PALM DESERT, Calif.–Two credit union CEOs and the leader of an organization for female CU CEOs shared some of what they see ahead for 2027 and what they are doing.
The discussion took place during Mitchell Stankovic’s Underground event, which was held in conjunction with the California and Nevada leagues’ REACH Conference.
Participating as panelists were:
- Steve Bone, president and CEO, Member Access Processing (MAP).
- Linda White, executive director of the Credit Union Women’s Leadership Alliance
- Christine Haley, president and CEO of PostCity Financial Credit Union
Jon Hernandez, president/CEO of three credit unions in California, Calcom, Nikkei and Mattel, served as moderator.
Below is some of what was discussed:
Hernandez: Tell us about the year ahead and what you have planned?
Bone: I think 2027 is about adoption and integrations. A lot of the core technologies you run have new capabilities that are going to come to market next year and which are going to be compelling. I think that we can win this competition with fintechs by winning young people. You have something compelling they do not have, which is long-term trust.
White: CUWLA is about the sustainability of small credit unions run by women. For 2027. it’s about how do we grow that network for people who are retiring and get people prepared for the C-suite. We are going to see a mass exodus of retirement. As we see more and more of that, we want to have a backfill of people. We have started ‘CUWLA Rise’ for women who report to the CEO at CUs of up to $500 million in assets.
Haley: In 2027 we are working on two big initiatives. We are continuing our work on company culture and how we are serving our members and team. And we are also looking at digging deeper into our postal culture. We have maintained our postal-only roots. While it’s exciting to do something else, we have a TIP charter that allows us to serve all postal employees in California.
Hernandez: Any shift you are anticipating that will be affecting the industry?
Haley: I think AI is going to be interesting as it continues to unfold. I feel like there is going to be an oops, and then a retraction, and then we’re going to level out. We’re going to be mindful that we have to be careful, so I am watching that trajectory.
Bone: We service some very small and very large credit unions, and merger activity is among the top 10 trends taking place. I’ve had some CEOs of big CUs saying they need to get bigger to compete with banks. And there are CEOs of other credit unions that believe we need to protect credit unions. It’s interesting to see this divide and, potentially, it’s going to drive a wedge.
Audience: You are the OG fractional leader in running multiple CUs. Would shared services serve you better?
Hernandez: Our credit unions combined are less than $200 million in assets, with seven branches. That’s six branches too many, right? But we don’t want to (close them). With AI, we see ways to grow without having to reduce staff. We are now at the point of sharing back offices. There are a lot of shared services we are looking at, and maybe even sharing with other credit unions in our neighborhood.
Audience: How can you get information out?
Haley: We don’t have SMEs (subject matter experts). We have talked to our peers about (which vendors) are helping them get to the next level?
Audience: How do get people motivated in a network?
White: We have 297 CEOs. They share amongst each other, and they look to support each other. And we outsource, outsource, outsource. The vendors at our annual conference are the ones who have real solutions for credit unions. There are so many solutions out there to help small credit unions.
Bone: We are build-by-partner. We have certain core competencies where we have a compelling value, and where there are things outside our wheelhouse we look to buy or partner.
