A New Leadership Team Focuses On Organic Growth At Verve

After a long run of merger-related growth — with a pandemic thrown in for good measure — Verve, a Credit Union ($1.6B, Oshkosh, WI), is once again poised for organic growth. All thanks to turnover on the senior leadership team and a new sales culture rooted in service.

Prior to the pandemic’s onset in March of 2020, Verve was on a run of mergers, including one of the industry’s few three-way mergers that served as the credit union’s genesis. Verve also acquired a bank and underwent a core conversion after the pandemic. Yet despite these steps, membership was on a slight downward trajectory.

“We weren’t hitting the way we should’ve been hitting,” says Kevin Ralofsky, CEO of Verve. “Our back office wasn’t as strong as it should’ve been with the efficiencies we should be gaining with a new core system. We also needed to be more savvy on our balance sheet management.”

New Team. New Eyes. New Products.

In early 2022, Ralofsky brought on Rema Momberg as the credit union’s new senior vice president of human resources as part of the leadership rebuild. a new CFO, Glen Stiteley, followed, along with temporarily outsourcing marketing to an agency. Former banker Mitchell Kime came aboard as chief growth officer in 2024 after logging time with big names like Key Bank, Capital One, and PNC, and Cyrene Wilke was added as the new chief operations officer in 2025.

“After we rebuilt the senior leadership team and had everyone rowing in the same direction, we started identifying new areas with new eyes where we can make a go at this,” Ralofsky says.

The cooperative’s average member age declined shortly after the CEO’s arrival in 2012, but it was slowly ticking back up to the high 40s and low 50s, depending on the product or service. The credit union had not focused on product development as a core differentiator, which left it trying to be everything to everybody.

“We offered a wide range of products and services, but we didn’t have a clear product strategy that truly set us apart in the market,” Ralofsky says. “As CEO, it’s my responsibility to help shape that clarity. After 13 years in this role, I know that when we align around a differentiated vision, we move forward with greater focus, confidence, and extraordinary potential.”

Armed with fresh eyes, the new leadership team conducted research to learn more about the credit union’s markets, the needs of potential members present in those areas, and the type of members Verve needed for long-term success.

That work led Verve to rollout four lifecycle-based bundles that pair checking, savings, and credit card products. The bundles anchor Verve’s new strategy of competitive pricing with a consultative approach.

“We want to help our members thrive,” Ralofsky says. “We use that word a lot now. If our members are thriving financially and personally, we’re thriving as well.”

The basic bundle aside, each package includes minimum balances requirements or fees. However, members can bundle accounts with a Verve credit card to eliminate monthly service fees. But the offers do more than benefit the balance sheet. Verve designed the bundles to appeal to specific member needs and change how members engage the credit union’s services.

“We’re focusing on helping our members thrive, both personally and financially, not just selling them a product,” Ralofsky says.

A Curve Of Acceptance

When Verve restructured its product suite, it also shifted to a sales culture that requires sharper listening to build deeper relationships with members. With that kind of change, organizations have to manage what Ralofsky calls the “curve of acceptance” to secure crucial staff buy-in.

An internal communications team led by HR and learning and development helped staff make the transition to a sales culture, walking through the changes with team members, discussing how it might feel, and assuring employees they’d have the right tools to make the switch.

“You’re going to skin your knees,” Ralofsky told his team. “But we’ll help you get back up and do it again and again.”

The credit union trained team leaders and departments — internally known as “spans of care” — on the nuts and bolts of the products as well as what it means to have a successful sales culture. Importantly, Verve gave employees permission to make mistakes and department leaders permission to embrace those mistakes, Ralofsky says.

Verve created its own online training module and every team member, including Ralofsky, completed the process multiple times. The credit union also held internal seminars to help employees communicate with members about the purpose and value of the new bundles and explain how the packaging enhances the overall member experience. For resistant members who wanted to stay in the product they already had, the credit union built messaging around what they were missing.

Ralofsky admits the move to a more intentional sales culture was a leap for some, but navigating the quick succession of mergers has made the Verve team remarkably agile.

“They know change, so they embrace it,” the CEO says.

Still, some associates did leave; others made intra-organization moves. Overall, though, Ralofsky says results have improved even as expectations have risen.

Along with consultations, those on the sales team also make calls and complete financial wellness checkups for members. That includes thanking them for their business and opening a dialogue to review current products, services, and financial needs to identify any opportunities to better position the member for financial success. Sometimes it’s a simple as a member explaining that they’re unsure how to pay for a child’s college or wedding. Other times it’s about digging deeper to understand why a member is making late payments.

“The key is to balance selling a product and meeting the needs of a member without shoving a product down their throat,” he says. “It’s a sales culture, but we’re leading with consultancy. We’re leading with solving problems.”

The Importance Of Leadership

Verve’s investments in products and people is beginning to pay off. After years of declining or zig-zagging performance, many key metrics at Verve are now leveling out or on the rise as of the third quarter of 2025, including member growth, ROA, and more.

The new senior leadership team has played no small part in that performance. Ralofsky admits to spending an extensive amount of time with SLT candidates during the interview process to ensure each one was the right fit. In most cases, he looped in other executive team members to determine a candidate’s cultural fit; some executives even met with candidates without Ralofsky. That’s just the CEO’s style.

“I’m interested in hearing what the candidate asks my executive team and vice versa,” he says. “It’s not an interview, it’s a conversation. It lasts an hour or two, then I leave the room and they talk more. Candidates understand much more about Verve, our culture, and my leadership style by the time they start, so it cuts out that first three months of tiptoeing around the office trying to figure out how the internal politics work.”

That’s been one of the biggest lessons he’s learned from the entire process: start cultural immersion and team building during the hiring process.

“The trust is already built, the excitement is there,” Ralofsky says. “They hit the ground running so much easier because they know who their allies are in the organization.”

What Can You Learn From Like-Minded Leaders? Credit unions are aligning leadership around common goals and responding to the evolving needs of members with a variety of products and services. Callahan Roundtables put leaders in the same room to share solutions, solicit feedback, pose questions, and more. Inspiration is a Callahan Roundtable away. Learn more today.