Headed South for Two Great Events!

A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going down to Orlando, Florida for the 2024 NACUSO Network Conference. If you’re not familiar with the event, it brings credit union leaders together with several CUSOs and other industry innovators and entrepreneurs for a week of collaboration. This year’s theme was “Advancing the Future of Credit Unions” and NACUSO had an impressive lineup of speakers, including Michigan favorite, former Lions star Barry Sanders.

Speaking of Michigan, we were represented very well! I was ecstatic to be joined by several of my state colleagues, including Community Financial Credit Union President/CEO Tansley Stearns, who was part of a panel on reimagining the branch, and 4Front Credit Union Chief Lending Officer Daniel Baker, who spoke about the future of lending. I also enjoyed connecting with Heather Luciani of Honor Credit Union!

In many ways, the event was a year of firsts, primarily for Ronaldo Hardy. Ronaldo was brought on as CEO of NACUSO last June, meaning this was his first year hosting the event. No surprise at all, but he did a fantastic job!

Last November, when I had a chance to sit down with Ronaldo on Credit Unions, Coffee & Conversations and get to know him a little bit, I admired his passion and positive attitude toward the work our movement does. It was no surprise to see him thrive as a host. I had a great time and learned a lot.

Following NACUSO, after a lap back up to Michigan to welcome attendees at our Spring Leadership Conference in Mt. Pleasant, I flew back south to Clearwater to attend America’s Credit Union’s National Credit Union Roundtable. This event is focused on large credit unions and Michigan led the way with the most attendees at 12 CEOs! I love how Michigan flexes its muscle when it comes to collaboration!

I really enjoyed the event and getting to know two of our newest CEOs: Julie Leonard of Lake Michigan Credit Union and Ben Denay of Wildfire Credit Union. The discussion on advocacy was very interesting. We brainstormed on some of our tough issues, such as combating this annoying “junk fee” rhetoric, as well as spending a lot of time learning more about artificial intelligence and how credit unions are incorporating this technology.

All in all, a pretty busy month. But, when you love what you do, it hardly feels like work.  Have a great week everyone!

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