The CU2.0 Podcast

Episodes

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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 415 O2 Consulting Group's Bonnie Ortiz on Really Putting AI to Work in Your Credit Union 29.07.2026 48m

  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 re...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Kirk Drake's New CUSO Bringing AI to Credit Unions 27.07.2026 55m

  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 jo...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 414 Student Choice CUSO Introduces Employer Choice Small Dollar Loans for Employees 22.07.2026 46m

  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 transf...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 413 Making Video Magic with Storyfi, the New CUSO of the Year 15.07.2026 44m

  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 Faceboo...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Newsflash: Is Now the Time for the Safe Banking Act to Become Law 13.07.2026 16m

  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 cred...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 412 Jack Henry and SELCO on Fraud Trends You Need to Know Today 08.07.2026 50m

  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...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 411 Travis Credit Union CEO Kevin Miller on Why Bankers Make Good CU CEOs 01.07.2026 46m

  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 cr...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 410 The Credit Union of the Future Meets AI - BoxD CEO Nenuca Syquia Explains 24.06.2026 52m

  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...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 409 Instant Payments Have Come to Smaller Credit Unions 17.06.2026 45m

  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 Payfini...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 408 Raisin's Alastair Wood Brings High Yield Savings Accounts to Credit Unions 10.06.2026 39m

  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 ...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode Joshua Evans on AI and Credit Unions: Are You Losing Your Human Touch? 03.06.2026 41m

  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 th...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 406 Summit CU's James Grenon on Careful vs Courage 27.05.2026 33m

  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 s...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 407 Hanscom FCU CEO Peter Rice on His New Book About Walking the Camino and Leadership 27.05.2026 1h 6m

  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...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 405 Cary Strange on PayOnward's Plan to Revolutionize Payments 20.05.2026 42m

  Send us Fan Mail Can 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 c...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast John Crews Nominated to Head the NCUA Board: The Story Inside the Beltway 14.05.2026 45m

  Send us Fan Mail The 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 ...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 404 Mark Brantley the CUEvangelist Spreading the Good Word 13.05.2026 30m

  Send us Fan Mail How 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 th...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 403 ELGA Credit Union and Vertice AI Explain How to Make Smarter, Targeted Loan Offers 06.05.2026 33m

  Send us Fan Mail Wouldn’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...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 402 Amanda Wick on Stablecoin and the New World Financial Order 29.04.2026 47m

  Send us Fan Mail Amanda 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 th...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 401 One Washington Financial and ALM Company Delfi 22.04.2026 43m

  Send us Fan Mail Asset 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 a...
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  CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 400 Is Remynt the New, Kinder - and Effective! - Debt Collection Tool 15.04.2026 51m

  Send us Fan Mail Do you want to talk about bad debts and collections and…what’s that, you’d rather discuss athlete’s foot and gyms? Listen up: on the show today is Gwyneth Borden, founder and CEO of Remynt, a debt collection CUSO - funded by One Washington Financial, the investment arm of Washington State Employees Credit Union and a recent guest on the show along with Starlight, an innovative fintech that also won funding from One Washington Financial. So, yes, Remynt is doing coll...