CUES Podcast

CUES member Jeff Disterhoft became passionate about advancing diversity, equity and inclusion after his son took a class about race at the University of Iowa and started asking his dad questions about DEI. “A few things became clear over the course of the semester,” Disterhoft says in the show. “One, I didn't have it all figured out in terms of the systemic oppression of people of color in ou...

If you're building a team, you want players who are humble, hungry and people-smart. Zachary Churchill says this is not his idea—it's from Patrick Lencioni , founder of The Table Group—but Churchill seems not only to espouse it but embody it.  The winner of the 2022 CUES Emerge competition, Churchill is not afraid to say he previously entered the competition in 2013 and didn't advan...

Episode 137 of the CUES Podcast tells a story of CEO succession that includes two leaders splitting the president and CEO roles for about six months;  doing additional planning for the expected retirements of the longtime CFO and CIO; consideration of several merger options; and a merger.  This is the story of Charlotte Metro Credit Union, which just as we were about to publish this episode announ...

Sponsored by SkyStem Closing the books at the end of the month can be a lot of work. Doing it month after month can be grueling. And when the organization is growing and adding new technology, well, that can just make an already tough job that much more difficult, says our guest in this episode of the CUES Podcast. Jennifer Stein, CPA, CGMA, is senior project manager for SkyStem , a CUES Supplier...

Got grit?  According to the guest in this episode of the CUES Podcast, getting grit is about having passion and perseverance in pursuit of long-term goals. It’s about going outside of your comfort zone and taking risks to live your best life. As a bonus, the process of getting grit will likely inspire other people to want to behave that way as well.  “Grit is really defined also by the fact that t...

James Hunter, CCM, not only has deep knowledge of credit union lending best practices but also a passion for diversity, equity and inclusion. In fact, Hunter says in this episode of the CUES podcast that he strives to put the two together every day—to be an “equity injector” that helps all members of his credit union be more able to live their best financial lives. “I want to be the equity injecto...

Sponsored by Fiserv Want to compete better with fintechs? Reduce friction. Want to make more loans? Reduce friction? Want to become more appealing to young people? Reduce friction. The opportunity that lies in reducing friction across the credit union is a key theme in this episode of the CUES Podcast. Our guest is Bill Handel, general manager and chief economist at Raddon , a Fiserv company. Fise...

When considering a core conversion, Tami Webb, who is VP/sales for CUES Supplier member United Solutions Company, Tallahassee, Florida, suggests first asking:  Why do we want to change? What's the objective? What's driving all this work?  Webb is our guest for this episode of the CUES Podcast. She has helped about 30 credit unions convert to a hosted core or remote data processing system...

When G&F Financial and Aldergrove Credit Union merged, they started with a cultural assessment to see if the combination was a right fit. And they followed up with “roots and wings” sessions designed to honor the history of both credit unions and to create alignment around their joint future. “We did some reads to see exactly where individual employees were at, what were their values, what was...

During this episode of the CUES Podcast, Matthew Bidwell, Ph. D., talks about the employee engagement at NASA leading up to the lunar landing.  If you asked an employee who was sweeping the floor what they were doing, they would have said, “I’m putting a man on the moon,” notes Bidwell, associate professor of management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and a...

“Learn and earn” has proven to be a great strategy for getting the attention of Gen Z, according to Bolun Li, CEO of the financial education app Zogo .  In this episode, Li describes the incredible growth his company has seen from creating hundreds of bite-sized financial education modules, getting them out to Gen Z on an app for their phones, and then rewarding them with pineapple points that are...

In the latest episode of the CUES Podcast, Kimberly Wright says she feels like she has made it past the proverbial glass ceiling that’s long been a metaphor for a system that holds women back from rising to top leadership roles. Senior vice president and executive director of the American Heart Association in Atlanta, Wright says, “I feel like I have busted through the glass ceiling in my current...

Marvin York was watching videos with his granddaughter when a clip came on of graduation ceremonies at historically Black colleges and universities.  “And I saw all of these professionals getting ready to launch,” says York, VP, contact center member engagement for CUESolutions provider PSCU , a credit union service organization based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The video York and his granddaughte...

CUES member Steve Bugg is very clear that the diversity, equity and inclusion journey that his credit union is on makes his organization stand out in the competitive financial services market and for talent as well.  “We know today everybody says they deliver great member service or customer service, have to have competitive products or services, and have to have a great technology plan,” says Bug...

Innovation is that flash of an idea—and it’s happening all the time. Disruption, on the other hand, might stem from innovation, slowly making changes in a marketplace until the whole landscape is different, according to Steve Hewins, senior vice president of CU Members Mortgage , a CUESolutions Bronze provider based in Texas.  “A disruptor eliminates something that’s in the market today,” Hewins e...

In a speech prepared for John F. Kennedy to be given on that fateful day in Dallas in 1963, we were to be reminded that “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” In this episode of the CUES Podcast, the 2021 CUES Emerging Leader, CUES member Alex Hsu, CCM, cites this quote as among his favorites. And he lives it. “When I completed my Gallup Strengths Assessment, for instance, my t...

Andy Saner lives by the idea that asking questions is important.  In this episode of the CUES Podcast, Saner, senior vice president of product engineering and data services at CUES Supplier member Harland Clarke , a Vericast business, describes the value of applying such curiosity to help match members with appropriate credit union offerings during the moment when they’re opening an account.  “Whe...

In recent times, such high-profile sports figures as tennis player Naomi Osaka and gymnast Simone Biles have made headlines by announcing they were stepping back from competition to take care of themselves and their mental health.  In this episode of the CUES Podcast, guest Dee Baker Amos applauds these actions. VP/marketing and communications for Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, Amos also points out th...

A new ebook from Experian, Navigating in a New Era of Credit Risk Decisioning , suggests that one out of three consumers remain concerned about their finances at this stage of the pandemic, while at the same time, some individuals have more cash than they had when the pandemic started—and now they’re ready to spend.  In this episode of the CUES Podcast, Harry Singh talks about how credit unions mi...

Pay increases found in the CUES Executive Compensation Survey this year range from 3% to 7%, depending on the position. Scott Hackworth says in this episode of the CUES Podcast that these figures are significant considering how much uncertainty is present in the overall economy right now.  Even though no one knows what’s going to happen next, “this urge or this need to maintain consistency, especi...

Ancin Cooley, CIA, CISA, is originally from New Orleans and likes to think that he’s a decent gumbo cook. He even distributes his mom’s gumbo recipe to audience members when he speaks, which he will do at CUES’ Directors Conference in Florida this December. Principal of Synergy Credit Union Consulting , Chicago, Cooley says in this episode of the CUES Podcast that “one of the things that's un...

What do you say when you hear from another credit union interested in talking about a merger? Hopefully, you don’t say “Yeah, we’ll talk so long as our chair and our CEO are the surviving leaders after the merger.” To Deedee Myers, Ph. D., MSC, PCC, the fate of the chair and CEO is the wrong thing to think about first when considering joining up with another credit union. “We shouldn't be tal...

Emerging leaders have a great opportunity to impact organizational cultures in a way that supports the evolution to modern leadership, says Laurie Maddalena, MBA, CPCC, PHR, in this episode. “They bring in these expectations and these values that I think are more modern,” says Maddalena, a certified executive coach, leadership consultant and founder of CUES Supplier member Envision Excellence LLC...

When you can help members avoid being scammed—or at least help them overcome it, they’ll be grateful for your actions in the long run. In this episode of the CUES Podcast, Andy Shank talks about things credit unions need to keep in mind when it comes to preventing and mitigating fraud. Shank is VP/fraud and risk management for CUES Supplier member Harland Clarke , San Antonio, Texas, the sponsor o...

Michael Bach lives in Toronto, a  diverse city, which has as one of its mottos, “Diversity is our strength.” Bach, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion , added onto the city’s slogan. He made it: “If diversity is our strength, inclusion is our superpower” to illustrate that it’s not enough to have diversity. “We have to create spaces where people can not only exist but can be wel...