take to get buy-in and start things moving in the right direction?

DW: It doesn’t matter what role they play, the more folks who can take on a role and see their work contributes to a metric that leads up to our team performance goals, the better we get. We’re creating successes, so folks on the sideline can say, “I want to be part of that team.”

What’s the biggest misconception about your role?

DW: Strategy isn’t one person’s role. If you’re the bridge builder and the dot connector, that’s a key role of strategy. But strategy belongs to everybody, just like the member journey and experience belongs to everybody. One person can’t represent that, but one person can help create movement and start the fire that spreads.

I like being a champion, but I don’t need the credit. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be paid and feel appreciated, but the work is what inspires me. The less we talk about Dave and the more we talk about our strategy and our members, the more we win.

What is the No. 1 skill you need to do your job?

DW: Listening is most important. We all have egos, it’s impossible to blot that out completely, but we do our best to keep the ego at the door because we have to hear things we don’t want to hear, and we need to listen to things we don’t necessarily want to in order to be truly great.

My boss tells me you have to be willing to weather the detractors because if you let every piece of constructive or even negative feedback sink your ship, you’re not going to be successful. You have to believe in the vision and allow the critical stuff you need to hear to get through your filter, but don’t let that tell you that who you are and what you’re doing is wrong.

What skill do you wish you had or had more of for your job? 

DW: I wish I had a few more years under my belt with the cooperative movement. I don’t have the national relationships that some folks have. I had experience in the FI space early in my career and then spent time in life sciences and gaming and energy. I’m just getting back into the FI space, so that’s probably one of my larger deficits.

How does your role contribute to the success of the credit union in ways people might not expect?

DW: The direct things are bottom-line and member experience related, but what I see happening is a real aligning of our collective mind, hands, and hearts in a way that I have not seen since joining. To see the organization start to come together even though it’s uncomfortable and a bit messy, folks rolling up their sleeves as one team — this has started to become a movement. We’re building this corporate culture that is cohesive and supportive and is going to get us not just to $10 billion but to $20 billion and beyond.

Job titles say as much about the organization as they do the person. “What’s In A Name” on CreditUnions.com dives into notable, important, interesting, or just plain fun roles to find out what’s happening at the ground level and across the industry. Read the series today.

How do you define success in your role?

DW: Our growth targets are clear. We’re looking for those member outcomes that would be noticed as best in class. That’s quantifiable, but how we get there is the real thing we have to be mindful of.

What I see is an evolution of our culture. When everyone owns the strategy and member experience — turning “I” into a “We” that is strong and steadfast, even though it takes constant nurturing and care and feeding — that’s what success looks like. That kind of collective spirit and energy can get us through anything. That’s what creates the sustainability not just for our bottom line, but for our members’ long-term outcomes as well.

When does a credit union need this role?

DW: If this were easy, we’d all be playing golf and the credit union would run itself. Even though a lot of these concepts are Business 101 blended with a member-focused heart, it takes a lot of consistent work and dedication to make things seem simple create dramatic outcomes. That’s what we’re aiming for.

It’s easy to think about a future outcome or growth number, and that might provoke the need for a strategic function. But what’s more critical even is what happens when we get there. Are we prepared from a people, process, and technology perspective? That’s when that “Eureka!” moment happens. That helps build the call to action for a cogent and executable road map, and we can’t wait “until we get there” for that. There’s no size that’s too big or small to think, “What happens when we’re lucky enough to realize our goals?”

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Top-Level Takeaways

• Investing in early education builds relationships before balances, but engagement is about user experience as much as curriculum.
• Low‑risk, experiential tools reinforce abstract instruction.
• Measuring long‑term impact requires patience and intentional analytics

Cardinal Credit Union is using fintech to improve how high school students learn about investing.

Cardinal ($358.5M, Mentor, OH), which teaches financial education in six area high schools, was on the lookout for more ways to engage with students. Part of its eight-week curriculum includes a module on investing. Rather than just teach the concepts in an abstract way, a fintech partnership allows some students to get hands-on experience.

Many credit unions offer investment resources aimed at young adults and mid-career members with an eye toward retirement planning and wealth building. Fewer programs tailor investment strategies to those just entering adulthood. That could be a mistake. A late 2022 study from CFA Institute Research and Policy Center found many young adults are already investing and eager for more opportunities.

Cardinal’s financial education curriculum targets high school juniors and seniors, and all students open an account with the credit union in the first week of the program as part of a module on money-management, budgeting, security, and more. Students also have access to the credit union’s app, and those students who are 18 years old can access the fintech Bits Of Stock through the app once the investment module begins.

The credit union’s debit rewards program offers rewards points, explains Cardinal CEO Christine Blake, which students can then use to buy small bits of stock through the app.

“We don’t want them to use their own money because it’s supposed to be a teaching moment,” Blake says. “This minimizes the risk because they’re using the reward points as they invest in these fractional shares.”

Cardinal has pre-selected a dozen or so stocks that users can select. Some are big names — think Apple, Amazon, and Disney — and some are companies headquartered close to the credit union’s market. Cardinal’s instructors provide classroom guidance on how to pick stocks and the students may also access tutorials built into the app.

Users don’t receive any dividends, since they’re only investing in fractional shares. Keeping users’ own money out of the equation and focusing on debit rewards points helps keep things low-risk while still hands-on.

Soft Launch

Approximately 1,000 students have open accounts through Cardinal’s financial education programs. About a quarter of those account holders are old enough to be eligible for investing, and only a portion of those are using Bits of Stock. Blake says that’s expected, as the credit union only rolled it out in early 2026.

In fact, the CEO says, “soft launch” is the better term. The formal rollout will come sometime this summer, when the full membership will gain access to the fintech.

Those who have used it so far have been enthusiastic, Blake adds.

Although would-be investors must be at least 18 years old to use a brokerage account, leadership is examining whether the credit union can still be in compliance if a student younger than 18 can use the service through a joint account with an adult. After all, Blake notes, many 17 year olds are also taking the class, and Cardinal wants them to have the same educational experience.

For the first year, Blake says, account holders can make investments exclusively through debit rewards points. Cash-based investments will follow, but leadership wants to wait at least one year to monitor usage trends before opening up that option.

It’s also planning to monitor longer-term analytics, including whether the investing service helps retain members and whether those accounts grow over time. It will take at least three years of data to have a representative sample, Blake says, and five years might provide a better view.

“We’ll be looking at different phases to set up our dashboards accordingly so we can track it all,” she says.

Lessons Learned

The experience has served as a reminder that there’s no substitute for a great user experience — with this product and all others.

“The students move quickly,” Blake says. “Everything has to move very smoothly for them to want to use a product. That’s across the board for all youth. They’re used to things working smoothly, quickly, and efficiently, with a great member experience.”

And, she adds, it’s been a reminder that young members really do want financial education.

“The educational piece can never be understated,” Blake says. “Just as we always suspected, there’s definitely a need and a desire for the education.”

The post At Cardinal Credit Union, Small Investments Offer Big Financial Lessons appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Most people wouldn’t take a road trip without putting on their seatbelt first. Simone Suri wants credit unions to take the same approach with their AI journeys.

Suri is chief administrative officer and general counsel at Members Cooperative Credit Union ($1.2B, Duluth, MN). The cooperative started using artificial intelligence in earnest about a year ago, but leadership didn’t just hand over access and let staff loose. Rather, it grants access on a case-by-case basis to employees who request it. Employees with approval may use only the credit union’s licensed Microsoft Copilot, and they cannot submit member data into the tool.

“We don’t want people going to ChatGPT because we have no idea what’s going to happen to that data,” Suri says. “The idea is to use a tool where the data will remain safe. We want our data in a more controlled environment.”

Members Cooperative’s approach to AI revolves around a robust internal policy that provides guardrails for usage. That starts with a risk assessment and written documentation that details for all users when, where, and how they can use AI. Such documentation protects the credit union, staff, and members alike. Although most employees are excited about using AI, Suri says, most people don’t have a technology background. Having a policy like this in place is crucial for helping them understand the opportunities they can leverage as well as what to avoid.

“Anytime new technology and data is involved, we need to take a second and understand not only the benefits but also the risks and how we navigate those risks so we can get the benefits without compromising the security of our data,” Suri says. “This has to be a no-compromise situation.”

The Use Cases

Members Cooperative selected Copilot because of its security, data protections, and integration capabilities with the credit union’s existing tools, Suri says. Although the credit union does not allow member data in AI — which largely rules out use cases for member-facing staff — Suri says there are many ways AI drives back-office efficiencies. But even then, there are guardrails. Associates must disclose when they use AI, and human oversight is required, given AI’s propensity to make mistakes.

“You can’t assume everything coming out of an AI tool is like punching in two times two on a calculator and the answer is always four,” Suri says. “You really need to look at those results and validate them. We’ve had situations where information hasn’t been accurate. Most recently, I found that people like to put legal questions into AI. Again, you have to think about where AI is generating its answers. The information isn’t coming from an attorney on the other side of the wires answering your question. It’s pulling from all of these different databases, some of which are outdated or old or just might be illegitimate. At the same time, AI may be pulling from sources that are amazing and incredibly accurate, but you still need that human oversight.”

So what are the use cases at Members Cooperative? Like other credit unions, it is still figuring that out. But Suri says inputting existing policies into a licensed AI tool can help improve those policies, whether by making them more concise or uncovering gaps. Similarly, AI could conduct market research or even provide a starting point to draft an AI usage policy. One key, she notes, is the prompts that go into AI. The better the prompts, the better the outcomes.

“Each organization needs to figure out where its comfort level is,” she says. “Some studies have shown we’re not getting the efficiencies we think we’re getting.”

Best Practice: AI tools are everywhere — even Google’s first results are frequently an AI summary. Suri suggests closing off access to public AI sites on all credit union-owned computers. Doing so encourages employees to use credit union-licensed services and steers users away from potentially less secure tools. Plus, she adds, many credit unions are moving in that direction.

The Balancing Act

Suri acknowledges there’s a balancing act between empowering employees and exercising caution. The key, she says, is education. Leaders must ensure organizations are discussing the risks and advantages of AI, identifying use cases, and recognizing how those use cases might vary by department. What’s most important is to keep the conversation going.

“The biggest problem you’re seeing in credit union land today is we know AI is there and people are excited but not talking about how to use it safely,” she says. “Or we talk about a risk once and then not again for six months.”

Risk assessments and robust governance around AI can help alleviate the concern in departments like risk and IT, in part because that kind of documentation provides clear, objective guidance on do’s and don’ts.

“It allows you to recognize risks and contemplate what you’re willing to accept,” Suri says. “What risks are appropriate given the risk appetite of the credit union and which are not? Going through the process in a methodical way like a risk assessment makes it less personal. But you’ve got to have enough knowledge on both sides to have those tough conversations and work through those risks.”

In addition to clear standards for employees, Suri suggest examining all vendor contracts to better understand how those providers use AI. That can be a challenge, especially if the credit union’s point of contact does not have all the answers. If that’s the case, keep digging.

“You’ve got to ask questions about what type of AI tools your vendor is using, what data is going in, and identify associated risks, including compliance and operational risk,” she says. “Those are hard questions for a sales rep to answer, so you usually need to get other folks involved in those conversations.”

Suri adds that memorializing AI disclosure requirements in the contract can help the credit union if vendors change their practices later on.

“Third parties are a significant source of FI breaches,” she says. “If they start putting member data or other proprietary information into those tools, we’re vulnerable.”

The Lessons

Suri admits that even though Members Cooperative has a robust AI plan in place, it still has work to do.

“You could line up 10 employees, ask each one about their comfort level and what AI can do for them, and every single person will have a completely different answer,” she says.

But rather than pushing employees to use AI more, Suri says that varied level of comfort —  which is likely common at many credit unions — exemplifies the need for a thoughtful approach, including a risk assessment and well-formulated governance approach.

The big lesson might not be to shy away from AI, but to be thoughtful about how, when, and where it’s deployed — and always back up usage with human oversight.

“I’m finding more and more folks are getting comfortable with AI and pushing the boundaries, which is great,” Suri says. “It’s good to play with things and challenge yourself. But be cautious along that journey because we are seeing incorrect results. Not because AI has become less accurate, but because people are getting more comfortable and pushing the boundaries of what AI can provide.”

The post Governance And Guardrails Help Credit Unions Navigate AI appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

People think this is a technical role. What I’ve learned is that for this to be successful, whoever is leading it needs to have the right balance between strategy and execution, business and technology, and risk and innovation.

Preetha Sekharan, chief AI officer at Hudson Valley Credit Union ($8.1B, Poughkeepsie, NY) is poised to have a very big influence very fast.

Not bad for someone who’s only been in the industry for a couple of months.

Sekharan’s background is in software engineering, with previous experiences in healthcare management consulting and leading innovation & AI in the insurance industry. Hudson Valley is her first credit union post.

Only a few credit unions nationwide have a C-level role dedicated to AI strategy and adoption. At Hudson Valley, Sekharan is helping the New York‑based cooperative rethink how it approaches the technology and what it chooses to prioritize.

What is your elevator pitch when someone asks what you do?

Preetha Sekharan: I lead how AI is applied in transforming our member experience and driving growth, efficiency, and better risk management. Innovating at the right pace — meeting our regulatory and responsible standards.

Why is this title important?

PS: It signifies we’re serious about AI and it’s a strategic capability. It’s less about the title and more about the message that it sends internally and externally. It means there’s more accountability around AI. It’s no longer something we experiment with; it’s something we expect real business value out of.

As we start scaling AI efforts across the organization, there’s a need to have executive ownership — someone who ensures we are deliberate about where we use AI, how fast we move, and how we protect member trust while doing it.

What makes your role interesting?

PS: If I track my own journey, there are a few things that matter to me: Am I learning? Am I driving business impact? This role has both to a high degree.

It’s also a role that sits at the intersection between strategy and execution, business and technology.

What part of your role energizes you? Conversely, what part challenges you the most?

PS: A lot of things are challenging. People are discovering new capabilities every day as technology is evolving fast. I’ve been in the tech space for a while now and it has never been this overwhelming. Driving real impact isn’t easy – a lot of it is about people and changing behaviors, not just technology.

What challenges me also energizes me. We are charting new paths, given the pace of innovation in the AI space. I had to learn and unlearn a lot of things when I pivoted to AI from software engineering.

You have to apply first principles thinking to assess “How do I solve this problem?” because you might not have a lot of references of how it has worked before in 500 other organizations. That, to me, is very energizing.

What’s the biggest misconception about your role?

PS: The biggest misconception is that this is a purely technical role or one that can be filled by simply elevating a technologist or data scientist. In reality, successful AI leadership is far more multi‑dimensional.

What I have learned is that an AI leader needs to balance strategy and execution, business and technology and risk and innovation. It’s not purely a technical role. It is as much about people, change management, and culture as it is about models and platforms.

There’s also misconceptions around governance in general. At the credit union, we’re trying to stand up AI risk management and governance, before we go mainstream with many use cases. The moment people hear “AI governance,” the first thought that comes into their mind is, “Oh, this is going to slow me down.” Done right, governance does not slow innovation; it should help accelerate innovation.

What is the No. 1 skill you need to do your job?

PS:  Instincts and judgment — being very intentional about what you say no to and what you say yes to.

There’s a lot of hype and there are zillions of startups and companies that did not exist two or three years back that are now available in the market, so the ability to quickly discern what is hype versus what is ripe for use cases is crucial. It’s a judgement skill.

AI also is about trust, influencing stakeholders and bringing an organization along. Your ability to do that is critical for this role.

Is that a skill where you’re pretty strong?

PS:  I’m a work in progress.

What skill do you wish you had or had more of for your job? 

PS:   Influence at scale and trust. Trust is not built in a day. When you’re new to an organization, that takes effort — being intentional and understanding that when you bring people along it may be slow at first, but eventually it’ll get faster.

How does your role contribute to the success of the credit union in ways people might not expect?

PS: AI tends to put the spotlight on weak areas in your organization. Maybe your data is not in good shape, you don’t have standard processes, or there’s a lack of clarity around how decisions are made. You have to get it right and make it right before you can scale AI.

How do you define success in your role?

PS: The first definition of success is achieving the business value. That’s the No. 1 priority.

We’re still defining what the strategy is and the North Star vision for AI in the credit union. As we define that and clearly lay out the metrics and goals we have around various business aspects, whether it’s member experience or employee experience, achieving that goal in the short term and keeping sight of the longer-term impact is the priority.

We’re also building the capability of AI within the organization. That’s priority No. 2. I’m spending a good bit of time standing up AI governance and building that muscle around risk, AI risk, and risk management. It’s about making sure we balance governance, not overengineer it, with innovation. That’s goal No. 3.

At the end of the day, this is a lot more about people than it is about technology, and we have to make sure our employees also feel that way.

If your role didn’t exist, what would your credit union be missing?

PS: The credit union was doing AI projects before I came, so there have been pockets of places where we’ve executed on AI. The biggest value I bring is in direction and coherence. That’s something I expect my role to bring forward. I almost see my role as a force multiplier. If 1+1 would have been two without me, 1 + 1 should be 11 with me.

What makes a credit union need this role?

PS: It depends on what you want to do with AI in your organization. If you think this is going to be a strategic capability, you’re better off having a role that is focused on driving that.

You either have the scale for this capability and drive a lot of value for your business, or you are on the cusp of a growth spurt where bringing in these capabilities could unlock that capacity for growth. Without this role, there might be small use cases fragmented across the enterprise, but the organization is not really thinking about AI in a strategic and consistent way driving real business impact.

What else do you want people to know about your role?

PS: AI is evolving and trust is an important part of the equation for a successful AI transformation. I expect this role to build both; the more you build adoption of AI, you also build that trust, which compounds over the years.

What (other) roles do you see driving credit unions forward in a modern financial services environment?

PS: A product mindset is important because we think of AI assets as living beings — they have a lifespan, they drift and you need to make sure you’re managing these assets over the course of their lifecycle. So AI product managers will be an important role. Also, change management roles – people focused on operations, processes, and people. Thinking about ways to reimagine value streams with AI embedded. Making sure people are equipped and trained to support that.

I also see that any organization that is serious about AI will need to build the AI risk and compliance muscle.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Job titles say as much about the organization as they do the person. “What’s In A Name” on CreditUnions.com dives into notable, important, interesting, or just plain fun roles to find out what’s happening at the ground level and across the industry. Read the series today.

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