Main Street AI

Hosted by Multimodal

Technology

Website RSS feed

Episodes

106

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

About the show

Main Street AI is an immersive content series probing the intricate intersection of humanity and artificial intelligence in the world of business and high-stakes industries. Journey with us into stories of challenge and triumph of innovators navigating their unique industry mazes, and of the transformative power of AI seamlessly merging into these narratives. Think of it as "Masters of Scale" but customized for visionaries, pioneers, and enthusiasts in the ever-evolving AI-for-business space.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 20, 202625 min

Small Credit Unions Understand AI. The Math Just Isn't Mathing.

Ankur Patel interviews Torrance Harris, Senior Director of Innovations at Luminate. 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast Luminate is the league for Louisiana's credit unions, most of them $100 million or smaller. Torrance argues those small credit unions already understand AI and know what th ey need; the math just isn't mathing, so the league screens vendors for after-sale support and bundles small institutions into one price so they don't have to merge. Guest: Torrance Harris, Senior Director of Innovations, Luminate Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal 0:00 Introduction: Meet Torrance 0:33 Torrance's path into credit unions 1:45 Nobody calls asking for AI 3:47 Membership growth 5:46 Growing the loan portfolio 8:07 Fintech speed vs. bank budgets 10:02 How Luminate vets vendors 14:24 The math isn't mathing 16:12 Louisiana by the numbers 19:40 Merger pressure 21:09 What small credit unions need to thrive 22:48 Rapid fire 25:02 Closing

October 13, 202630 min

How Orion Brought Fraud and Mortgage Servicing In-House With AI

Ankur Patel interviews Ben Mrva, EVP and Chief Operating Officer at Orion Federal Credit Union. 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast Orion Federal Credit Union is a $1.3B credit union in Memphis, Tennessee. Ben, a twenty-year consultant turned COO, explains how Orion found its AI savings by bringing fraud and mortgage servicing in-house and leaning less on consultants, not by cutting staff, and why a data lake has to come before anything bigger. Guest: Ben Mrva, EVP and Chief Operating Officer, Orion Federal Credit Union Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal 0:00 Introduction: Meet Ben 0:34 How AI changed work at Orion 1:52 Data readiness and the branch transaction count 3:40 Why credit union data was never ready 6:28 Incumbents, fintechs and the Filene pitch room 8:59 From demo to production 11:03 Who owns the integration 12:58 Corelation KeyStone as a partner 14:22 Bringing people along 16:46 Hospitality first, AI second 18:57 Competing with the big banks 21:45 The fintech pressure 24:43 Budgeting AI for 2027 25:51 Bringing fraud and mortgage servicing in-house 28:59 Closing

October 8, 202643 min

Under 1% of Credit Unions Could Run an Agent on Their Data

Ankur Patel interviews Garrett Jorewicz, who leads the Innovation and Enterprise Solutions team at Credit Union 1 (CU1). 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast Credit Union 1 grew from $1.3 billion to $2.6 billion in assets through eight to ten mergers a year and doubled its members without adding a single person to its contact center. Garrett's argument is that this was the easy part: he puts the share of credit unions that could run an AI agent against all their data at under 1%, CU1 included, and says getting there means freezing projects to fix the data layer first. Guest: Garrett Jorewicz, Innovation and Enterprise Solutions, Credit Union 1 (CU1) Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal 0:00 Introduction: Meet Garrett 0:21 Under 1% of credit unions 0:48 Why the data still isn't in order 3:37 Voluntary open heart surgery 5:41 Contact center as the entry point 6:59 Eight to ten mergers a year 13:08 Four AI vendors, four knowledge bases 15:31 The contact center RFP 17:04 The data cockpit 19:04 Sorting through vendor noise 23:22 Who pays for AI 27:44 Do I need to replace that person 29:11 Same vendors, same tools 34:05 Friction drives behavior 37:03 Twelve seconds or eleven minutes on hold 38:55 Credit unions in ten years 41:06 What credit unions should stop doing 43:42 Closing

September 23, 202625 min

What a $4.6B Credit Union's Growth Officer Actually Worries About

Ankur Patel interviews Whitney Anderson, Leadership Strategist and founder of Anderson Growth Advisors. 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast Whitney advised credit unions before taking the chief growth officer role at Sunward Credit Union, which runs $4.6 billion in assets and more than 170,000 members out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. After seats as an operator, a sitting CEO, and an outside consultant, Whitney's read is that what blocks AI in credit unions isn't the technology but fear, and that the goal was never to be first to market, just a very close second. Guest: Whitney Anderson, Leadership Strategist and founder of Anderson Growth Advisors Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal Whitney's memoir, She Walked Anyway: The Story of a Woman Who Refused to Stay Down: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1636988776 Her consulting practice, Anderson Growth Advisors: https://andersongrowthadvisors.com 0:00 Introduction: Meet Whitney 0:41 The career arc 4:13 Walking again, the book, and Anderson Growth Advisors 5:01 What adversity changed 6:26 What a consultant sees from the outside 8:06 The challenges facing credit unions 9:26 Is AI just more technology 12:02 Drawing the line on member-facing AI 15:13 Moving the AI skeptics 16:50 Fear, not technology 18:32 Can small credit unions keep up 20:07 The leader credit unions aren't hiring yet 22:16 What the leading credit unions do differently 24:21 Where to find She Walked Anyway 25:24 Closing

September 17, 202634 min

If You Offload Expertise to AI, You Offload Control

Ankur Patel interviews Erik Librader, Client Partner, and Ian Butler, Chief Technology Officer, at Vistrada. 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast Vistrada is a business risk and technology consultancy that sits inside dozens of institutions after the AI contract is signed, which makes this an outside-in view of what actually works and what quietly fails. Erik and Ian break down the 95% of AI spend that never produces measurable return, why the right architecture is usually a chain of small models rather than a chatbot, and why handing expertise to AI means handing over decision making and control with it. Guest: Erik Librader, Client Partner, Vistrada Guest: Ian Butler, Chief Technology Officer, Vistrada Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal 0:00 Introduction: Meet Erik and Ian 0:39 What the first AI call sounds like 2:11 Clients who don't know where to begin 3:10 AI is the tool, not the chair 5:14 Speed is what's different 7:38 Why AI projects fail 10:59 Business process optimization in an AI coat 13:59 Not an AI consultancy 15:45 Repurpose the headcount 18:24 Offload expertise, offload control 21:23 Snake oil in the vendor market 23:24 Loan origination and traceability 26:59 Where the real AI risk lives 31:25 Budget, sponsorship, ownership 32:55 Is the organization ready 34:30 Closing

September 10, 202629 min

Why the NCUA should give credit unions a sandbox

Ankur Patel interviews Jason Stverak, Chief Advocacy Officer at the Defense Credit Union Council. 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast DCUC is the 63-year-old trade association for the 200-plus credit unions serving the U.S. military, holding $525 billion in assets for more than 40 million members. Jason argues that with 4,200 credit unions left from north of 10,000 fifteen years ago, the small ones survive AI by pooling through CUSOs, deliberately targeting a B instead of an A-plus, and getting the NCUA to hand them a sandbox rather than a rulebook. Guest: Jason Stverak, Chief Advocacy Officer, Defense Credit Union Council Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal 0:00 Introduction: Meet Jason 0:55 What DCUC is 2:38 CU Unplugged 4:44 Consolidate or die 8:40 Credit unions as the AI proving ground 11:31 The volunteer board pushes the agenda 13:22 Automation and the member relationship 15:02 Finding the dollars for software 18:35 AI was supposed to democratize 20:20 We need a B, not an A plus 23:28 The case for an NCUA sandbox 25:56 The regulator as matchmaker 27:30 What Jason is protecting 29:02 Closing

September 3, 202634 min

Why the Smallest Credit Unions Are the Best at AI

Ankur Patel interviews Mike Lawson, Founder and Host of CUbroadcast. 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast Mike has interviewed more than 8,000 credit union leaders as host of CUbroadcast, giving him a view across the entire industry rather than one seat inside one institution. His sharpest take: the smallest credit unions are often the best AI adopters because their teams wear so many hats they have to automate, while SoFi onboards more new customers in a year than the whole industry combined. Guest: Mike Lawson, Founder and Host, CUbroadcast Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal 0:00 Introduction: Meet Mike 0:39 What's changed, what's stayed the same 2:26 Fintech and big bank pressure 4:35 The collaborative advantage 8:39 Where credit unions are in the AI journey 10:17 Budgeting for AI 11:55 Use cases bubbling up 14:02 Why small credit unions excel at AI 16:55 AI in the call center 19:20 Fighting AI-powered fraud 23:10 Lessons from the global movement 24:07 The membership age problem 28:09 Consolidation and mergers 30:50 Fintech partnerships and vendor risk 33:06 Two imperatives for the next five years 34:40 Closing

August 26, 202650 min

The FAQ Bot That Ate a Credit Union's Entire AI Budget

Ankur Patel interviews Zach Cox, Director of Business Innovation, and Aaron Cain, Director of Digital Innovation at Credit Union 1. 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast Credit Union 1 deployed AI use cases before it built the governance around them, and paid for the lesson when a narrow FAQ bot burned through the credit union's initial AI spend commitment without moving a single business outcome. Zach and Cain break down the vendor terms that made that happen, Cain's Aviary AI outbound calling program that reached 7,000 members ahead of a merger, and why CU1 now maintains a human version and an AI version of the same knowledge. Guest: Zach Cox, Director of Business Innovation, Credit Union 1 Guest: Cain, Director of Digital Innovation, Credit Union 1 Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal 0:00 Introduction: Meet Zach and Cain 1:13 What Zach and Cain each own at CU1 5:01 Fix the process before adding AI 8:13 Deploy and learn vs infrastructure first 9:57 The FAQ bot that ate the commit 14:14 Don't let the vendor wag the dog 20:12 Buying for value, not volume 22:35 Trust and never blocking the human 24:17 When AI feels more human 28:14 Aviary AI outbound calling for mergers 32:44 The make-a-payment bot 35:46 Frontline feedback workshops 40:50 Replacement through attrition 43:15 What data readiness really means 44:09 The chatbot that quoted a disclosure as fact 48:34 What success looks like in 2027 50:30 Closing

August 17, 202626 min

Budgeting for Agentic AI in 2027: What to Ask Every Vendor

Ishita Jaiswal, Head of Growth at Multimodal, interviews Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder of Multimodal. 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast Multimodal builds agentic workflows for credit unions and community banks, covering member experience and lending operations. Ankur argues that a 2027 budget has to fund three things at once, an account on one of the big three models for every single person, a hard look at whether your incumbent vendors are opening their software up or walling it off, and a few net new agentic partners, with every vendor pushed to show simulated usage numbers before anyone signs. Guest: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal Host: Ishita Jaiswal, Head of Growth, Multimodal 0:00 Introduction: Meet Ishita 0:57 The two categories of agentic AI 2:39 Where credit unions start on personal productivity 3:15 Leadership, stewards, and uneven adoption 6:06 Member experience and lending operations 8:12 Why growth beats cost efficiency 9:19 Three pieces of budgeting advice for 2027 13:20 Walled gardens and the SaaS apocalypse 16:19 Usage pricing, tokens, and simulated numbers 20:04 What Multimodal built for credit unions 23:43 The ROI bar and the tuition expense 25:56 Closing

August 11, 202637 min

What Actually Gets AI Buy-In at a Credit Union

Ankur Patel interviews Youssi Farag, CFO at WEOKIE Federal Credit Union. 📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast WEOKIE Federal Credit Union is a $1.5B institution where Youssi's seat covers finance and accounting, compliance, and commercial lending all at once. Her argument is that AI only sticks when you start from a real problem, put IT, compliance, legal, and the frontline in the same room, and hold vendors to a date instead of accepting "it's on the roadmap." Guest: Youssi Farag, CFO, WEOKIE Federal Credit Union Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal 0:00 Introduction: Meet Youssi 0:44 What Youssi owns at WEOKIE 1:51 Community bank speed vs credit union scale 4:43 How technology decisions actually get made 6:24 Where AI landed first: fraud, risk, and reporting 8:59 Buy, build, or partner 11:39 Budgeting for AI 13:44 Budget discipline with mid-year pivots 16:31 AI in consumer vs commercial lending 19:33 How far along WEOKIE is 21:39 Member-facing AI and measuring what changed 23:35 Vendor green flags and red flags 26:17 Structuring an experiment you can pivot out of 28:51 Reward seeking vs risk mitigation 31:28 Leading vs fast following 33:29 Getting the team bought in 34:45 What success looks like in three years 36:12 Closing