The CU2.0 Podcast

Hosted by Robert McGarvey

Business TechnologyExplicit

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Episodes

510

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

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?

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60 recent

June 10, 2026Episode 40839 min

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 408 Raisin's Alastair Wood Brings High Yield Savings Accounts to Credit Unions

Send us Fan MailHow 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.Understand, Raisin does essentially all the lifting involved in marketing and opening new accounts for new members. Memberization included. Raisin, by the way, is relatively new to the US market. But it has a long history in Europe.This episode starts with Wood explaining why, just maybe, a trained lawyer is an ideal leader for a fintech, especially one operating in a highly regulated environment.Wood, by the way, traces his hands on involvement in fintechs and credit unions back to a multi year stint at Silvur, whose CEO, Rhian Horgan is a past CU 3.0 Podcast guest. Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

June 3, 2026Episode 41441 min

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode Joshua Evans on AI and Credit Unions: Are You Losing Your Human Touch?

Send us Fan MailCan 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 humanity.That’s a lot to think about but it’s thinking that needs doing today as - plainly - AI is transforming many workplaces, credit unions included.How often did you use AI yesterday? When a member contacts your credit union is he/she greeted by a human - or an AI bot?Incidentally, Google Gemini tells me that a credit union needs humans on its board. That’s non negotiable. An LLM or AI bot cannot be named to a board seat.And Gemini raises a philosophical topic: “The credit union movement is built on the ‘People Helping People’ philosophy. A 100% automated entity would likely struggle to maintain its tax-exempt status or its identity as a ‘cooperative’ if there is no human community to cooperate.”Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

May 27, 2026Episode 40633 min

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 406 Summit CU's James Grenon on Careful vs Courage

Send us Fan MailCareful 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 you can guess I am all in on Grenon’s topic.Grenon sets the stage with a heavy snowfall in North Carolina. His young daughters hadn’t even seen so much snow, they initially were frightened and wanted to stay inside.Grenon picked up the story: “they bundled up anyway. Carefully at first. Testing their footing. Adjusting their pace. Before long, there were snowball fights in the yard, sled runs down the hill, and laughter echoing through the neighborhood with other friends.“They respected the conditions. But they did not let the conditions decide for them.That is the balance leadership requires. Acknowledge risk. Prepare for it. But do not let caution become confinement.”In our conversation we explore the cautious-courageous dynamic at credit unions involving everything from a core conversion - a recent project at Summit - to the roll out of AI initiatives.Meantime, fintechs embrace risk. They grow in part by taking risks. Nobody is saying credit unions should be as ready to plunge into risk - but should they take more risks?Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

May 27, 2026Episode 4071 hr 6 min

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 407 Hanscom FCU CEO Peter Rice on His New Book About Walking the Camino and Leadership

Send us Fan MailCome 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 single dad, entering a second marriage, and lastly a Camino with two co-workers.Stuff goes wrong. Stuff goes right.In the walks Rice explores big topics: what’s a leader’s role, what’s a father’s role, what differentiates credit unions, what’s the future of credit unions, and why would a groom wear kilts to a wedding in Lisbon, Portugal?Rice by now has added one more Camino to his achievements and, as for your host, I have done two and must admit Rice’s enthusiasm for the path has triggered in me a desire to add one more.But know this is not so much a book about walking the Camino as it is about leadership -- but it just may be the most unusual leadership book on the shelf.There’s a link in the show notes to the book, buy it.Rice has been on the show before In 2021 he talked about helping members manage stress. In 2025 he had been named CEO at Hanscom Federal Credit Union and he returned to the show to talk about credit union federal tax exemption, even the history of his native Ireland. Links to those shows are in the show notes.When he told me he had published a book, I had to get him on.Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

May 20, 2026Episode 40542 min

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 405 Cary Strange on PayOnward's Plan to Revolutionize Payments

Send us Fan MailCan 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 transferred to another institution.The death blow came when many vendors - including most credit card companies - created auto pay tools where a user can choose to pay the minimum or the balance due or amounts in between automatically. That’s what I use to pay all my recurring bills and the closest I’ve come to using oldfashioned bill pay is when I’ve paid contractors with Zelle a couple times.Cary Strange is on the show to tell how PayOnward plans to change that current practice and, hold on, know that PayOnward is a portfolio company of Black Dragon Capital which talks about PayOnward this way: “PayOnward is a cloud-native universal payments platform that empowers Community Based Financial Institutions to offer a full suite of AI driven digital payment solutions for both business and consumers through an easy to use and efficient integrated solution.”Now know that Black Dragon Capital is a private equity firm founded by Louis Hernandez, Jr. a dozen years ago. He’s a longtime credit union tech innovator - think the DNA core system. Hernandez is not a guest on this episode but he is much referenced in it.Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

May 14, 202645 min

CU 2.0 Podcast John Crews Nominated to Head the NCUA Board: The Story Inside the Beltway

Send us Fan MailThe 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 NCUA board chair Kyle Hauptman has been named to the board of the Public Company Accounting Oversight board. Hauptman also is the only member of the NCUA’s current board. There are two other seats but their occupants presently are involved in litigation and no longer serve.Will Crews cross the finish line in the Senate and assume the top job at NCUA?On the show is Washington DC lobbyist Elizabeth Ergubian, herself a former staffer at NCUA where she served as Director of External Affairs & Communications and Policy Advisor to the Chair.Before that she was Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer & Senior Counsel at CUNA.She knows the Beltway doings, she knows credit unions, and here she tells what to expect in Crew’s confirmation hearing - and when to expect it.Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

May 13, 2026Episode 40430 min

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 404 Mark Brantley the CUEvangelist Spreading the Good Word

Send us Fan MailHow 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 Asst. Director of Operations at Arizona State University but - notably - he is the former vice-chairman of the AACUC, former board member of CUNA, and former Chairman of the Municipal Credit Union. Along that path he has formed strong opinions about what a credit union’s mission should be and he talks about what he believes.All in, this is an upbeat podcast about credit unions and members who need them.Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

May 6, 2026Episode 40333 min

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 403 ELGA Credit Union and Vertice AI Explain How to Make Smarter, Targeted Loan Offers

Send us Fan MailWouldn’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 actionable and measurable account holder intelligence to help credit unions offer their members the right products, solutions and services at the right time.How to do exactly that? Rutledge tells how on the show and Eychaner gives the verdict about whether it’s working at ELGA. Every credit union wants to know how to make more targeted loan offers and, explains Rutledge, the answers are in the data - the institution’s data that it already has if it learns to mine it properly.Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

April 29, 2026Episode 40247 min

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 402 Amanda Wick on Stablecoin and the New World Financial Order

Send us Fan MailAmanda 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 about the risks posed by stablecoins to credit unions and also the potential benefits. Should credit unions get involved in stablecoin? Wick’s answer is yes but with eyes wide open. Note: this is not a show exclusively for gearheads. Language throughout is non technical.Along the way, Wick talks about her book The Catalysts: The Accelerating Forces Forging the New World Financial Order. Read the title again. She is talking about what she sees as the inevitability of a new global financial order that indeed changes just about everything.In the show she refers several times to Napster which provided peer-to-peer file sharing and that may sound innocuous but the reality is that Napster revolutionized how music is distributed and shared. It shut down a quarter-century ago but its impacts only grew until today recorded music is a digital phenomenon. Think how that has impacted record companies, bands, and an entire huge industry.Similar is happening today in finance, says Wick, and you ain’t seen nothing yet. Bigger changes are ahead. Are you ready?Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

April 22, 2026Episode 40143 min

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 401 One Washington Financial and ALM Company Delfi

Send us Fan MailAsset liability management - ALM as it’s known - can be fun, good for a credit union’s balance sheet and, dare we say it, sexy.On the show is Daniel Ahn, CEO of Delfi, a company that - and I quote from the website - “combines deep public and private sector experience with cutting-edge AI expertise—bringing best-in-class technology to banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions.”The website adds: “Transform your bank or credit union financial decision making and race to the top with our revolutionary platform.Delfi delivers instant analytics, access to a deep inventory of solutions, and is powered by AI so you can pick the right solution for you.”This an exciting new, powerful look at ALM in credit unions. Also on the show is Scott Daukas, a principal at One Washington Financial, a CUSO wholly owned by Washington State Employees Credit Union and an investor in a new Delfi CUSO. But One Washington Financial is more than that with Delfi as you will hear in the show. Indeed it approached Delfi with the suggestion that it form a CUSO - and long conversations followed, not the least of which was explaining what a CUSO is!One Washington Financial also invested in two other companies that have featured in recent CU 2.0 podcasts - Remynt and Starlight. Why is One Washington Financial making these investments? Daukas explains.Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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