The CU2.0 Podcast

Send us Fan Mail What does a credit union lobbyist do? On the show to answer that question is Ibby Dickson , manager of federal advocacy at the League of Credit Unions , a multi-state league representing credit unions in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Virginia and there’s a merger in the works with the League of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Can credit unions get their message across in today’s Washington DC? Spoiler alert but Dickson emphatically believes many on the Hill are indeed receptive to credit union messaging. A case in point is how the League communicates its messages around the housing affordability crisis, a topic Dickson explored in a recent CUInsight article. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail Casap was the best of show winner at Finovate fall 2025 and its business is this: building AI Agents for Disputes ‍and Fraud resolution and it now has 50+ clients that it won with attention grabbing claims: Resolve claims in minutes, not weeks. Earn lasting loyalty. Cut fraud losses. This is a universe undergoing immense change, mainly due to the rise of so-called first party fraud which has surged globally. This is in contradistinction to third party fraud and that of course is when a third party has hijacked another’s credit card or debit card and made fraudulent purchases. First party fraud is when the cardholder denies the legitimacy of a charge he or she in fact actually made. What? You go out on a date. It’s a bad date. With a bad meal that you put on your credit card and when you see that charge pop up on your statement you call the issuer and say, wasn’t me. And card issuers are struggling to contain and minimize this first party fraud. Which is where Casap enters. On the show are Shanthi Shanmugam, CEO of Casap, and Rob Keatts, EVP of Chartway Credit Union in Virginia, a $3.1 billion institution. The show opens with only Rob on the line and we take advantage of that to ask him to tell the whole truth about the pain point that prompted Chartway to bring Casap on board and how it was working with a startup - and understand Chartway was Casap’s second customer! Of course Shanthi joins a few minutes later and she’ll tell you what you need to know about containing credit card and debit card fraud - and how agentic AI, Casap’s forte, makes the process work more smoothly. Filene seconds that motion, as noted in this press release headline: Chartway Credit Union Saved an Estimated $875K in One Year, Testing a Fraud Dispute Automation Fintech. Shanthi by the way is a return guest. She stars in Episode 359 and Casap has taken huge strides in the year since. Its client count is now 50+ and she has enormous ambition for what she believes the AI agents Casap is building can accomplish. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail There are times when credit union discussions about AI and how it’s transforming their operations detour into a reprise of the classic Wendy’s commercial : Where’s the beef? That is: where are the measurable benefits arising from AI use? And then into my email box pops an email from Christian Klacko , CEO of Kintera AI , who says his tools can be integrated into a credit union’s backoffice operations in 10 days and that the results come quickly. What results? In a case study Kintera clicks off results attained by an anonymous $3.5 billion credit union: A 90% reduction in file review time - from 20 minutes to two Big savings result for credit unions: $250,000 in the first year at the anonymous credit union There are still more plusses ticked off by Klacko in the show. Skeptical? Also on the show is Kris VanBeek , now CEO at Massachusetts based Rockland Federal Credit Union, soon to be renamed Arise Financial as of August 1. Rockland has been using Kintera tools for some months and VanBeek sings the praises of these AI tools - and he also talks about the reactions of employees as they put AI into action. Understand it’s considered rude to ask a credit union exec if his institution is the anonymous one and of course I didn’t ask. For the record, Arise Financial (nee Rockland Federal Credit Union) is a $3.7 billion institution. Longtime listeners will recall that VanBeek is a past guest. He was in episode 172 in 2021 talking about Bank Dora , an innovative neo bank created by USAlliance, where VanBeek was CEO, and three other institutions. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail I will admit it, when I first heard about BNPL - buy now pay later - I snorted that layaway had died years ago. I was wrong. BNPL has become a huge marketplace. Federal Reserve data pegs it at around $160 billion in consumer credit products. And the scary bit for credit unions is that fintechs own over 90% of that market and they aren’t sharing with FIs. Enter Equipifi which has as its mission empowering credit unions and community banks to offer BNPL to their members and customers. Equipifi founder Bryce Deeney was on the show five years ago and again three years ago to discuss the market. That market keeps growing and more credit unions are recognizing that BNPL just may appeal to a cohort of their membership -- and it may also attract new members. Flashforward and on the show now is Lo Smith , a past podcast guest when she worked at a different company. Now she is VP, Head of Revenue at Equipifi and she is here to update us on the state of BNPL today. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail Corning Credit Union knew the answers it wanted were in the data on its Symitar core - the problem was getting the answers expeditiously so the information could be put to use when it was wanted. That wasn’t happening. Literally weeks could pass before the wanted information was in hand. Couldn’t it be faster? Corning Credit Union got in touch with startup Tursio . In this show Tursio co-founder and CEO Alekh Jindal tells about the solution his company crafted that lets natural language prompts get the information out of the core that employees need and it all happens quickly. Note: there’s no need to submit a ticket, no need to know code, no need to wait weeks. How does it work? Jindal explains. Along the way he also tells the story of the company’s birth and he reveals what happens in a founder’s mind that leads to a company’s creation. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 reduction. A core focus is lending, but Saris AI also helps with other areas of credit union operations that would benefit from automation. And that’s lots of places. Does that sound like a revolution? On the show are Danial Jameel , Saris CEO and a co-founder, and Chase Clelland , SVP of People and AI at Grow Financial FCU, a $3.8 billion institution headquartered in Florida. Note that Clelland talks at length not only about the benefits of this agentic AI but how to prep employees in working with it. And Grow’s policy is no staff reductions due to AI implementations. It’s a good story about how to improve employee acceptance of these new tools that indeed represent an unfolding workplace revolution. As for exactly what’s involved in the revolution - the technology - Jameel is the man to tell what this means for credit unions. Know this: Clelland is adamant that the credit unions that are embracing AI will soon be in a much better place than those that don’t. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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’s request complies with the institution's guidelines, and also checks to see if there are issues that disqualify this member from skipping a payment. If all’s a go, the rep takes the request to a manager, and the request then circulates up the ladder until it lands on the CEO’s desk for final approval. That’s for, say, a $200 loan skip. In scenario 2, an agentic AI bot talks with the member, swiftly computes the eligibility, and if it’s a go, the request is approved. Which scenario do you like? Know that in many credit unions scenario 1 prevails and don’t even attempt to calculate the cost of approving that skip a pay request because, often, it costs more than the amount skipped. Many institutions lose money every time they approve a skip a pay request. Of course enabling skip a pay is a genuine credit union action. This is helping the members who really need it. Very few banks offer skip a pay because of the costs and the hassle. But more credit unions now are offering and one reason why - in addition to the affordability issues confronting many households - is that Maine based fintech Constant AI has rolled out an agent that already is at work in dozens of credit unions including $8.5 billion Michigan State University Federal Credit Union. And institutions as small as $100 million in assets also deploy it. On the show is Constant AI CEO and founder Catherine York Powers , a native Mainer who, when Powers finally could, moved her company to her home state and that is why Constant AI is based there. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 union and, in today’s AI froth, a voice that’s rooted in credit union realities is refreshing. In her CUInsight piece, she lays out three steps for implementing and getting results from AI initiatives in credit unions. Her counsel is practical, realistic and, let’s be honest, too many credit unions think they are getting started in AI but many are at best dabbling and can point to scant actual results. Ortiz talks in detail in the show about the three steps. Take notes. You are going to want to heed her counsel. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 an early spotlight on AI and credit unions. He now has joined with Tansley Stearns, CEO of Orsa Credit Union, a $1.47 billion institution, to create a CUSO with a singular focus of helping credit unions adopt AI tools and put them to meaningful, good uses. The CUSO already is working with 10+ credit unions, says Drake, who expects the total to hit 20 by year-end. Sizes range from around $500 million in assets to $7 billion. A key is that the CUSO already has developed a range of AI tools that are available for members to use - and it also provides coaching on how best to put the tools to use. Here’s the reality: the advent of AI may turn into an extinction event for many credit unions. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Indeed AI has the potential to help credit unions of all sizes to match the efficiencies of even the biggest banks. It’s potentially a great equalizer. The key is getting credit unions up and running with AI and Drake’s team has accepted this mission. In the show he tells in some detail what credit unions can expect - and how to prosper with AI in hand. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 state of student loans and the big changes that are transforming the market. But Patterson came on the show to talk up the new Employer Choice program that will enable credit unions to make small dollar loans to employees of SEGs and to do so with little risk. What kind of voodoo is this? Patterson explains and it’s definitely not voodoo.The key is that the lending is tied into the employee’s payroll system. Yes, there is no credit check but “instead [there are] employment-based underwriting factors, including job tenure, income stability, and employer characteristics.” Patterson elaborates on this in the show. The first credit union up with Employer Choice is Affinity Plus Credit Union in Minnesota which, Patterson indicated,has started by offering the program to its own employees. Other credit unions, says Patterson, want to start by offering the program to SEGs who will set this up as an employee benefit. So, says Patterson, this has the potential to become a new member acquisition tool. Remember this: estimates are that half of American families do not have $1000 on hand for emergencies. A friction-free emergency loan program just might be the life raft many families need and, says Patterson, credit unions can play a big part in helping out those families in need - and doing so at small risk and also low interest rates. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 communication tool of choice. Whether it’s a 7 second video on Facebook or a 3 hour video on Netflix, video genuinely is how the world tells and communicates its stories and, frankly, credit unions had been lagging at this. An upshot is that, in the main, credit union marketing has been blah. Storyfi’s purpose is to reverse that reality. To really get credit union stories told well. Understand: every credit union has a story. So does every CUSO. Most of the stories revolve around solving problems and, often, working through adversities. So these are good, compelling, human stories. And in video they shine. Since its 2023 founding, Storyfi has worked with around 140 organizations to tell their stories. On the show, Olexa tells Storyfi’s origin story, the kinds of videos it creates for customers, and why all this really matters in thinking of the credit union future. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 podcast guest . Safe Harbor has provided the tools credit unions to offer cannabis banking services since it opened in 2015. According to Safe Harbor, the current bill would: Bar federal banking regulators from prohibiting or discouraging banks from serving state-legal cannabis businesses Bar regulators from terminating or limiting a bank's deposit insurance because it serves a cannabis client Create a safe harbor from criminal prosecution, liability, and asset forfeiture for banks and their officers/employees serving legitimate state-sanctioned cannabis businesses, while preserving banks' right to decline that business Extend protection to ancillary businesses serving cannabis operators, including lawyers, landlords, and vendors By the way, the American Banking Association has come out in support of the act. In a letter to Senate leaders ABA said the bill would “provide important legal and regulatory clarity” and “address a significant challenge facing American businesses, our communities, and the banks that serve them.” On the show Mendez elaborates on why he believes the bill has a good chance of becoming law. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 Financial Crimes Defender tool and Ziegler and SELCO are early adopters and she tells why. Much of the show is devoted to discussing trends in financial institution fraud - and the criminals just keep getting slicker and more sophisticated. Credit unions can - and are - successfully fighting back but a key realization is accepting that the fraud tactics keep changing. Nowadays, for instance, a huge problem, said Perez, is that criminal organizations are seeking to implant crooked employees in financial institutions and fintechs. Perez and Ziegler discuss their organizations’ defenses against this. Another mushrooming trend: account takeovers are epidemic. The bottomline reality: fraud is an immense problem for all credit unions - and what you don’t know can indeed hurt you. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 are financial wellness initiatives a key part of a credit union’s doing good in its communities, they also are a competitive edge against both mega banks and community banks. As for Miller’s past work experience, he logged 4+ years at regional bank TCF as EVP of retail banking, 2 years at Santander, 4 years at BMO, and 6 years at Bank of America. A stint at a fintech rounded out his background. In the show he explains why he jumped into a credit union and why hiring bankers is good business for a credit union. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 member, Nenuca is convinced there are important roles for credit unions to play in our lives in the future - and part of getting there is asking and exploring tough questions such as what happens to our people as agentic AI takes over more and more tasks? What happens indeed? Be prepared to mull on very big ideas as you listen. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 straightforward for a CU*South customer to integrate into Payfinia’s tools. Now get this: most CU*South credit unions are smaller institutions. Lots are under $350 million in assets. What might have seen a dream - available only to the likes of Chase and Navy Fed - now is available to small institutions. Does it matter? Will members use this instant payments technology? Instant payments are a reality - that’s a fact in today’s immediacy economy. Credit unions need to climb aboard this train. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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. 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail 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 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 a nd the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto