John Cournoyer, VP of Marketing at Webster First in Massachusetts, joins us to talk about their digital transformation over the last two years. He shares his learnings about how to use failure as a competitive advantage, how to speak the same language as your CEO to drive marketing success, and why they think of themselves as an “Experience Department” and not a “Marketing Department.”

Adam Schwartz, owner of The Cooperative Way, joins us to talk about why he thinks cooperatives are the best business model on the planet, what their competitive advantages are, and how to use the 7 cooperatives principles in your credit union.

Jill Castilla, the 2017 ABA Community Banker of the Year, joins us to talk about how she turned around a struggling bank through creating goodness in her community, how to implement innovative social media practices, why your ego is not your amigo, and how she is positioning her institution to be relevant for its next 110 years.

Cat Fitzgerald from Filene’s Digital Strategies group joins us to discuss what she has learned from observing hundreds of tests of credit union members trying to sign up for products. Here’s a hint: like any good relationship, it should have the right amount of give and take.

Lois Kitsch, National Program Director at the National Credit Union Foundation, joins us for a spirited conversation about the role of the 7 Cooperative Principles in credit unions today, how democracy and capitalism can overlap, and how to make your WHY your strategic differentiator.

Cameron Madill interviews Ben Stangland and Charlotte Boutz-Connell of Weber Marketing about how credit unions can define their target markets to stay relevant, competitive, and differentiated after a century of mergers and growth. 

Cameron chats with Steve Pagenstecher and Mary Vasquez of Point West Credit Union about what they've learned at the conference of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (CDCU). 

In this episode we discuss the 3-year journey from concept to launch of the Clean Energy Credit Union, a credit union entirely focused on clean energy loans. Blake Jones, the founding board chair, discusses their innovative strategy for growth despite being unable to raise capital, their unique partnership with a national non-profit, and how they are focusing on consumer passions and an unmet market need to build a different kind of credit union.

Kirk Drake, author of the new book CU 2.0: A Guide for Credit Unions Competing in the Digital Age, joins Cameron on the podcast to talk about what assumptions credit unions need to leave behind, what members are really looking for, and why "failure" is a key part of success in the digital world. 

Change management expert Kimberly Kosmenko joins us to talk about what it means to be a purpose-driven organization, her work with the United Nations Credit Union, and her process for integrating purpose into what an organization does as it makes the journey from intention to action.

Part Two of our interview with customer loyalty expert Lara Ponomareff, who joins us to talk about how you can measure effort and why it is the biggest source of disloyalty in your credit union today, even greater than Net Promoter Score. Lara offers practical tips to make it easier for your members to do business with you, how to connect innovation and effort, and what Disney taught her about saying “no.”

Customer loyalty expert Lara Ponomareff joins us to talk about how you can measure effort and why it is the biggest source of disloyalty in your credit union today, even greater than Net Promoter Score. Lara offers practical tips to make it easier for your members to do business with you, how to connect innovation and effort, and what Disney taught her about saying “no.”

Kevin Wilhelm, renowned sustainability expert and author of 3 books on the topic, joins us to talk about why sustainability makes sense for the bottom line, how it relates to the 7 Cooperative Principles, how to begin your sustainability journey (hint: it’s not fire, ready, aim), and why you need to listen to your members to get the best results.

Katharine Nester, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Ruby Receptionists, one of the 10 most admired companies in Oregon, joins us to talk about how businesses can turn simple transactions — digital and in person — into moments of magic that delight their customers, build loyalty, and increase profitability.

Jack Baker, director of the mortgage center at the CDCU, joins us to talk about the opportunity to do well by doing good when you provide mortgages to the over 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. He shares how you can eliminate the risk to your credit union while providing great rates, the impact the new administration’s actions will have on this population, and the other types of innovative mortgages you can offer that will be a competitive differentiator and a force for good in your community.

Jim Morrell, CEO of Peninsula Credit Union in Washington State, talks about what he learned by being a Division 1 basketball referee, how he drives innovation at his credit union, and how working with a credit union in Zimbabwe informed his business and impact strategy.

Ben Morales, CEO of QCash, joins us to talk about what it means to offer an alternative to payday lending. On this podcast, he shares his unique perspective on why members need these sorts of loans, how a credit union can think about payday lending from a strategy, branding, and financial wellness standpoint, and why a 60-second approval process was the bar QCash had to meet to make their product effective.

Mark Lewman, Executive Creative Director of a design agency that works with brands like Nike, joins us to talk about the 3 things that millennials want from brands they work with (hint: it’s not better prices, though that doesn’t hurt), why authenticity is so important, and what you can learn from skateboard marketing.

Jeff York, CEO of $940M CoastHills Credit Union, joins us to talk about what he learned working at Walt Disney Company Credit Union about delighting members, how he thinks about community impact (hint: it’s not just about writing checks), how he connects the heart and mind to create engagement, and how the low income designation is key to their strategy.

Jenelle Isaacson, CEO of Living Room Realty, one of the fastest growing real estate companies on the West Coast, joins us to share what she learned about marketing from being a punk rocker, how she gave up control to her agents to find the stories that resonated in her community, and why it’s better to own a niche than nothing at all.

Conversion rate optimization expert Jon Macdonald, founder of The Good, joins us to talk about the 3 biggest killers of website sales, how to let your members tell you how to sell them more online, and why he thinks we are in the first inning of making your website an effective sales channel for your credit union.

Laura Woods is such a fount of exciting ideas that we created two podcasts so we could capture everything. In part 2, she shares more about reaching people where they are by marketing with empathy and vulnerability. 

Laura shares her lessons from her innovative "Dreams" marketing campaign that gave the members who bank at 1st Financial a voice, how her credit union has become more profitable by avoiding A credit rated loans, and why empathy, vulnerability, and a distaste for the word "no" fuel her marketing philosophy.

Tansley Stearns, Chief Impact Officer at Filene, joins us to share what Filene has learned in over 25 years of researching credit unions. Tansley talks about how you can create a culture of innovation, why attracting younger members is hard (and what to do about it), why “customer effort score” may be the most important number in your credit union, and what the greatest gift of the digital age is to credit unions (hint: it’s not Twitter).