African American Credit Union Coalition recently named its 2021 Hall of Fame Honorees, an all-star group that included:

• Anthony Bailey, vice president of Pepco Federal Credit Union;
• Jim Blaine, retired president and CEO of State Employees' Credit Union of North Carolina;
• Gerald Brooks, board chairman of St. Louis Community Credit Union;
• John Pembroke, CEO of CUES; and
• Lynette Smith, president and CEO of TruEnergy Federal Credit Union, a NAFCU-member credit union.

We invited Lynette on the show to share her thoughts on being named to this esteemed honor, as well as some of her thoughts on the current state credit union industry, her upcoming retirement, and much, much more.

Lynette has been in the credit union industry for 31 years and has served for the past twelve years as the President/CEO of TruEnergy FCU (formally Washington Gas Light FCU).  She also serves on the Board of the AACUC and on Board of the Metropolitan Area Credit Union Management.  Smith received from NAFCU, the CEO of the Year Award for credit union’s under $150 million in assets. 

Check it out and let us know your thoughts. And congratulations, Lynette!

Enjoy the clip above and be sure to watch the entire interview below.

April 1, 2021, marks the day that Xceed Financial Credit Union officially merged Kinecta Federal Credit Union to become one credit union, retaining the name Kinecta.

To get a behind-the-scenes look at why this merger took place and what it means to both credit unions' membership and staff, we invited Xceed Financial President/CEO Teresa Freeborn and Kinecta President/CEO Keith Sultemeier. What we received from these two industry icons was an MBA in planning, strategy, and execution to make this monumental effort a true success.

Check it out and let us know your thoughts. And watch the entire interview with Teresa and Keith below for all the details.

Enjoy the clip above and watch the entire episode below.

Wescom Resources Group President Dave Cerwinski and Ongoing Operations President/CEO Kirk Drake joined us on the show to share the news about the two CUSOs partnering to offer integrated solutions to credit unions. They also look to jointly serve credit unions’ technology needs, as well reduce the number of vendors credit unions need to work with to coordinate strategic planning and provide faster implementation times.

Both Dave and Kirk, who have already worked together for many years, look to redefine what it means to be a technology partner in the service of credit unions. They share with us what the redefining looks like for credit unions.

Check it out and let us know your thoughts. And watch the entire interview with Dave and Kirk below for all the details.

CU Members Mortgage's 2021 Educational Series presses on with CUES VP of Membership Jimese Harkley discussing "Owning Your Personal Development."

In this free webinar, which takes place Thursday, April 8, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. (PST)/1:00 p.m. (CST), Jimese provides attendees with a deeper understanding of the leadership and networking resources you'll need to be an effective leader from any position -- and it all starts with an individual development plan.

Some key takeaways Jimese will provide include:

• Find opportunities to expand development of your interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence and the ability to engage and influence others in your field. 
• Start conversations with your colleagues, managers and trainers to develop the correct skills.
• Motivate yourself and others to develop a plan for success.

Check it out and let us know your thoughts. And don't forget to register.

Enjoy the video clip above and watch the entire interview below.

Synthetic ID fraud fighter SentiLink has expanded its services to include ID Theft Scores as a complement to its Synthetic Scores,  which are already used by many of the top financial institutions in the U.S.

According to SentiLink Co-founder and CEO Naftali Harris, SentiLink’s ID Theft Scores offer a new way to target stolen identities used to open financial accounts. They are grounded in a deep understanding of identity theft and the dynamic behaviors and tactics that fraudsters exploit when using stolen identities.

For example, Naftali says this ID theft model targets “Same Name Fraud,” where fraudsters steal identities of common names and use them to apply for credit in a way that eludes legacy ID theft models. SentiLink’s ID Theft Scores also consider ported and fraudulent phone numbers leveraged to trick multi-factor authentication technology, two other methods of attack being exploited by fraudsters.

Credit unions using SentiLink’s ID Theft Scores are protected against common tactics used by fraudsters using stolen identities, and, more importantly, they are protected against emerging fraud vectors that traditional identity solutions are slow to detect. All this translates into lower charge-offs from fraud, and an ability to approve more people faster with real-time authentication of identities.

Enjoy the conversation and let us know your thoughts. And watch the entire episode with Naftali below for all the details.