The CU2.0 Podcast
This podcast explores contemporary, critical thinking and issues impacting the nation's credit unions. What do they need to be doing to not just survive but prosper?
Episodes
Agentic AI is coming to credit unions and Saris AI is helping lead the charge.
What is Agentic AI? Agentic AI acts as an agent that autonomously executes multi-step workflows. That is, Agentic AI does. It doesn’t tell you what to do. It does it for you.
Saris AI says it can automate 70% of tedious, complex back office tasks. It delivers a 300% productivity increase. And 9.8x cost reductio...
Call this a case of two scenarios. Here’s the background: a member calls and requests to skip a payment on a loan balance. The loan term will simply extend by a month, interest continues to be collected, and there’s a fee - usually between $15 and $60 - for setting up the skipped payment.
In scenario 1 the customer service rep fields the call, talks with the member, checks to see if the member&rsquo...
The headline on the CUInsight story grabbed my attention: AI for credit unions: Making “people-first” work even better.
The author, Bonnie Ortiz, has also been a CU 2.0 Podcast guest before so I wanted to get her back on.
Ortiz is the founder of 02 Consulting Group and, earlier in her career, she was the long serving COO at The Partnership Credit Union.
She’s a level headed expert on matters credit un...
What do we do next?
That’s a question heard in most credit union executive suites and boardrooms and what it is focused on is AI.
Artificial intelligence suddenly has become the tech that matters among credit unions but there’s just one problem: few actually have concrete ideas about how and where to use AI.
Enter Kirk Drake, CEO of the digital consultancy CU 2.0, author of the 2020 book FINANCIAL which put...
The Student Choice CUSO, built around student loans, is expanding and now has introduced a program that will enable credit unions to issue small dollar, emergency loans to members with no credit check.
These are not payday loans. Interest rates are capped at 18% per NCUA policies.
How can this be? On the show is Scott Patterson, ceo of Student Choice, and the episode starts with a view into the current sta...
Meet Storyfi - the NACUSO New CUSO of the Year for 2026.
When I saw the press release I had to get Nick Olexa, CEO of Storyfi, a Michigan based CUSO owned by six Michigan credit unions.
What Storyfi is doing is important - it’s harnessing video to help credit unions tell their stories and it’s working within credit union budgets.
That matters because, nowadays, video is the globe’s commun...
Is the country finally ready for a safe banking act that in effect legalizes cannabis businesses at the federal level?
In recent years multiple bills doing essentially that were passed by the House of Representatives only to be buried in a Senate committee that never reported it out for a floor vote.
There’s a new House bill in play and this time may be the charm, says Terry Mendez, CEO of Safe Harbor and a past...
Title this show everything you need to know about fraud today but have been afraid to ask.
Start with this: Fraud is big and getting bigger.
That is the worrisome message delivered by Rene Perez, a fraud expert with Jack Henry, and seconded by Stephanie Ziegler, director of financial investigations at SELCO, a $2.8 billion credit union headquartered in Oregon.
Perez is on the show to discuss Jack Henry’s new Fina...
Can a banker successfully transition into a senior role in a credit union?
Can a credit union deploy a financial wellness initiative that also works as a competitive edge in marketing?
Kevin Miller, CEO of $5.7 billion Travis Credit Union in Northern California, is on the show today and he is guilty of that banking background but he has logged 4+ years as Travis CEO.
And he also strongly believes that not only a...
Two threads run through this show: the human impacts of AI and the credit union of the future.
Ultimately the threads are connected. If a credit union is its people, what is it when AI does an increasing amount of the work in a credit union?
On the show to explore these ideas is Nenuca Syquia, CEO of BoxD, “Better Organizations by Design,” a Silicon Valley consultancy.
Herself a longtime credit union ...
When will instant payments come to smaller credit unions?
Perhaps the better question is: Will instant payments ever come to smaller credit unions?
On the show are Bob West, CEO of CUSO CU*South, which serves some 360 credit unions (in 42 states, not just the south), and Keith Riddle of Payfinia, which has launched an instant payment platform that integrated with CU*South’s technology - meaning it’s ...
How does a lawyer - by education and employment history - become a top executive at fintechs?
Good question. But here’s another one: how can a fintech help credit unions win members for savings accounts paying in the vicinity of 4% APR?
On the show is Alastair Wood, CEO of Raisin, a fintech that helps credit unions market innovative products - high yield savings included - to attract new members.
Und...
Can a credit union be a credit union without human employees?
Are credit unions, in the age of AI, at risk of losing the humanity that distinguishes them?
In this provocative episode, keynote speaker Joshua Evans, who bills himself as an expert on the workplace of the future, talks about how AI is transforming credit unions, how parts of this are to the good, but, he insists, credit unions need to maintain their human...
Careful or courageous?
Which are you?
James Grenon, vice president of administration at Summit Credit Union, a mid-sized institution in North Carolina, raised exactly that question in a recent CUInight story entitled: “Careful or courageous: The leadership choice that shapes culture.”
Regular listeners know I have a bugaboo about what I see as the unhealthy risk aversion of many CU executives and boards so ...
Come join Peter Rice, CEO of $2.3 billion Hanscom Federal Credit Union, on a walk. A Long walk. 70+ miles. On the Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal.
Rice did that walk three times for his book Break or Become: How Hard Roads Make Good Leaders.
What’s the book about? In an hour long podcast Rice explains and, listen up, it’s about the death of a spouse, raising two young boys as a s...
Can bill pay be revived at credit unions?
You may remember, perhaps a generation ago, when bill pay was revered by financial institutions because it was viewed as creating stickier members who, having inputted a dozen or two bill pay recipients, were reluctant to change FIs because of the work involved.
Bill pay lost a lot of its stick when various fintechs rolled out widgets that collected billpay data so it could be...
The NCUA looks to be getting a new board chair: John Crews, a longtime Washington DC hand and currently Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Treasury Department. Prior jobs include Policy Director of the Senate Banking Committee and Policy Advisor to House majority leader Steve Scalise. He’s a guy who knows his way around inside the Beltway.
There’s an urgency to his nomination because present&nb...
How could I not talk with the CUEvangelist who sees his calling as “Spreading the Good News About CUs!”
My interest in the CUEvangelist was triggered by a provocative piece titled “Black history is credit union history” that was posted at CUInsight and then I saw the author, Mark Brantley, dubbed himself the CUEvangelist.
Brantley has the chops to warrant that moniker. He’s As...
Wouldn’t you like to make more - and more profitable - auto loans? Just about every credit union would say a loud yes and that is why this episode is a must listen. On the show is Zach Eychaner, the VP of Digital Experience at ELGA Credit Union, a $1.5 billion institution based in Michigan. Also on the show is Mitch Rutledge, CEO of Vertice AI, a Georgia based company that says it provides actionab...
Amanda Wick is a name to know when talking about things crypto. A onetime US government prosecutor, Wick specialized in crypto currencies and money laundering. Later she went on to found the Association for Women In Cryptocurrency and now she is a principal in Incite where she provides expert advice on crypto related matters.
Wick’s current focus: stablecoin.
In the show Wick talks abou...
Popular Podcasts
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.