The Credit Union Executive Society (CUES) helps the leadership of credit unions learn about the future of financial technology and banking. Learn more about the value of CUES with Steve Owens, our chief lending officer at ConsumersCU!

 

 

Transcript:

[music]

 

00:07 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m Home. Welcome on in. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union, from finance to fitness. We have it all for you. And today, we have a really awesome topic and that is because our Chief Lending Officer, Steve Owens is joining us. Now, Steve, you really wear a lot of hats when it comes to credit unions and credit union knowledge and leadership. Give us a little background about how you are involved in so many different credit union activities.

 

00:34 Steve Owens: Hi, Lynne. Two things that are big for me that I’m involved in is Michigan Credit Union League, our local chapter here, and CUES which is the Credit Union Executive Society. So, I guess, Michigan Credit Union League is… It’s a PAC. It’s a political action committee, basically. So, the purpose of that is credit unions have a common bond. We work together to make sure that credit unions are represented in Lansing, in Washington DC. That the interests of our members are represented. I’m passionate about that. I love to network with other credit union professionals. I found it’s unique where our industry, even though we compete with each other, also collaborate quite a bit. I love that. I’ve gotten to know the other credit unions here in Southwest Michigan pretty well, a lot of the other professionals there and that’s been fun and rewarding.

 

01:40 SO: The second thing you asked about, Lynne, was CUES which is Credit Union Executive Society. It’s really just a non-profit organization that is formed… The purpose is to develop… It’s professional development for credit union executives. It’s all about education, leadership development. I like to learn. I have got involved with CUES because I’ve taken some of their courses. I was fortunate enough to be elected to the Board of Directors for the Michigan CUES Council. And as a member of that board, I serve as a committee chair for the, what we call the CUES Future Summit. It’s a conference that we have first week in February every year. We hold it in Detroit, and the purpose of that is to really foster leadership development, give credit union executives and managers insight into industry trends. It’s networking. It’s getting to know vendors in the industry. It’s a lot fun.

 

02:48 LJJ: One of the things that… When I looked at, over the agenda for the CUES Future Summit for this year, I noticed some, A: Big name speakers. What was interesting to me is when I have had the chance to talk with individuals that I work with that are not involved in the credit union, and I’ve explained this conference. They are really wowed, because it truly is a networking about servant leadership.

 

03:14 SO: Absolutely.

 

03:14 LJJ: Tell us a little bit about the agenda.

 

03:16 SO: You brought up servant leadership. That’s something that is just across the board part of the fiber of credit unions. There’s hundreds of credit unions in the state of Michigan. We’re fortunate. And many of them send representatives to this conference. They all have this spirit of servant leadership. They all have the spirit of cooperation, collaboration and improving the industry as well as bettering their own organizations and themselves. So, the speakers that we select… Our keynote, Mitch Albom, I’m sure he’s going to deliver an outstanding talk related to his new book which really articulates a really cool story of really self-sacrifice and overcoming adversity. Just come to the conference and you’re going to love it. There won’t be a dry eye in the house. We’re going to follow that up with speakers that are industry experts that focus on fintech, that focus on what’s the future of payments, what’s the future banking in general? And the keynote that ends the conference is Coach Dantonio, the head football coach…

 

04:38 LJJ: Michigan State University. Go Green!

 

04:39 SO: Thank you, Lynne. Your alma mater, Michigan State. And Coach Dantonio, he’ll talk about building a team, optimizing performance, developing leaders, and I think it’ll end on a real high note.

 

04:56 LJJ: You know what’s interesting, I know that the registration, you can have a CUES conference discount. And then there’s, for those who are not involved in CUES can register. The takeaways for members, why would a member say, “Oh, this is important for our leaders to really get involved on that learning level.” Because that’s what it is, it’s just learning new things every day or honing your skills.

 

05:28 SO: So, you remember you are a member of Consumers Credit Union. What I heard you ask, Lynne, is why as a member would I get excited that the leadership of Consumers Credit Union is going to this conference in Detroit. I want to win. I want my members to win. It’s one of the things I love about the financial services industry. I always thought I’ve been presented with these situations where they can be win, win, win. The member the customer, wins. I win as an individual, because I’m helping them meet their goals. I’m helping the institution meet their goals and grow. So, the other winner is the credit union itself which is a cooperative. It’s a great business model. If you subscribe to a belief that you want to sharpen your saw constantly and always improve as a leader and develop your skills, this is a very inexpensive or economical way for us to send our leaders to world class, motivational speaking, leadership development training. World class information on what’s happening in the financial industry, or the financial services industry. And it’s right here in our backyard. We don’t have to send people off to New York City, Washington DC, Orlando, whatever.

 

06:57 SO: We can get it right here in Detroit. And I think a stronger… Stronger credit union leaders, just across the board in our organization and across the board, translates to better products, better services, lower rates, faster mortgages, just all these things that we can do to improve the financial well-being of our members. I think that’s the other thing, it’s very consistent across the board. If you look at the mission, why credit unions were established, consumers and other credit unions in the state. The mission statements are all really similar. They’re financial cooperatives, they’re established to improve the financial well-being of their members, and this really does help energize me and drive me to make those positive changes that will benefit our members.

 

07:57 LJJ: One other really exciting scope of this is youth. I have read so many articles about talent and the stress that many businesses out in the community are just having struggles to find and keep young talent that it’s just such a… Something that’s just… People are banging their heads against the wall. Crashers, that’s what we call them. They’re young, they’re motivated, they’re leaders that are coming in and learning, but also helping at the conference.

 

08:29 SO: Yeah, that is exciting, we’ve had this is for a couple of years where we open up an application and give a dozen young professionals, that are working at credit unions, an opportunity to come to the conference, participate alongside the credit union executives that are there from all over the state. It gives them a taste of… It gives them an opportunity to network with CEOs of the credit unions in the state. It gives them an opportunity to take in the presentations and learn about the future and the direction of our industry. I have just always received such positive feedback from those young people that attend that. It really gives them a drive to further their career inside the credit union, because it gives them a glimpse of what the potential, what the future of the industry looks like and what the potential for their own personal development.

 

09:33 SO: I think they get paired with credit union executives in their own organization and other organizations that can kind of mentor them. It’s a fantastic opportunity for those young people. This year, going off the top of my head, I think we have 12 candidates selected from credit unions all over the State of Michigan. We’ve got a couple of leaders that are former crashers themselves that are just going to do a fantastic job of guiding those folks through the conference experience. And it’s nice for us as conference organizers because these crashers chip in and help us with registration. And of course, they get basically their conference registration fees as way of kind in return for that. So, it’s a cool opportunity for young folks.

 

10:26 LJJ: So, Steve, to wrap this up and bring this home, the CUES Future Summit is coming up. Very exciting time for credit union leaders. Thank you for your volunteering for leading this charge. It’s really exciting.

 

10:42 SO: I love it. I appreciate the opportunity. Consumers are supportive of my involvement in these organizations and other community organizations. It’s one thing I’m particularly proud of this organization. We give back through employees’ time to all kinds of local organizations. These two happen to be supportive of the industry, but it’s all encompassing. The support that we extend for our employees goes to credit union organizations, it goes to all kinds of service organizations in our community, and I’m really proud of how our team gives back to the community. I hope I’m doing my part to try to embolden the industry itself, which like you said earlier, Lynne, it helps all members in the entire community in the long run.

 

11:36 LJJ: Well, we will be talking with many of the speakers at the conference and bringing the information to you that really can impact your job and your workplace no matter what you do. Thanks again, Steve. It was an amazing conversation for an amazing conference coming up and all the volunteer work that you do. We really appreciate it here at Consumers. I definitely do. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson, and this is Money, I’m Home. Aaron Bowersox, thanks so much for your production skills today.

 

12:05 SO: Thanks, Aaron.

 

12:05 LJJ: Thank you, Aaron. And we’ll be back with you next week with another fascinating topic to help you from finance to fitness. Money, I’m Home with Consumers Credit Union.

 

[music]