I started in credit unions and moved into operations by fixing things.
My first credit union job was at Family Savings Credit Union in Alabama, where I worked across lending, marketing, business development, and strategy. From there I spent two years as a consultant with the League of Southeastern Credit Unions, working with CEOs and boards at credit unions up to $300M on strategy, compliance, and growth. I saw a lot of credit unions from the inside during those years, and I learned that they all have great people, but more ideas than time.
In 2024 I joined Illinois State Credit Union in Bloomington-Normal as Vice President of Operations. It is a $250M credit union with five branches and about 18,000 members. I am responsible for branch operations, consumer lending, the contact center, business intelligence, and our core conversion to Corelation KeyStone. I also support budgeting, ALM, and compliance.
Why I consult
Because I enjoy the work, and because a lot of credit unions could use another operator at the table for a few weeks without needing to hire one. When I was consulting for the league, the projects I enjoyed most were the ones where something was actually built or changed by the end. That is what this practice is for.
How I think about the work
I am not afraid to ask "why?" and curious enough to ask "what if?" I want to understand why something runs the way it does before I suggest changing it, and some things run a certain way for a good reason. Once we agree on the real problem, I would rather try a small version of the fix this month than plan a perfect one for next year. The hardest part of most projects is starting, and I am good at starting.
Most of what I know about AI I learned by building tools for our staff: a loan performance assistant, an intake system, a data warehouse staff can ask questions of, a peer benchmarking site. I am an operator who has put AI to work inside a credit union and can show you what that looks like.
Outside of this
I write about leadership, operations, and credit unions on the Writing page. I speak at credit union events when asked. I read a lot about how people are motivated, and I run my own team on a leadership system called CORE that came from a culmination of what I read, learn, and experience.