The Remarkable Credit Union Podcast

This is both an exciting and bittersweet episode. After recording 97 episodes of The Remarkable Credit Union, longtime host and PixelSpoke's founder and former CEO, Cameron Madill, joins as a guest to share his top takeaways from his 20 years leading an impact-focused marketing agency for credit unions. Accompanying him is PixelSpoke's new CEO, Katie Stone, who further expounds on leadership lessons she's learned since joining PixelSpoke and how she hopes to carry them forward in her new role. They also address this month's BIG question: What should credit union leaders focus on to best equip their teams for success, maximize impact, and ensure the longevity of their credit union? Next month, Katie will be begin co-hosting the podcast along with current co-host and PixelSpoke co-owner Kerala Taylor. Stay tuned!

In a movement where large asset sizes have become a badge of honor, Express Credit Union is proud to be small. They believe that their intimate size affords them the opportunity to truly know their members and to pivot quickly when faced with unexpected challenges. This month, we’re excited to welcome Express Credit Union’s Chief Business Officer, Elizabeth Escobar, to talk about how to meet members where they’re at, what Express has to teach the country’s fourth largest credit union, and how to stay engaged with your members in the long-term. She also addresses this month’s BIG question: How can credit unions retain their people-to-people focus in a post-Covid era that relies on digital more than ever?

Most credit unions have a set of brand guidelines that include dos and don’ts for their color palettes, logos, images, graphics, and copy. But do guidelines like these truly capture the essence of your brand? Allison Netzer, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at Nymbus and co-author of Think Like a Brand, Not a Bank, would answer that question with a resounding NO. Allison joins us on this month’s episode of The Remarkable Credit Union podcast to talk about who credit unions should be tapping into to help shape and promote their brand, why “member-first” isn’t really a brand differentiator, and what problem-solving has to do with brand identity. She also addresses this month’s BIG question: How can credit unions unlock the true power of brand, and how can a more brand-focused mindset help take the credit union movement to the next level?

Credit unions across the country are searching for ways to offer their underserved members pathways to homeownership. But when it comes to affordable housing, it’s clear that bolder action is needed to meaningfully move the needle. The affordable housing crisis is particularly acute in Seattle, Washington, where home prices increased by over 80% between 2010 and 2020. This month we’re excited to welcome Uche Okezie, Real Estate Development Director at HomeSight, a Seattle-based nonprofit, and Tina Narron, Chief Lending Officer at Verity Credit Union, also based in Seattle, to talk about how they are cross-pollinating, collaborating, and breaking convention to reimagine solutions to this thorny and seemingly intractable social issue. We also address this month’s BIG question: How can credit unions “dream more boldly” when it comes to community development and what kinds of innovative partnerships can they forge to drive this work forward?

Is “ownership and economic opportunity for all” an idealistic pipe dream, or is it an achievable goal? Self-Help Credit Union would like to think the latter. Its mission statement embodies the credit union’s penchant for thinking big and pushing the boundaries of what credit unions can do and be.  This month, we’re thrilled to be joined by Randy Chambers, President of Self-Help Credit Union, to talk about what ownership actually means, how credit unions can advance economic opportunity one neighborhood at a time, and the ways in which a credit union’s WHY should inform all marketing efforts.  We'll also be addressing this month's BIG question: What are the biggest challenges we currently face when it comes to the health and vitality of our neighborhoods, and how can credit unions meaningfully address these challenges?

Bank collapses, recession forecasts, and rising interest rates, oh my! If there’s anything we know for certain, it’s that uncertainty is here to stay. As much as we’ve tried to get back to “normal,” the volatility that Covid set in motion seems determined to wreak havoc on our best-laid plans. This month, we’re excited to welcome Laurie Flanders, VP of Client Solutions at Strum Platform, and Ben Stangland, President & COO of Strum Agency and President of Strum Platform, to talk about what it means to know your members inside and out, why “friendly” is not a brand, and what kinds of stories and insights are emerging from credit union data. They also address this month's BIG question: In the age of uncertainty, how can credit unions focus on healthy growth and long-term stability?

Most credit unions are fiercely committed to their local communities, and we think that’s great. Sometimes, though, it’s important to take a few steps back and broaden our perspective. That’s where the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) comes in. Today, we’re going to step back with Mike Reuter, the Executive Director of WOCCU’s Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions; Ari Farrell, Program Manager of the World Young Credit Union Professionals (WYCUP) program; and Lena Giakoumopoulos, GWLN (Global Women’s Leadership Network) Director. We talk about their audacious fundraising goal for International Credit Union Day, as well as why it’s important to think, and act, globally, what financial inclusion really means, and how WOCCU is tackling some of the biggest challenges of our time. We also address this month's BIG question:  What does financial inclusion look like on a global scale, and why is a global movement important? How can credit unions around the world join forces to build more strength and resilience?

If you’re a credit union marketer who feels like you should be doing more with automation and personalization, but you’re not sure how, you’re not alone. Kristin Harrison, Director of Business Development for WebStrategies, joins us to talk about why personalization has so much potential for credit unions and why it’s so hard to implement effectively. Here are tips for overcoming common obstacles and ensuring that your personalization efforts don’t do more harm than good. She also tackles this month’s BIG question: How can credit unions build a data strategy to meaningfully personalize digital content to specific users?

The “About” pages on credit union websites are full of stories about humble beginnings—small groups of people getting together to pool their resources. Nueva Esperanza Credit Union has a similar story, but with one crucial difference: It was founded in 2010. This month, CEO Sue Cuevas shares her inspiring journey, starting with recruiting inaugural members by copying their ID documents with a portable copy machine she kept in the trunk of her car. She talks about what spurred her to leave a 30-year career in corporate banking to start a credit union and what she’s learned along the way. She also tackles this month’s BIG question: What are the advantages of serving a specific demographic, and would the credit union movement benefit from more niche institutions that truly know their members?

Credit unions have long been enthusiastic champions of their communities, but can they be doing more? How can they think outside the box to catalyze social change? Sharee Adkins, GoWest Credit Union Association Chief Impact Officer and Foundation Executive Director, joins us on this month's episode of The Remarkable Credit Union podcast to share examples of how credit unions in her region are joining forces and tapping into the strengths of their core business competencies to tackle daunting social challenges. She also addresses this month's BIG question: How can credit unions leverage grant dollars to proactively tackle the challenges facing their communities, and how can they most effectively market their impact?

Most credit union employees are familiar with the cooperative principles, including Principle #6: Cooperation Among Cooperatives. Yet it seems this principle has yet to be fully realized within the credit union movement. That's why when we saw that Coastal Credit Union had hired a VP of Cooperative Strategies, we took notice. We'd never heard of someone with that job title at a credit union before. Emily Nail is not only Coastal Credit Union's first VP of Cooperative Strategies, she also serves as Executive Director of the Coastal Credit Union Foundation and previously served as Executive Director of the Cooperative Council of North Carolina (CCNC). We were thrilled to invite her to The Remarkable Credit Union podcast to talk about her new role, her take on North Carolina's rich cooperative history, and this month's BIG question: How can credit unions collaborate with other local co-ops to work toward building a thriving cooperative economy?

Credit unions are known for the emphasis they place on building authentic human relationships with their members. But at the same time, digital advances are transforming the financial industry, smaller credit unions are getting acquired, and larger credit unions are only getting bigger. George Hofheimer, former EVP and Chief Research and Development Officer at Filene, returns to The Remarkable Credit Union podcast to discuss his new book, Banking on a Human Scale, and to address this month’s BIG Question:  How can credit unions operate on a human scale to thrive in a world that worships growth and technology?

Credit unions have always been better cooperators than competitors. The joint investments of five Washington-based credit unions to the Evergreen Impact Housing Fund (EIHF) is a shining example of the "cooperation among cooperatives" principle in action. The greater Seattle area is one of the country’s most expensive metro regions, and escalating housing costs make it hard for working-class consumers to live in the area. EIHF creates what it calls “catalytic investment opportunities” that make affordable apartment complexes more attractive to developers. Jen Reed, VP of Public Relations at Sound Credit Union (a PixelSpoke client), joins us to talk about Sound's collaboration with BECU, Washington State Employees Credit Union, Salal Credit Union, and Verity Credit Union to tackle this thorny social issue and magnify impact. We also discuss how this effort has benefited Sound's public image, what lessons Sound has learned from the process, and what future projects are on the horizon.

Credit unions, by their nature, are community oriented, but some are more intentional about their commitment to impact. Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, are a perfect case in point. Credit unions now represent a third of the CDFI industry, serving more than 16 million predominantly low income consumers and communities of color. Chriselle Martinez, CDFI Program Director at Inclusiv, joins The Remarkable Credit Union podcast to talk about what it means to be CDFI certified, how CDFIs benefit their communities, and how they themselves benefit from the certification process. She also tackles this month's BIG question: What are the most important considerations for a credit union that is considering applying for CDFI certification?

Is the financial industry committed to the common good? If you equate the financial industry with megabanks, the answer would likely be a resounding no. Though millions of Americans are megabank customers, it's doubtful many of us believe that these banks have our best interests at heart. Here's the good news: The financial industry presents us with many viable alternatives. There are several parallel and overlapping movements that point to a better way to bank: member-owned credit unions, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and values-based financial institutions, to name a few. Montana-based Clearwater Credit Union is all three. This month, President & CEO Jack Lawson joins us to talk about what banking on values looks like in action, how the six principles guide Clearwater's strategy and every operational decision, and why marketing around impact is harder and better than the alternative.

Many credit unions differentiate from banks by pointing out that they are member-owned, but the average consumer doesn't always understand what that means. Though our country tends to idolize entrepreneurs and CEOs, we are less likely to think too much about ownership and its various implications. Cooperatives — whether worker-owned like PixelSpoke or member-owned like our credit union clients — bring the issue of ownership to the forefront, pushing us to think more deeply about who should have a voice and a stake. This month, we're excited to welcome our Operations Manager Katie Stone as our guest host to untangle this knotty issue with Rebecca Fisher-McGinty, a worker owner at Round Sky Solutions and a graduate of Saint Mary’s University’s Masters of Cooperative Management program, and McKenzie Jones, an off-grid farmer turned social scientist who brings a deep commitment to service and equity into her work with cooperatives. Together they tackle this month's BIG question: How can co-ops help us pave the way to a solidarity economy that bakes diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts directly into ownership structures?

Our podcast is called The Remarkable Credit Union, but what does that mean, exactly? What distinguishes a good credit union from a remarkable one? Steve Bugg, President and CEO of the award-winning Great Lakes Credit Union (GLCU), joins us to talk about GLCU's own journey from good to remarkable, including how their “standards of greatness” enabled and inspired them to successfully launch numerous innovative impact initiatives. He also addresses this month's BIG question: How does a credit union develop a strategic vision and corresponding value system that meaningfully guide its day-to-day operations at all levels and across all teams?

At one time, there were over 9,000 Blockbuster Video stores. Today, just one remains. It happens to be in my home state of Oregon, just a few hours away. If you were born in the 2000s, you might not remember the days when we had to physically transport ourselves to a video rental store if we wanted to watch a movie at home, nor is the name Blockbuster Video likely to mean much to you. But the rest of us associate the name with both astounding success and spectacular failure. Blockbuster was a Fortune 500 company in 2007 and declared bankruptcy in 2010. So what does all this have to do with crypto and credit unions? Kyle Hauptman, Vice Chairman of the NCUA, joins us on The Remarkable Credit Union podcast to address this month's BIG Question: How can credit unions be the Netflix, not the Blockbuster Video, of crypto, and what actions is the NCUA taking to encourage innovation in the space? We talk about how regulators are encouraging innovation in cryptocurrency and blockchain, why credit unions have a head start over banks, and what three areas he would focus on if he were a credit union CEO.

They say that this past summer is one for the record books when it comes to climate-related disasters. Amidst the doom and gloom, however, the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) represents a significant commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next few decades. But what does this all have to do with credit unions? Quite a lot, actually. Neda Arabshahi, Vice President of the Inclusiv Center for Resiliency and Clean Energy, joins us to talk about the climate finance revolution, which she sees as both a responsibility and an opportunity for credit unions. We discuss the key obstacles to setting up a climate finance initiative, how to make it successful, and what's entailed in designing and scaling climate-friendly financing solutions that promote affordable and sustainable energy for all people. This month's BIG question: Considering the recent passage of the United States’ most aggressive climate bill to date, what role can credit unions play to help maximize the impact of this new legislation? 

Take a look around your community and ask questions. Be humble, be courageous, and take a leap. These are guiding philosophies for Katie Fairbairn, Chief Experience Officer for Santa Cruz Community Credit Union (SCCCU), and Kerry Fulton, President & Owner of Southwest Strategic Marketing. They join The Remarkable Credit Union to talk about their mission of economic justice and financial freedom for all, how that guides everything they do, what makes their award-winning “Return the Favor” campaign distinct from other community giving campaigns, and how to balance mission and margin. This month's BIG Question: What does economic justice look like in practice and how can a credit union work toward achieving it in their community?