Filene Research Institute

We don’t regularly just sit around and talk about our own deaths at Filene… but sometimes we do. A number of us realized we don't have wills and no plans to get one soon. But that's not a good way to be. This episode explores the build-out of an innovative program for credit unions to help their members by making the will-creation process easier so their assets and wishes are protected. An i3 team...

Based on three principles: transparency, trust and fair treatment, open-book management engages with employees and gets them to think and act like owners, creating a culture of employee ownership in credit unions. In today's show, we chat with Dennis Campbell, Filene Fellow and Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor at Harvard Business School, to discuss the ins-and-outs of open-book management for cred...

Today’s show is a LIVE episode, from Filene’s annual “State of the (Credit) Union” address, where we showcase elements of our body of work, what’s new at Filene, and what we see emerging in the marketplace – all very important stuff for our members to hear about. You'll hear updates and insights from Mark, Tansley, George, Elry, Ryan, Andrew, Lauren, Cortney and Adam on all things under the sun an...

Today we have a very special episode of the Podcast, coming at you from our RESEARCH (dream) TEAM! This is our “Wildcard” output for the newly released research report “Credit Union Regtech: Innovation and Expertise.” What is that? Well the report covers What can be done to help ease the regulatory responsibilities for credit unions-- And looks at what emerging technology is available to help cred...

Lisa Servon, professor and author of "The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives" speaks with us on this episode of the podcast. Together with Filene's Incubator Director Adam Lee, we start a conversation on financial justice, to be continued on Oct. 2 at our event in Madison WI and again on Oct. 3 at the YWCA Madison's Racial Justice Summit. Also to be continued in communities an...

Today's story looks at two credit unions doing everything they can to support and grow their communities' small business sectors by building out programs that cater to the needs of business owners and entrepreneurs. These credit unions, Alterna Savings in Canada and Neighborhood Trust in New York, are part of Filene's Financial Empowerment Incubator work and are actively testing new programs to se...

Are you on Social Media? Are you a Twitter user? Why does that sound oddly similar to the language we would use to talk about drug use…being ‘on’ something…being a user of something…have you ever thought of who’s behind those platforms, making you see, think and feel certain ways? What if instead of some other corporation buying up a 'failing' Twitter and all our data, we, the users, could buy it?...

Families can be awkward…way awkward. And we can’t help that here at Filene. In fact, we think of ourselves as one big family and we’re awkward as all heck. "Awkward family photos" ticks up a notch in Google searches whenever a number of us get in the same room. (Case in point: https://goo.gl/0HmElg) So yeah, while we can’t do anything about making our families less awkward, we can do something to...

Today’s interview is a first for our podcast, I visited the home base of one of our research fellows on a recent trip to Washington D.C. Annamaria Lusardi showed me around her humble but impressive research center on Financial Literacy, located in the heart of the George Washington University campus. We spoke about the work she’s doing through the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC...

Managing Director of Research at Filene, Andrew Downin, speaks with me about the Institute's research strategy pivot to the 5 Centers of Excellence as well as our 5 Colloquia (NOT Colloquiums!) happening throughout this year. I've also included a mini-interview with Filene Fellow Huggy Rao who offers deeper explanation of his 7 mantras for scaling excellence. Pro tip: Email Andrew at AndrewD@Filen...

Impact Director Jimese Harkley and Mike Neill of Vertex talk about the challenging task of training high-level leaders and the impact good coaching can have on the entire organization. Through Filene's research we've found a solution in Vertex, and Jimese shares her experience using the program and an exciting new way to use this virtual tool in a real life setting. After listening to the podcast,...

Today’s podcast offers PART 2 of interviews recorded at CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference at the end of February. With Visa SVP, Doug Leighton, head of community accounts, we talk about Filene's 5th Center of Excellence, focused on the war for talent. Doug shares why Visa finds it so important to support credit unions, to help them win top talent in the face of intense competition and help br...

In Part 1 of this episode on our newest research Center of Excellence on the 'War for Talent,' I speak with Dr. Sekou Bermiss, Filene Fellow for the Center and Assistant Professor of Management at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. I'm also joined by Filene's Chief Knowledge Officer, George Hofheimer, to discuss what we can expect to come out of this research and...

The Cooperative Trust, a nation-wide community of young credit union professionals that attend some of the industry's most important events together in their own way, has won the 2017 Herb Wegner Memorial Outstanding Program Award. Those who have been involved with this program from its very first days find it more than unbelievable to win such an honor, largely because of the non-traditional begi...

The Cooperative Trust, a nation-wide community of young credit union professionals that attend some of the industry's most important events together in their own way, has won the 2017 Herb Wegner Memorial Outstanding Program Award. Those who have been involved with this program from its very first days find it more than unbelievable to win such an honor, largely because of the non-traditional begi...

Filene Impact Director Jimese Harkley and Onboardability CEO & Co-Founder Sean Yokley talk to me about first impressions in a consumer-to-business context--and how the Onboardability tool can be a credit union's secret weapon to ensure that the first impression is a good one. In a nutshell--streamlining the process to bring new credit union members onboard with their new financial service provider...

Join us for a very special episode of the Filene Fill-In where we turn it into a "Fosscast" while we get to know our newest member of the team: Managing Director of Innovation, Ryan Foss! Ryan has done a lot of unexpected and interesting things in his life, which led him, naturally, to our innovation area. Learn how he will apply unconventional and conventional experience to his new role in the cr...

Each new year, Filene invites our members, credit union friends and system partners to join us for a little fun and a little discussion on what we see coming to the credit union industry in the year ahead. This is Filene360--and this is PART 2 of the Filene360 Podcast! In this episode, you'll hear all of our gameshow antics that will wisp you back to a simpler time--enjoy the million dollar questi...

Each new year, Filene invites our members, credit union friends and system partners to join us for a little fun and a little discussion on what we see coming to the credit union industry in the year ahead--This is Filene360. In 2017, we went back in time to tell our story through interpretive retro gameshow reenactments. In part one of this two-parter podcast, CEO Mark Meyer gives a virtual hug to...

Constance Anderson, Principle and Founder of MemberXP and Erin Coleman, Senior Impact Director walk us through a mile (or more!) in our members' shoes. Understanding the data, the research, the motivations and the drivers behind why members are loyal or not, Constance, through the work of MemberXP, shares what we can do to improve the member journey so credit unions can truly be everyone's best fi...

Born from the concept of credit score subscription services popularized by catchy theme songs, SavvyMoney brings all the benefits sought by consumers and creates a winning program for credit unions seeking to increase their members' financial expertise, offer more competitive rates and deepen loyalty and engagement. Chris Fraenza of the FinTech company SavvyMoney joins the podcast to tell the stor...

Tansley and I jump on the line with Qcash Financial CEO Ben Morales to find out more about this short-term small-dollar lending solution that offers credit union members instant funding in less than 60 seconds. Ben shares insights from more than a decade of work behind refining this program and the relationship-based data that makes it so innovative, while Tansley talks future opportunities for cr...

On today's show we talk with Gregg Hammerman, CEO of Larky -- a member engagement and loyalty program that helps credit unions add value for their members. We've also got Tansley Stearns, Chief Impact Officer on the line to share the Filene story of how Larky came to be our partners in support of the credit union industry. Gregg created Larky when he realized it would be nice to have something on...

One fateful day at Filene, we received an email, and the subject line solemnly read, "Andrew Downin is leaving..." SPOILER ALERT: After a collective panic attack had by all, the story ends with a win, for both Filene and for professional growth and development. Hear Andrew's story and learn from Tiffany about opportunities that might be right for you to join Team Filene!

Saturday, September 3, we celebrate our namesake Ed Filene's birthday! He was born in 1860 in Salem, Massachusetts. Join us in celebration of the father of the U.S. credit union movement! How did Filene come to be such, you ask? Well, when Ed traveled around the world in 1907 to source products for his department store, he was exposed to cooperative business models practiced in India and elsewhere...