A shared commitment to serving the financial needs of the underserved has long distinguished credit unions from other financial institutions. In this episode, we talk to Jules Epstein-Hebert, the Director of Membership, Growth, and Partnership at Inclusiv, a nonprofit that has been championing the cause of financial inclusion for 50 years.  We reflect on the movement over the past five decades and tackle this month’s BIG question: How has our economy become more or less inclusive in the 50...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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”...

Can a credit union with nearly 500,000 members and $9 billion in assets still authentically serve its local community? As consolidation trends continue and asset size is increasingly seen as a key indicator of success, it's important to reflect on how these evolving trends impact the cooperative principles and the credit union difference. Liz Martin, Vice President of Marketing at OnPoint Community Credit Union (a PixelSpoke client), believes that when growth is rooted in a clear WHY, it can...

If you’re like most of us, you find cryptocurrency a bit… well, cryptic. While most of us are intrigued, we’re also uncertain—and even moreso after last month's crypto crash. Credit unions have been watching from the sidelines, knowing that the financial sector will, and already has, been impacted, but not necessarily eager to dive into the fray. This month, Lou Grilli, Senior Innovation Strategist for PSCU and an expert in cryptocurrency for credit unions, joins us to talk about why...

We often associate "innovation" with paradigm-shifting breakthroughs that disrupt entire industries. But most of the time, innovation is incremental. Or as Ben Maxim, VP of Digital Strategy & Innovation at MSUFCU, puts it, innovation consists of changes made "day by day, making things just a little bit better." Ben joins our Remarkable Credit Union podcast to talk about talk about MSUFCU's bold decision to build an innovation lab in 2020, their biggest victories and setbacks to date, and...