PODCAST · business
The CU2.0 Podcast
by Robert McGarvey
This podcast explores contemporary, critical thinking and issues impacting the nation's credit unions. What do they need to be doing to not just survive but prosper?
Episodes
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 427 Lauren Culp Tells What the National Credit Union Foundation Does
Send us Fan Mail Exactly what does the National Credit Union Foundation do? I found myself pondering that question - and decided the best answer would be to get Lauren Culp executive director of the Foundation on the show. On the Foundation website, it says of itself: The National Credit Union...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 426 Vericast Tells How to Supercharge Acquisition of New Account Holders
Send us Fan Mail Think it’s hard to convince new members to open an account at your credit union? Think again. Do what the big FIs - Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank - routinely do: offer cash incentives for joining the institution. How much? $400 to $500 are numbers often seen and sometimes the…
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CU 2.0 Pocast Episode 425 CuCollaborate's Ben Hering on Birthing New Credit Unions
Send us Fan Mail Year in, year out maybe 150 credit unions go out of business, mainly as a result of mergers, but a few voluntarily close and NCUA sometimes shuts a few doors. Year in, year out new credit unions spring to life. Two or three every year. Do the math,. It’s grim. It’s not a pleasant...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 424 Peter Duffy On Credit Union Merger Trends: Buckle Up!
Send us Fan Mail In the first half of 2026 credit union mergers were down, admits Peter Duffy, a mergers expert now with Strategic Resource Management - but don’t expect that to be a permanent downturn. Mergers will pick up and there will continue to be big credits merging with big credit unions....
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 423 Meet Goodbuy the Innovative CUSO That Links Small Businesses to CU Members
Send us Fan Mail We need more business members! That could count as a credit union chant of the last decade but a reality is that many credit unions have simply not achieved their goals in terms of enrolling more business members. Enter Goodbuy, which describes itself as “the game changing…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 422 Overdrawn: The Continuing Fallout From Death of IBEW Local Union 712 Federal Credit Union
Send us Fan Mail You know the sad story of IBEW Local Union 712 Federal Credit Union in Beaver PA in 2020. In an institution with assets of $7.7 million the CE) managed to run up $2,1 million in credit card debt. And in May 2020 NCUA conserved the credit union. RIP. Except now Andy Janning, a...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 421 Ibby Dickson on Lobbying Today's Congress
Send us Fan Mail What does a credit union lobbyist do? On the show to answer that question is Ibby Dickson, manager of federal advocacy at the League of Credit Unions, a multi-state league representing credit unions in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Virginia and there’s a merger in the works with the...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 420 Casap's AI Agents Tame Fraud at Chartway Credit Union
Send us Fan Mail Casap was the best of show winner at Finovate fall 2025 and its business is this: building AI Agents for Disputes and Fraud resolution and it now has 50+ clients that it won with attention grabbing claims: Resolve claims in minutes, not weeks. Earn lasting loyalty. Cut fraud...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 419 AI Working Miracles in Arise Financial's Backoffice Operations
Send us Fan Mail There are times when credit union discussions about AI and how it’s transforming their operations detour into a reprise of the classic Wendy’s commercial: Where’s the beef? That is: where are the measurable benefits arising from AI use? And then into my email box pops an email…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 418 Equipifi's Lo Smith on Why BNPL Just Keeps Growing
Send us Fan Mail I will admit it, when I first heard about BNPL - buy now pay later - I snorted that layaway had died years ago. I was wrong. BNPL has become a huge marketplace. Federal Reserve data pegs it at around $160 billion in consumer credit products. And the scary bit for credit unions is...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Tursio Tells How to Get the Info You Need Out of Your Core - Fast and Easy
Send us Fan Mail Corning Credit Union knew the answers it wanted were in the data on its Symitar core - the problem was getting the answers expeditiously so the information could be put to use when it was wanted. That wasn’t happening. Literally weeks could pass before the wanted information was…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 417 Saris AI and Grow Financial FCU Tell Why You Need to Know About Agentic AI
Send us Fan Mail Agentic AI is coming to credit unions and Saris AI is helping lead the charge. What is Agentic AI? Agentic AI acts as an agent that autonomously executes multi-step workflows. That is, Agentic AI does. It doesn’t tell you what to do. It does it for you. Saris AI says it can...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 416 Constant AI's Catherine York Powers on Why You Need to Offer Skip a Pay
Send us Fan Mail Call this a case of two scenarios. Here’s the background: a member calls and requests to skip a payment on a loan balance. The loan term will simply extend by a month, interest continues to be collected, and there’s a fee - usually between $15 and $60 - for setting up the skipped...
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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
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…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Kirk Drake's New CUSO Bringing AI to Credit Unions
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 414 Student Choice CUSO Introduces Employer Choice Small Dollar Loans for Employees
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…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 413 Making Video Magic with Storyfi, the New CUSO of the Year
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Newsflash: Is Now the Time for the Safe Banking Act to Become Law
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 412 Jack Henry and SELCO on Fraud Trends You Need to Know Today
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 411 Travis Credit Union CEO Kevin Miller on Why Bankers Make Good CU CEOs
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 410 The Credit Union of the Future Meets AI - BoxD CEO Nenuca Syquia Explains
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 409 Instant Payments Have Come to Smaller Credit Unions
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 408 Raisin's Alastair Wood Brings High Yield Savings Accounts to Credit Unions
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…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode Joshua Evans on AI and Credit Unions: Are You Losing Your Human Touch?
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…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 406 Summit CU's James Grenon on Careful vs Courage
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...
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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
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 405 Cary Strange on PayOnward's Plan to Revolutionize Payments
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…
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CU 2.0 Podcast John Crews Nominated to Head the NCUA Board: The Story Inside the Beltway
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 404 Mark Brantley the CUEvangelist Spreading the Good Word
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 403 ELGA Credit Union and Vertice AI Explain How to Make Smarter, Targeted Loan Offers
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…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 402 Amanda Wick on Stablecoin and the New World Financial Order
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 401 One Washington Financial and ALM Company Delfi
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 400 Is Remynt the New, Kinder - and Effective! - Debt Collection Tool
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...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 399 First Source CU and Appli On Calculators That Are Magic and Boost Loan Originations
Send us Fan Mail It’s time to talk about something really, truly exciting in credit union land. How about online/mobile calculators? Calculators! Yes, I hear those derive laughs but listen up: on this show you will hear from Tim Pranger at Appli, who has developed calculators that users genuinely...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode Episode 398 Jack Henry's Lee Wetherington on Gen Z, AI and More
Send us Fan Mail What do you know about Gen Z? That just may be the critical question confronting credit unions today and that’s because, age 13 to 29, Gen Z is increasingly the focus of fintechs, neo banks and non banks who all want to grab these consumers. How can credit unions win in this...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 397 Union Credit's Dave Buerger on Consumer Confidence - and How to Strengthen It
Send us Fan Mail The CUInsight headline caught my eye: “Why credit unions must step up as financial stabilizers to rebuild consumer confidence.” The piece was authored by Dave Buerger, CEO of Union Credit and, before that, he was CEO of CuneXus, where he was a co-founder. At Union Credit the...
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CU 2.0 Podcast InTouch Credit Union Adopts Eltropy's Agentic AI - CEO Kent Lugrand Tells Why
Send us Fan Mail Agentic AI. Google’s Gemini explains what this means: “Agentic AI represents a shift from AI that simply 'talks' to AI that 'does.' While previous iterations of AI were primarily reactive—answering questions or generating text when prompted—Agentic AI systems are proactive. They...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 396 First Entertainment CU CEO Stephen Owen on the Birth of CineFi
Send us Fan Mail And First Entertainment Credit Union Begat CineFi. Say what? First Entertainment is the big show business credit union. Based in Hollywood, it has assets of around $2.1 billion and serves around 90,000 members, many of them who work in Hollywood, doing everything from acting to…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 395 Curql and Stablecore On Why Now Is the Time for CUs to Embrace Digital Assets
Send us Fan Mail In mid February, Curql, the collective of 160+ credit unions, announced its first blockchain investment into Stablecore, a company that provides digital asset infrastructure for credit unions. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars now are flowing into stablecoin, a digital...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 394 CORA Loyalty's Beth McCoy on What Loyalty Means in 2026
Send us Fan Mail Are you still relying on product based rewards for members? Meet the new tool on the block: relationship building. A trigger is that interchange rates are under attack and, for many financial institutions, it’s been interchange that funded the rewards programs. So what’s the new...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 393 DeepTarget's Preetha Pulusani on Putting CU Member Data to Work
Send us Fan Mail Fact: credit unions have lots of data about their members. Everything from home address to their liquidity. Fact: credit unions, most of them, are woefully inept at mining this data to better serve those members and also to boost member retention and up cashflow into the credit...
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CU2.0 Podcast Prizeout's David Metz and United Financial's Sarah Vasey on Credit Card Rewards That Work
Send us Fan Mail Just when I thought credit card rewards initiatives were on the chopping block, here comes David Metz and Priizeout with an innovative twist on credit card rewards and it’s one that already is winning credit union applause. Proof is that also on the show is Sarah Vasey, Chief...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 392 Lamont Black on the Credit Union of the Future - with AI and Stablecoins
Send us Fan Mail Do credit unions have a future? And if so what? Meet Lamont Black, a Filene Fellow - Credit Union of the Future. Spoiler alert: Black is optimistic about the future of credit unions. A finance professor at DePaul University, Black also is a busy writer, speaker, consultant who...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 391 White Clay's Mac Thompson on Human Centered Digital Strategies for Credit Unions
Send us Fan Mail Only about one third of your members feel understood by you - that’s the harsh fact that emerges from a member experience survey conducted by the Harris Poll and sponsored by White Clay, a fintech that says it helps banks and credit unions enhance customer relationships and...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 390 Glia's Andrea Argueta on AI and Your Credit Union
Send us Fan Mail Today Andrea Argueta is director of financial institution advisory at Glia, a company that focuses on providing credit unions and banks digital customer service tools and nowadays that means AI. So this show’s focus is on the practical suite of tools Glia has working in some 400...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 389 Alloy's Sara Seguin on the State of Fraud in 2026
Send us Fan Mail Fraud is up, a lot, at credit unions, according to the Alloy 2026 State of Fraud Report, says Sara Seguin, a principal adviser at Alloy. Sara is a past CU 2.0 Podcast guest - link to that show is in the show notes. She’s on the show now to report that credit unions say they have...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 388 One Nevada's Steve O'Donnell Inside the Mind of a CEO
Send us Fan Mail What a ride Steve O’Donnell has had at One Nevada Credit Union, a $1.5 billion institution where he started as a teller some 22 years ago and in August 2025 he was promoted to CEO. This podcast is about his journey getting into the top job - and also what he sees as some of the...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 387 Safe Harbor's Terry Mendez on Cannabis Banking Now
Send us Fan Mail Safe Harbor, the Golden CO based cannabis banking pioneer, is alive and growing and that’s the message of today’s guest Terry Mendez, the recently installed CEO. Mendez took over the seat that had been occupied by Sundie Seefried, onetime ceo of Partner Colorado Credit Union who...
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 386 Sogolytics' Melissa Krut on the Generation Barrier Between Credit Unions and Younger Potential Members
Send us Fan Mail The Credit Union Generation Barrier. On the show today is Melissa Krut, VP of Success at Sogolytics, a Herndon Virginia based firm that focuses on data driven analytics that answer questions such as how satisfied are a credit union’s employees, how satisfied are members, and…
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CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 385 Inside the Mind of Ascend CU's CIO Rik Reitmaier
Send us Fan Mail Rik Reitmaier is CIO at Tennessee based Ascend Federal Credit Union, with $4.4 billion in assets and 245,000. That puts Ascend in the nation’s top 100 credit unions. And Reitmaier is on the show to talk about the wide range of issues, worries and concerns that are on his mind. AI...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
This podcast explores contemporary, critical thinking and issues impacting the nation's credit unions. What do they need to be doing to not just survive but prosper?
HOSTED BY
Robert McGarvey
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The CU2.0 Podcast have?
The CU2.0 Podcast currently has 531 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The CU2.0 Podcast about?
This podcast explores contemporary, critical thinking and issues impacting the nation's credit unions. What do they need to be doing to not just survive but prosper?
How often does The CU2.0 Podcast release new episodes?
The CU2.0 Podcast releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 531 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to The CU2.0 Podcast?
You can listen to The CU2.0 Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The CU2.0 Podcast?
The CU2.0 Podcast is created and hosted by Robert McGarvey.
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