Ascend Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in Middle Tennessee, announced today that Ascend President and CEO Caren Gabriel plans to retire on April 7 and Executive Vice President Matt Jernigan will assume CEO duties the next day. Working to find the best person for the position, Gabriel and the Ascend Board of Directors conducted a rigorous selection process to determine that Jernigan was the right fit for the position. Gabriel and Jernigan will be working closely together in the intervening months to ensure a smooth and seamless transition. Gabriel joined Ascend as staff attorney in 1985 and later transitioned to the role of general counsel and executive vice president. She became president and CEO of Ascend in January 2004 and since has helped to grow the Middle Tennessee organization from $960.3 million in assets, 12 branches and 117,000 members nearly 20 years ago to over $3.8 billion in assets, 27 branches and more than 255,000 members today. “It has been a great honor to serve this credit union, its members and employees,” said Gabriel. “I’m supremely confident the organization will continue to grow and thrive under Matt’s leadership. He was one of my first hires after being named CEO and we have worked closely together for some time. He is well-prepared to lead Ascend into the promising future that lies ahead.” Jernigan has been a key part of the Ascend executive leadership team since he was hired by Gabriel in 2005 as an internal auditor and became vice president of operations in 2009. He advanced to chief operations officer in 2014 and to executive vice president in 2017. In his role as executive vice president, he has demonstrated outstanding leadership by overseeing many core functions of the credit union, including internal audit, operations, lending, deposits, payments and information technology. “I would like to thank Caren for her direction in guiding this credit union to its current heights and being a career-long mentor for me,” said Jernigan. “Ascend has risen to become one of Tennessee’s top performing credit unions under her guidance. Our members and employees are grateful for her leadership, which has produced tremendous growth while never veering from our member focus. The entire Ascend organization looks forward to building on her many achievements.” During his time at Ascend, Jernigan has also overseen many successful credit union-wide projects, including the build-out of Ascend’s network of more than 55,000 ATMs and 100 Interactive Teller Machines, the opening of the teller center, and the implementation in 2022 of the credit union’s new digital banking platform. “We will truly miss Caren and owe her much gratitude for her years of service to Ascend,” said Chairman of the Ascend Board of Directors Pat Eagan. “We are excited to have Matt take the helm April 8th. His 17 years working alongside Caren and his performance as a credit union leader gives us great confidence that he is extremely qualified and ready to assume the position as Ascend’s new president and CEO.” Gabriel has also been instrumental in driving Ascend’s member return program, which shares with members the fruits of the credit union’s financial success in the form of bonus dividend payments, loan interest refunds and reward payments for loyal debit card use. Members have received a total of more than $104 million since Gabriel began the program 17 years ago. According to the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), Ascend is among only 1% of American credit unions – 51 out of nearly 5,000 institutions – that have a member return program. In addition to the credit union’s enormous growth during her tenure, Gabriel also oversaw the organization’s name change from AEDC Federal Credit Union in 2006, the construction of a new Tullahoma corporate headquarters office building in 2010 and an additional Murfreesboro corporate office in 2021, and securing name sponsor rights of Nashville’s 6,800 capacity downtown outdoor concert venue, Ascend Amphitheater, in 2015. Jernigan was born and raised in Coffee County and holds an accounting degree from Middle Tennessee State University. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and completed the CEO Connect Executive Learning program at Lipscomb University as part of the inaugural class in 2018.
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NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR), a leading enterprise technology provider, today announced that it has entered an agreement with United Heritage Credit Union (UHCU) to run the credit union’s ATM fleet through NCR’s ATM as a Service solution (ATMaaS). With ATM as a Service from NCR, our team will no longer have to focus as much time on managing ATM operations. Instead, they will be able to focus on our member experience and providing excellent solutions and service in branches and online,” said Samantha Hess, COO, UHCU. “Having NCR act as our ATM provider and expert will help streamline our operations, upgrade our ATM infrastructure and position us to offer interactive teller capabilities.” “We look forward to leveraging NCR’s ATM as a Service solution to bring a full suite of ATM capabilities from one trusted provider to UHCU,” said Don Layden, EVP, president, NCR Banking. “UHCU and its members will enjoy an enhanced experience built upon the full range of ATMaaS support, including cash management, maintenance and servicing, software and transaction processing.” Financial institutions continue to adopt the ATM as a Service model, valuing the simplification, efficiency and enhanced customer experience it can facilitate. Learn more about NCR ATM as a Service. Eltropy, the leading digital communications platform for community financial institutions (CFIs), today announced it was recently granted a patent for its new digital notary product — Video Notary. The year 2022 continued the trend of patents received by Eltropy (which acquired video banking leader POPi/o in May), with multiple patents granted, bringing the total number of Eltropy patents received to date to 11. "We’re very proud to receive this patent for our Video Notary technology, an area in which we have deep expertise. It’s yet another example of our commitment to innovation and excellence as the pioneer and leader in Video Banking," said Jed Taylor, Chief Product Officer at Eltropy. While branch traffic continues to decline across the industry, notary remains one of the key reasons people still visit their financial institution. Consequently, technology that simplifies and speeds up the process to get a document notarized is not only critical to today’s credit union and community bank, but it’s becoming the expectation as people increasingly prefer Video Banking to walking into a branch. “While other vendors may say they have video banking, it’s really just video chat,” Taylor said. “The key differentiator with Eltropy is we’re not just doing video chat, we’re enabling services that have historically been available only in physical branches. We replicate a branch on video including new accounts, loans, and high-dollar check deposits. With the essential nature of notary services added to the mix, Eltropy has become the unquestioned leader in Video Banking.” The new Video Notary patent is an important technology piece for Eltropy, who continues to build a complete, digital communications platform in helping its community bank and credit union customers to do more with less during the pending recession. Going forward, Eltropy plans to continue to devote considerable research and development (R&D) resources to further innovations like Video Notary. Such innovations will not only enhance the communications experience of credit unions and community banks, but will save valuable time, money and resources for individuals and families looking for anytime, anywhere access to digital financial services, personalized to their needs. "Existing home sales fell for the eleventh consecutive month in December, and to a level not seen since the Great Recession. Wrapping up the year, all regions experienced more than a 28 percent decline in year-over-year sales. Supply was constrained significantly last month, going from 3.3 months of inventory in November down to just 2.9 months of inventory in December. Lack of available homes in combination with declining but still relatively high mortgage rates continue to sideline potential buyers. While the median price is up on a year-over-year basis, the Case Shiller index has declined for four consecutive months through the latest reading in October. According to the National Association of Realtors, properties typically remained on the market 26 days in December, 2 days longer than in November. Last month was a difficult sales environment for other reasons too, including a harsh dose of cold weather that swept down the East Coast and across much of the Midwest, and the fact that two holidays fell squarely on prime sales days. If the labor market can remain buoyant, home sales should begin to trend modestly upward in early 2023." - NAFCU Chief Economist Curt Long Alaska USA Federal Credit Union is changing its name to Global Credit Union to better reflect its worldwide service to its loyal members. The credit union will operate under its new name starting April 3. The member-owned cooperative’s headquarters will remain in Anchorage and the current Board of Directors and executive management, including President and CEO Geoff Lundfelt, will remain in leadership of Global Credit Union. Alaska USA has grown throughout its 74 years of service, improving the financial well-being of more than 750,000 members and serving local communities throughout its five-state region. By changing its name, the credit union is demonstrating its ongoing commitment to growth and to its mission of enriching the lives of its members through world-class financial services. This is not the first time the organization has embraced a name change; as the membership changed, the name has changed with it. Global Credit Union, the fifth name in the organization’s history, also reflects that its existing membership is distributed worldwide; Alaska USA members live in all 50 states and in more than 20 foreign countries. Additionally, the new name also connects to a recent update to the credit union’s charter that allows anyone working in the U.S. Department of Defense – anywhere in the world – to join the credit union. Although the name change will take effect on April 3, services for members will not change. Members will continue to access account information and their normal products and services in the same way they always have; in branches, online and through a 24/7/365 contact center. All existing card products, checks and credentials for online account access will not be impacted and will continue to work after the name change. “As this name change is implemented, our members will continue to receive the products and professional service they have come to know and expect from us,” said Lundfelt. “Our members will also continue to see us in the community as we interact, engage, and invest to make our communities a better place to live, work and play. We are excited to welcome this new chapter and we look forward to reinforcing our commitment to our current members and embracing prospective members as we transition to the new name.” As a credit union that has always embraced innovation, the new name will also embody excitement for the future. With branches throughout the western United States and access to their money abroad, members know they have unwavering support from their credit union – no matter where they travel or live. The credit union’s purpose to provide quality products and services affordably, professionally and conveniently will remain the top priority throughout this transition and beyond. Members will start to see communications, updated materials, and additional operational information in the coming weeks as the name change is rolled out. Image: The new Global Credit Union logo that will be active with the launch of the new brand on April 3. Achieva Credit Union Helps Fight Food Insecurity and Wins CANstruction Contest Benefitting Food Bank1/20/2023 Achieva Credit Union, a not-for-profit financial institution, rose to the challenge when a local food bank asked organizations in the community to compete in a CANstruction contest. Achieva created a heart-shaped inspired design using nonperishable canned goods totaling nearly 300lbs of food donated.
“We chose to create a heart with the cans because this project symbolizes where our heart lies as an organization, helping those in need in the communities we serve,” says Gary Regoli, President and CEO of Achieva Credit Union. Achieva Credit Union proudly displayed the CANstruction design in the lobby at its headquarters in Dunedin, FL prior to the donation drive pick-up. The food has since been distributed to help feed those in need in the Tampa Bay Area. Serve Credit Union, a financial cooperative founded in the “people helping people” spirit, is celebrating its 92nd birthday this month by recapping its community impact over the past year. Throughout 2022, Serve provided $32.68 million in loans to members, underscoring the credit union’s dedication to its mission of serving those who serve the community. The top three loan categories included new and used auto and first mortgage purchase and refinances. Additional highlights from 2022 include:
As a financial cooperative, the credit union reinvests earnings back into organizations that are important to its member-owners. Serve's vision to impact the lives of our members and communities for generations to come was carried throughout 2022 through donations and sponsorships. Organizations receiving support included the Iowa Credit Union Foundation, Peer Support Foundation, Iowa Crisis Negotiators, and the Des Moines Police Burial Association to name a few. Collectively, Serve raised and sponsored more than $12,000 to these various organizations. Click here to see a full list of organizations Serve has supported. “As a member-owned financial institution, we are proud of the impact our credit union has had on the financial lives of our members and the communities where they live and work over the past 92 years,” said Jami Weems, CEO of Serve. “ Serve's vision to impact the lives of our members and communities for generations to come was carried throughout 2022 through donations, volunteering, and sponsorships.” Additionally, Serve continues to invest in financial literacy and supports efforts to help younger members strengthen their financial knowledge. The credit union sponsors seven schools in the community to access Banzai, a financial literacy platform. Within this sponsorship, students can access Banzai’s tools for free. Some of these tools include workbooks and online courses, and as a sponsor, Serve can make visits to the schools to teach students certain financial topics. Expanding on the success of the Blue Shoe Box program launched in 2021, the program has now grown to 105 subscribers aged 0-17 who receive a free, biannual box to help learn and engage with their finances. Once members graduate from the program, they will be connected with a financial coach in one of the branches to extend their financial training. Serve’s membership includes Des Moines public servants like USDA employees, teachers, police officers, first responders like firefighters, correctional officers and EMTs. Read more about Serve and its unique membership at https://www.servecu.org/. Glia, the leading provider of Digital Customer Service (DCS), today announced the successful launch of a Credit Union Service Organization or CUSO focused on member service solutions. Glia selected a diverse grouping of its Credit Union clients to invest and form part of an advisory committee. The client investments and establishing the CUSO, come on the heels of significant momentum in the space as Glia surpasses 250 credit union clients. Some of the credit unions that have invested in Glia include: Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union (BFSFCU), First Technology Federal Credit Union, Harvard University Employees Credit Union, SkyOne Federal Credit Union and Unitus Community Credit Union. First Technology Federal Credit Union, with $17.9B in assets under management, is leveraging Glia’s DCS platform to bring live and automated digital support to its members. Mike Upton, Chief Digital Officer for First Tech FCU, commented, “Glia is helping us closely align to the digital-first lifestyle of our members while driving new efficiencies for our credit union. The partnership has been highly successful and we were pleased to extend our commitment further by investing in Glia’s future.” Glia enables a seamless digital-first member experience across all channels—SMS, chat, voice and video—without breaking the digital connection. The company’s technology balances the use of AI for automating member interactions with critical human touch. With Glia, credit unions maintain continuity by meeting members online and keeping them there. Unitus Community Credit Union has been a Glia client since 2020, providing members with digital options and virtual branch experiences that have led to high member satisfaction rates. David Fehrer, Executive Vice President for Unitus, added, “We’ve been impressed with Glia’s innovative digital-first solutions and its deep understanding of the credit union industry. That has accelerated the successful delivery of on-screen solutions for our members. We believe strongly in Glia’s CU-focused approach and are happy to partner closer through our investment.” “As a Credit Union Service Organization, we firmly believe in the value of credit unions and are proud to strengthen our collaboration within the community to provide technology that enables smooth, personalized member support across the digital domain,” said Dan Michaeli, CEO and Co-Founder of Glia. “This investment is an added vote of confidence from our clients, and we look forward to deepening relationships with these credit unions as well as others down the line.” InTouch Credit Union (ITCU) is enhancing their services with a new digital communications platform to provide customers with easier and more efficient ways of interacting with the credit union. Members of ITCU are now able to chat, text and will soon have access to video banking. ITCU has multiple branches across more than 10 cities in Nevada, Michigan and Texas. This new technology will provide members with increased access to banking services. “Engaging with our members in a relevant way has been our biggest challenge in the past, a challenge that we are overcoming with increased secure high-tech communication that our members will love,” said Kent Lugrand, President and CEO, InTouch Credit Union. “We’re partnering with Eltropy to allow our customers effectively seamless conversations that shift securely from one platform to the next between calling, texting, and chatting online. The Texting platform has launched and is such a unique and helpful tool. Now we’re on the cusp of rolling out Video Banking in the near future. We look forward to creating an even more enjoyable and engaging financial experience for our members!” Following the traditional credit union model, every member is a shareholder of their institution. That means the money credit unions bring in goes back to the members in the form of benefits like lower loan rates and higher saving rates. These new communications options will also benefit members by allowing them to bank on their own terms. Today, Union Credit comes out of stealth mode with the first marketplace for credit unions to deliver perpetual credit approval and one-click loan activation to new member prospects. Now, credit unions can break into new markets digitally with firm offers of credit embedded into the front end of purchase and financing experiences. The fintech startup is launching with $5 million in Seed funding, led by CMFG Ventures, and supported by Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures (MSIV), Array and other strategic fintech influencers. The company will use this investment to focus on building out its digital lending marketplace, SDK, and a direct-to-consumer app where consumers can manage perpetual offers of credit from local lenders that want to serve them. Union Credit has partnered with CuneXus, a wholly-owned technology subsidiary of CUNA Mutual Group that is currently producing over $27 billion in loans annually. CuneXus co-founder Dave Buerger, is launching his new company with colleague Barry Kirby to leverage this partnership and offer an embedded digital storefront model outside the credit union’s digital walls and into the open market. Union Credit will be the exclusive partner of CuneXus to offer this marketplace and initially will focus on the nearly 250 credit unions already leveraging CuneXus. These credit unions serve communities throughout the United States and represent approximately 37 million members. Brian Kaas, president and managing director at CMFG Ventures, said “Ending the guesswork of lending and financing is an important step towards financial health. Union Credit can create real transparency via perpetual credit access. It’s a model that has the potential to completely change the way credit unions grow, allowing them to compete with fintechs and large financial institutions in their communities during the purchase experience. The company fits well into our portfolio and brings a bright perspective to the future of the credit union movement.” Union Credit provides credit unions with new, credit-worthy members from outside their ecosystem by aggregating consumer data, and matching it with credit union field of membership, product, decisioning and underwriting details. For the 250 credit unions already using the CuneXus platform, these lenders will have the ability to easily opt-in to Union Credit’s marketplace, via an existing integration with CuneXus. Once the match is made, the consumer is in charge of the relationship and their data. If they choose to move forward with an offer, it only takes one-click to engage. Buerger, CEO of Union Credit, said “Credit unions thrive on their long-lasting member relationships, but acquiring new relationships has always been a challenge. Today that ends. Union Credit advocates for credit unions on a national scale, putting them in front of consumers at their point of need. It combines the local, competitive, and advantageous offers that credit unions are known for and gives them the sophisticated platform they need to amplify existing digital services and reach new audiences.” Buerger continues, “We’re building an exceptional team and a tremendous support group of partners and investors. There’s great potential here to profoundly impact the industry and take it forward.” |
Author: Mike LawsonMarried to a most gorgeous and wonderful wife, raising 5 kiddos (including twins!), enjoy helping others tell their stories, and love surfing SoCal waves. Keep it simple. Archives
April 2024
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