Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
iHeartMedia Presents CEOs you should know.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am John Dingle, founder and CEO of Dingle Business
Development and former president and publisher of the Baltimore Business Journal.
This is Iheartradios CEOs you should know, and I'm here
today with Mike Barr, CEO of Security Plus Federal Credit Union.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Welcome Mike, Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Thanks so much for the invitation. John really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I'm looking forward to our conversation.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So I thought we'd start off by talk a little
bit about the organization and Security Plus Federal Credit Union.
So for those who may not be familiar, can you
tell us more about it?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Well, established over eighty years ago, Security Plus is now
six hundred million in assets. We've got five service locations,
one hundred employees, and we serve about thirty five thousand
members with financial services. And we currently serve anyone who live,
work worships in Baltimore City as well as a number
(01:01):
of employer groups which includes a Social Security Administration, the
CMS agency, as well as a number of other employer
groups particularly throughout Baltimore County.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And where are those locations? Those physical locations?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Sure, we have a location in on these mills Woodlawn
Northwest Plaza, and then we have a location in the
Social Security Building as well as the CMS building. Great, great,
excellent talk about your mission, sure well, a security plus.
Our mission is to build lasting relationships with our members,
(01:42):
and we really try to lean into that because we
recognize that if we really want to be a sustainable organization,
it really is going to come down to building loyal,
lifelong relationships with our members. So with everything that we do,
we try to keep that info is that we want
to build those lasting, meaningful relationships with our members.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, that's huge, That's I love talking about relationships. We'll
definitely get into that when we talk about the leadership piece.
But I love what you're having to say already. What
to talk about how much of your business's retails opposed
to kind of the business banking side.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Sure, well, you know, we historically have been, you know,
a consumer banking business. You know, originally served or originally
founded as an organization to serve individual members. We have
evolved over the years to serve small businesses as well.
So you know, out of our thirty five thousand members,
(02:46):
you know, we serve about five hundred businesses as well.
You know, but that has been an area of opportunity
for us, and we've been trying to increase our investment
in that area. And you know, one of the things
we're doing right now we offer some competitive rates, particularly
for small businesses and commercial real estate loans, in some
(03:06):
cases even lower than mortgage rates.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
You know, so for example, commercial real estate loans we've
got on as low as five point five percent right now.
So it's really a contelling option for any businesses in
our area that are looking to finance any growth or expansion.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Great.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, and talking a little bit more about that, what's
a what's a good you know, small business client for you?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Do you look at employee size, you're looking kind of
a revenue size? What are there any particular industries that
you guys focused on or are looking to to help. Yeah,
talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Well, you know, when we're looking at small businesses, you know,
we're typically serving businesses with you know, fifty or less employees,
and also nonprofits as well. We've done some lending even recently, uh,
you know, for churches. So it's really an opportunity that
(04:03):
is not limited in scope, but we certainly see a
need and are trying to fill that need in the
smaller business arena.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, yeah, that's great. That's great.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So as the new CEO. Congratulations, by the way, welcome
to Baltimore. We'll talk a little bit about your personal
background in the minute. But other than the business banking side,
where where are you seeing some growth opportunities for Charity
Plus Federal Credit Union?
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Well, one of the opportunities we're seeing is in the
community based consumer financial services sector. You know, as a
not for profit financial institution. You know, we're also a
low income designated credit union, which means the majority of
the members that we serve are defined as low income.
(04:53):
And as we look at Baltimore City, uh, the majority
of those areas are designated investment areas by the Treasury Department,
which means that the majority of people living in these
areas are defined as low income. And what that means
further to us is that there's need. Right Typically, people
(05:16):
who are defined as low income are under bank unbanked,
or taken an advantage of by alternative financial service providers,
so they end up overpaying for car loans or check
cashing services or payday loans and things like that, and
you know, so certainly as a mission driven organization and
(05:40):
seeing the need that exists in our communities, that's really
where I see a lot of opportunity for us.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Excellent, excellent, Well, thank you. I appreciate you sharing that.
One thing I do want to ask too.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You know a lot of discussion these days around artificial
intelligence and machine learning. Uh yeah, could you talk to
us a little bit about how you're using AI to
enhance the customer experience?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Well, we're definitely uh tipping our toe into the water, right.
You know, it's it's still kind of the wild West
when it comes to AI, and but but people are
starting to embrace it and recognize the value of it,
and you know, we we're starting to do the same.
So we have embedded AI already a little bit into
(06:30):
our website. Uh so there's some functionality there that allows
customers to interact with our official intelligence and our website
through research function. We've also embedded some AI into our
phone service as well, So we're slowly, uh you know,
(06:52):
introducing it into the customer experience. But I think one
of the things that we are also looking to do
is we're going to be exploring how we can integrate
AI into the internal organization as well ultimately improve workflows,
and that's really where I think we can really gain
some efficiencies, speed up processes, and at the end of
(07:14):
the day, what that means is a better experience for
the members.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, excellent, excellent, Well, thank you appreciate that. And you know,
you guys seem to just kind of researching you a
little bit. You seem to have a very philanthropic culture.
Could you talk to us about that a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Sure, Well, you know, we certainly recognize that. You know,
it's important to be an active participant in the communities
that we serve. So we are locally based, we're owned
by the members that bank with us, and we take
that to heart that we need to be serving back
(07:51):
into the communities as well. So, you know, whether it's
cleaning up the highways, whether it's partnering with school those
are the Youth Works program to provide financial literacy, or
hosting you know, women's leadership luncheons. You know, we take
that to heart and we recognize that as an important
(08:14):
give back to the communities that we serve.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah, well, we appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I know it's kind of a tough time for many
nonprofits out there, So I really appreciate the support there. Yeah,
switching gears a little bit, tell us a little bit
about your personal background and you know how you got
to this point in your career.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Sure, well, yeah, I have been in credit unions for
over two decades, and I'm very proud to say that
I started my career, uh, you know, at the front line,
you know, in part time while going to college, on
the front line, on the teller line of a credit union,
and really had the opportunity to work in various departments
(08:56):
along the way and really gain a phenomenal effective of
the organization, but also how important credit unions are to
the members that we serve, and so had the opportunity
to kind of work my way through through various departments
of the credit union, ultimately becoming CEO. And I've spent
(09:18):
the last sixteen years as the CEO of Commodore Perry
Federal Credit Union in northwest Ohio kind of outside the
Toledo area. And Commodore Perry is a community development financial
institution about one hundred million in assets, and it was
really focused on addressing a lot of the rural poverty
(09:42):
that existed. You know in that area, we were very
successful at it. We won over four million dollars in
grants from the US Treasury Department to support our efforts.
And that's that's hopefully a perspective and you know, something
that I can bring here to Security Plus because as
I already mentioned, there's a lot of opportunity to serve
(10:06):
the underserved in our areas.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Yeah, it sounds like it. Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I appreciate you sharing that. As you know, I like
to talk about leadership.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
On the show. How would you describe your leadership style?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
You know, there are a lot of terms out there
for different leadership styles, and you know, I'm an avid
reader and I've read a lot of them, and a.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Lot of them out there.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
There is a lot of them out there, and you know,
to try to pinpoint one it is sometimes difficult. But
if I had to ascribe to one that's maybe familiar
to most people, you know, it would be as a
servant leader. I do recognize that, you know, my success
as a leader is not defined by what I do,
(10:51):
is by what my team does. And I certainly see
my role as being able to inspire and support the
team uh to do what they need to do you
know it. Certainly I need to set the vision in
the front, but then I need to step behind and
make sure that I'm giving them everything that they need
(11:12):
to achieve that vision. So that's that's kind of you know,
my perspective as a leader. You know, I've never really
been one to hold an ego. I've been described as
very humble, you know, sometimes to my own detriment. I
don't I don't necessarily need accolades or or spotlight. You know.
(11:35):
I really try to put the focus back on the
team because at the end of the day, they're the
ones doing the work.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, that sounds like me too, I I I love
that the philosophy of of being you know, a servant leader.
And I always looked at it as you know, when
I walked into the office and when I was at
the BBJ, was.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
What can I do.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
To help my sales team, you know, get in front
of the CEO.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
What can I do that get a lead for the reporter?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
What can I do to you know, help a with
an HR issue if there was one, you know what,
you know, what what how can I help? How can
I take away barriers, take away you know, things to
let people you know, do their jobs.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
The way they should be doing them and being.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
That resource there. So yeah, I hear that a lot.
It's a you know, it's really popular. And I also
want to kind of come back to what you said
about relationships because I think that's such a huge part
of servant leadership. But could you could you talk a
little bit about that and your relationships with like your
your team.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Sure, yeah, well, you know, having been here just two months,
you know, but but that being said, one of the
things I've I've taken away already is we really do
have a great team and we've got great people, and
you know it, I mean talk about relationships. You know,
at the end of the day, banking is the commodity,
(13:00):
you know, it's what we do. But you know, I
always say we're in the people business, you know, internally, uh,
you know, with our employees, but also externally, we're building
relationships with people. And again that's built into our mission,
building lasting relationships with our members. Right, it's not to
grow to ten billion dollars, it's not to you know,
(13:23):
achieve these big metrics. You know, it's to build relationships.
That's our mission. So you know that that's what we're
focused on we're people driven organization banking is what we offer.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, that's great, that's great. So you're hearing the word
resiliency out there a lot of these days. It's like
the new buzzword.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Could you tell us how.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
You would define resiliency and how are you resilient in
your business?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Sure? Well, you know, resiliency, you know, my experience really
comes down to agility, uh, being able to risk, respond
and adapt quickly, particularly in the world today right where
things are changing all the time, and in order for
a business to be successful, we have to be able
(14:12):
to adapt and change as the environment changes, you know,
because our members, our communities, they're experiencing the world differently,
almost on a daily basis, and we have to be
able to adapt as well. And we're certainly seeing that
these days. Is you know on the news, Uh, you know,
(14:33):
government changes, economic uncertainty, you know, and we we need
to be able to respond. And we have been you know,
as particularly as having a large base of our members
being employed by the government or indirectly related to the
government and all the uncertainty around that area. You know,
(14:56):
we've been communicating with our members proactively saying here, if
you're affected by this. Here's a list of tools and
resources that we can provide to you, whether it's you know,
an emergency loan, whether it's support filing and insurance claim,
whether it's you know, to to rework your loan to
ensure that you can continue to repay it. So we've
(15:17):
been trying to be as proactive and responsive as possible. Uh,
you know, is the world continues to change kind of
suddenly every day.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Yeah, yeah, that's great, thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So, So what gets you excited about the future of
Security Plus Federal Credit Union?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Now, what really gets me excited is just seeing the
possibilities that we have to create im pathful and meaningful
change within our communities as I you know, as you
kind of look at the the opportunities that exist, particularly
in Baltimore City, you know, there's a lot of need
(15:58):
for credit unions like us to come in and be
a resource to people who typically have been excluded from
the financial mainstream. And that that is exciting to me
because I know we can fill that need and at
the end of the day, that results in community growing together.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah that's great, that's great, thank you. So on the
other side, what keeps you up at night.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Now, yeah, so I would say short term, you know,
definitely the economic uncertainty, you know, in addition to the
government things we just talked about, and there's also terrorists
that are lingering and how that could potentially impact prices
(16:47):
and and you know, so there's so much uncertainty and
how it all unfolds that keeps me up at night certainly,
you know, and I think I think long term, one
of the things that I'm uh, you know, always concerned
about is how do we remain relevant long term? Right
(17:07):
because change is happening so quickly, particularly in the financial
services sector, right with all the rise of FinTechs, right
and you know, new financial service providers, and you know,
part of the challenge is, you know, you've kind of
seen the concept of the what was historically the primary
(17:28):
financial institution, right everybody went had one primary financial institution,
they did all their business with them, and now just
kind of been this this aggregation and people do business
more on a product level basis. They may have their
credit card with this company and they're checking with this company,
you know, and so making sure that you know, we
continue to remain relevant in all of our product lines,
(17:51):
recognizing that maybe the the concept of a primary financial
institution may not necessarily be a appropriate or desired by
customers in the future. So you know, making sure that
we can adapt to, you know, the changes of consumers
to make sure that we're we're relevant in the future.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, I think that plays into your model too, and
that you know, it's all about relationships, right, And I
think you know, you think even this younger generation, at
least with our kids, they are tending to stick with
the you know, one financial institution they've had for a
long time.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
So I'd be kind of.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Curious of what you all are seeing out there with
a younger generation. Are they tending to you know, in
your experience or you know, from your point of view,
are they doing a lot of different things? Are they
tending to stay with one particular institution, because I you know,
I think, like you said, I think even.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Both down the relationships.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, you're exactly right, And I think we if we
stay true to our mission to build lasting relationships, I
think we can continue to remain real of it because
particularly with when you look at younger generations, they particularly
in my experience, they choose their first financial institution based
(19:12):
off of what their family, right their parents said, you know,
we're going to open your account here or here's where
you should do it. Here's where we've done it in
the past. Right, So they typically enter the market based
off of that. So if we've done a great job
of building relationships, you know, with their parents, you know,
the children will come in. So typically what we see
(19:32):
also when it comes to them the younger generation is yeah,
they they want, they'll establish the account. Now. They also
might shop around for different as I talked earlier, different products,
maybe with different financial institutions, but when it comes to
more of the complex or you know, even advisory type
(19:56):
of needs, they'll come back, you know, to the crediton
Hey it's time for a mortgage. I want to stick
with the credit Union right where my parents you know,
bank and things like that.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
That makes sense, That makes sense. So I appreciate sharing that.
Well to kind of wrap things up, you know, is
there anything else that you like our listeners to know
about you and Security Plus Federal Credit Union, Well.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
You know, just said I am beyond excited to be
here at Security Plus. It's been a fun two months,
but looking forward to sharing more with you in the
future as we continue our efforts to expand, you know,
into our communities and and really provide some inclusive financial
services in those markets.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Yeah, I love it, and tell us all.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
To find more information about Security Plus Federal Credit Union.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Sure, be sure to visit us online at Security plus
SCU dot org or find us on Facebook or LinkedIn,
connect with us, connect with us on there, and you know,
stay up to date with what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Well, Mike, thank you so much. I really appreciate you
taking the time out today. It's great to meet you.
Look forward to meeting you out at an event sometime
soon hopefully, but appreciate you taking the time for the
interview and hope you have a great rest of your week.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Thanks so much, John, talk to him. This has been
iHeartMedia CEOs.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
You should know
iHeartMedia Presents CEOs you should know.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am John Dingle, founder and CEO of Dingle Business
Development and former president and publisher of the Baltimore Business Journal.
This is Iheartradios CEOs you should know, and I'm here
today with Mike Barr, CEO of Security Plus Federal Credit Union.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Welcome Mike, Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Thanks so much for the invitation. John really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I'm looking forward to our conversation.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So I thought we'd start off by talk a little
bit about the organization and Security Plus Federal Credit Union.
So for those who may not be familiar, can you
tell us more about it?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Well, established over eighty years ago, Security Plus is now
six hundred million in assets. We've got five service locations,
one hundred employees, and we serve about thirty five thousand
members with financial services. And we currently serve anyone who live,
work worships in Baltimore City as well as a number
(01:01):
of employer groups which includes a Social Security Administration, the
CMS agency, as well as a number of other employer
groups particularly throughout Baltimore County.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And where are those locations? Those physical locations?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Sure, we have a location in on these mills Woodlawn
Northwest Plaza, and then we have a location in the
Social Security Building as well as the CMS building. Great, great,
excellent talk about your mission, sure well, a security plus.
Our mission is to build lasting relationships with our members,
(01:42):
and we really try to lean into that because we
recognize that if we really want to be a sustainable organization,
it really is going to come down to building loyal,
lifelong relationships with our members. So with everything that we do,
we try to keep that info is that we want
to build those lasting, meaningful relationships with our members.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, that's huge, That's I love talking about relationships. We'll
definitely get into that when we talk about the leadership piece.
But I love what you're having to say already. What
to talk about how much of your business's retails opposed
to kind of the business banking side.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Sure, well, you know, we historically have been, you know,
a consumer banking business. You know, originally served or originally
founded as an organization to serve individual members. We have
evolved over the years to serve small businesses as well.
So you know, out of our thirty five thousand members,
(02:46):
you know, we serve about five hundred businesses as well.
You know, but that has been an area of opportunity
for us, and we've been trying to increase our investment
in that area. And you know, one of the things
we're doing right now we offer some competitive rates, particularly
for small businesses and commercial real estate loans, in some
(03:06):
cases even lower than mortgage rates.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
You know, so for example, commercial real estate loans we've
got on as low as five point five percent right now.
So it's really a contelling option for any businesses in
our area that are looking to finance any growth or expansion.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Great.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, and talking a little bit more about that, what's
a what's a good you know, small business client for you?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Do you look at employee size, you're looking kind of
a revenue size? What are there any particular industries that
you guys focused on or are looking to to help. Yeah,
talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Well, you know, when we're looking at small businesses, you know,
we're typically serving businesses with you know, fifty or less employees,
and also nonprofits as well. We've done some lending even recently, uh,
you know, for churches. So it's really an opportunity that
(04:03):
is not limited in scope, but we certainly see a
need and are trying to fill that need in the
smaller business arena.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, yeah, that's great. That's great.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So as the new CEO. Congratulations, by the way, welcome
to Baltimore. We'll talk a little bit about your personal
background in the minute. But other than the business banking side,
where where are you seeing some growth opportunities for Charity
Plus Federal Credit Union?
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Well, one of the opportunities we're seeing is in the
community based consumer financial services sector. You know, as a
not for profit financial institution. You know, we're also a
low income designated credit union, which means the majority of
the members that we serve are defined as low income.
(04:53):
And as we look at Baltimore City, uh, the majority
of those areas are designated investment areas by the Treasury Department,
which means that the majority of people living in these
areas are defined as low income. And what that means
further to us is that there's need. Right Typically, people
(05:16):
who are defined as low income are under bank unbanked,
or taken an advantage of by alternative financial service providers,
so they end up overpaying for car loans or check
cashing services or payday loans and things like that, and
you know, so certainly as a mission driven organization and
(05:40):
seeing the need that exists in our communities, that's really
where I see a lot of opportunity for us.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Excellent, excellent, Well, thank you. I appreciate you sharing that.
One thing I do want to ask too.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You know a lot of discussion these days around artificial
intelligence and machine learning. Uh yeah, could you talk to
us a little bit about how you're using AI to
enhance the customer experience?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Well, we're definitely uh tipping our toe into the water, right.
You know, it's it's still kind of the wild West
when it comes to AI, and but but people are
starting to embrace it and recognize the value of it,
and you know, we we're starting to do the same.
So we have embedded AI already a little bit into
(06:30):
our website. Uh so there's some functionality there that allows
customers to interact with our official intelligence and our website
through research function. We've also embedded some AI into our
phone service as well, So we're slowly, uh you know,
(06:52):
introducing it into the customer experience. But I think one
of the things that we are also looking to do
is we're going to be exploring how we can integrate
AI into the internal organization as well ultimately improve workflows,
and that's really where I think we can really gain
some efficiencies, speed up processes, and at the end of
(07:14):
the day, what that means is a better experience for
the members.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, excellent, excellent, Well, thank you appreciate that. And you know,
you guys seem to just kind of researching you a
little bit. You seem to have a very philanthropic culture.
Could you talk to us about that a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Sure, Well, you know, we certainly recognize that. You know,
it's important to be an active participant in the communities
that we serve. So we are locally based, we're owned
by the members that bank with us, and we take
that to heart that we need to be serving back
(07:51):
into the communities as well. So, you know, whether it's
cleaning up the highways, whether it's partnering with school those
are the Youth Works program to provide financial literacy, or
hosting you know, women's leadership luncheons. You know, we take
that to heart and we recognize that as an important
(08:14):
give back to the communities that we serve.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah, well, we appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I know it's kind of a tough time for many
nonprofits out there, So I really appreciate the support there. Yeah,
switching gears a little bit, tell us a little bit
about your personal background and you know how you got
to this point in your career.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Sure, well, yeah, I have been in credit unions for
over two decades, and I'm very proud to say that
I started my career, uh, you know, at the front line,
you know, in part time while going to college, on
the front line, on the teller line of a credit union,
and really had the opportunity to work in various departments
(08:56):
along the way and really gain a phenomenal effective of
the organization, but also how important credit unions are to
the members that we serve, and so had the opportunity
to kind of work my way through through various departments
of the credit union, ultimately becoming CEO. And I've spent
(09:18):
the last sixteen years as the CEO of Commodore Perry
Federal Credit Union in northwest Ohio kind of outside the
Toledo area. And Commodore Perry is a community development financial
institution about one hundred million in assets, and it was
really focused on addressing a lot of the rural poverty
(09:42):
that existed. You know in that area, we were very
successful at it. We won over four million dollars in
grants from the US Treasury Department to support our efforts.
And that's that's hopefully a perspective and you know, something
that I can bring here to Security Plus because as
I already mentioned, there's a lot of opportunity to serve
(10:06):
the underserved in our areas.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Yeah, it sounds like it. Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I appreciate you sharing that. As you know, I like
to talk about leadership.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
On the show. How would you describe your leadership style?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
You know, there are a lot of terms out there
for different leadership styles, and you know, I'm an avid
reader and I've read a lot of them, and a.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Lot of them out there.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
There is a lot of them out there, and you know,
to try to pinpoint one it is sometimes difficult. But
if I had to ascribe to one that's maybe familiar
to most people, you know, it would be as a
servant leader. I do recognize that, you know, my success
as a leader is not defined by what I do,
(10:51):
is by what my team does. And I certainly see
my role as being able to inspire and support the
team uh to do what they need to do you
know it. Certainly I need to set the vision in
the front, but then I need to step behind and
make sure that I'm giving them everything that they need
(11:12):
to achieve that vision. So that's that's kind of you know,
my perspective as a leader. You know, I've never really
been one to hold an ego. I've been described as
very humble, you know, sometimes to my own detriment. I
don't I don't necessarily need accolades or or spotlight. You know.
(11:35):
I really try to put the focus back on the
team because at the end of the day, they're the
ones doing the work.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, that sounds like me too, I I I love
that the philosophy of of being you know, a servant leader.
And I always looked at it as you know, when
I walked into the office and when I was at
the BBJ, was.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
What can I do.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
To help my sales team, you know, get in front
of the CEO.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
What can I do that get a lead for the reporter?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
What can I do to you know, help a with
an HR issue if there was one, you know what,
you know, what what how can I help? How can
I take away barriers, take away you know, things to
let people you know, do their jobs.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
The way they should be doing them and being.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
That resource there. So yeah, I hear that a lot.
It's a you know, it's really popular. And I also
want to kind of come back to what you said
about relationships because I think that's such a huge part
of servant leadership. But could you could you talk a
little bit about that and your relationships with like your
your team.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Sure, yeah, well, you know, having been here just two months,
you know, but but that being said, one of the
things I've I've taken away already is we really do
have a great team and we've got great people, and
you know it, I mean talk about relationships. You know,
at the end of the day, banking is the commodity,
(13:00):
you know, it's what we do. But you know, I
always say we're in the people business, you know, internally, uh,
you know, with our employees, but also externally, we're building
relationships with people. And again that's built into our mission,
building lasting relationships with our members. Right, it's not to
grow to ten billion dollars, it's not to you know,
(13:23):
achieve these big metrics. You know, it's to build relationships.
That's our mission. So you know that that's what we're
focused on we're people driven organization banking is what we offer.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, that's great, that's great. So you're hearing the word
resiliency out there a lot of these days. It's like
the new buzzword.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Could you tell us how.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
You would define resiliency and how are you resilient in
your business?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Sure? Well, you know, resiliency, you know, my experience really
comes down to agility, uh, being able to risk, respond
and adapt quickly, particularly in the world today right where
things are changing all the time, and in order for
a business to be successful, we have to be able
(14:12):
to adapt and change as the environment changes, you know,
because our members, our communities, they're experiencing the world differently,
almost on a daily basis, and we have to be
able to adapt as well. And we're certainly seeing that
these days. Is you know on the news, Uh, you know,
(14:33):
government changes, economic uncertainty, you know, and we we need
to be able to respond. And we have been you know,
as particularly as having a large base of our members
being employed by the government or indirectly related to the
government and all the uncertainty around that area. You know,
(14:56):
we've been communicating with our members proactively saying here, if
you're affected by this. Here's a list of tools and
resources that we can provide to you, whether it's you know,
an emergency loan, whether it's support filing and insurance claim,
whether it's you know, to to rework your loan to
ensure that you can continue to repay it. So we've
(15:17):
been trying to be as proactive and responsive as possible. Uh,
you know, is the world continues to change kind of
suddenly every day.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Yeah, yeah, that's great, thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So, So what gets you excited about the future of
Security Plus Federal Credit Union?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Now, what really gets me excited is just seeing the
possibilities that we have to create im pathful and meaningful
change within our communities as I you know, as you
kind of look at the the opportunities that exist, particularly
in Baltimore City, you know, there's a lot of need
(15:58):
for credit unions like us to come in and be
a resource to people who typically have been excluded from
the financial mainstream. And that that is exciting to me
because I know we can fill that need and at
the end of the day, that results in community growing together.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah that's great, that's great, thank you. So on the
other side, what keeps you up at night.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Now, yeah, so I would say short term, you know,
definitely the economic uncertainty, you know, in addition to the
government things we just talked about, and there's also terrorists
that are lingering and how that could potentially impact prices
(16:47):
and and you know, so there's so much uncertainty and
how it all unfolds that keeps me up at night certainly,
you know, and I think I think long term, one
of the things that I'm uh, you know, always concerned
about is how do we remain relevant long term? Right
(17:07):
because change is happening so quickly, particularly in the financial
services sector, right with all the rise of FinTechs, right
and you know, new financial service providers, and you know,
part of the challenge is, you know, you've kind of
seen the concept of the what was historically the primary
(17:28):
financial institution, right everybody went had one primary financial institution,
they did all their business with them, and now just
kind of been this this aggregation and people do business
more on a product level basis. They may have their
credit card with this company and they're checking with this company,
you know, and so making sure that you know, we
continue to remain relevant in all of our product lines,
(17:51):
recognizing that maybe the the concept of a primary financial
institution may not necessarily be a appropriate or desired by
customers in the future. So you know, making sure that
we can adapt to, you know, the changes of consumers
to make sure that we're we're relevant in the future.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, I think that plays into your model too, and
that you know, it's all about relationships, right, And I
think you know, you think even this younger generation, at
least with our kids, they are tending to stick with
the you know, one financial institution they've had for a
long time.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
So I'd be kind of.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Curious of what you all are seeing out there with
a younger generation. Are they tending to you know, in
your experience or you know, from your point of view,
are they doing a lot of different things? Are they
tending to stay with one particular institution, because I you know,
I think, like you said, I think even.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Both down the relationships.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, you're exactly right, And I think we if we
stay true to our mission to build lasting relationships, I
think we can continue to remain real of it because
particularly with when you look at younger generations, they particularly
in my experience, they choose their first financial institution based
(19:12):
off of what their family, right their parents said, you know,
we're going to open your account here or here's where
you should do it. Here's where we've done it in
the past. Right, So they typically enter the market based
off of that. So if we've done a great job
of building relationships, you know, with their parents, you know,
the children will come in. So typically what we see
(19:32):
also when it comes to them the younger generation is yeah,
they they want, they'll establish the account. Now. They also
might shop around for different as I talked earlier, different products,
maybe with different financial institutions, but when it comes to
more of the complex or you know, even advisory type
(19:56):
of needs, they'll come back, you know, to the crediton
Hey it's time for a mortgage. I want to stick
with the credit Union right where my parents you know,
bank and things like that.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
That makes sense, That makes sense. So I appreciate sharing that.
Well to kind of wrap things up, you know, is
there anything else that you like our listeners to know
about you and Security Plus Federal Credit Union, Well.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
You know, just said I am beyond excited to be
here at Security Plus. It's been a fun two months,
but looking forward to sharing more with you in the
future as we continue our efforts to expand, you know,
into our communities and and really provide some inclusive financial
services in those markets.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Yeah, I love it, and tell us all.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
To find more information about Security Plus Federal Credit Union.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Sure, be sure to visit us online at Security plus
SCU dot org or find us on Facebook or LinkedIn,
connect with us, connect with us on there, and you know,
stay up to date with what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Well, Mike, thank you so much. I really appreciate you
taking the time out today. It's great to meet you.
Look forward to meeting you out at an event sometime
soon hopefully, but appreciate you taking the time for the
interview and hope you have a great rest of your week.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Thanks so much, John, talk to him. This has been
iHeartMedia CEOs.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
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