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Exactly what is Room (39)a?

There’s one at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center but today we are talking about the Room (39)a at CFCU, Community Financial Credit Union in Michigan, where past CU 2.0 Podcast guest Tansley Stearns serves as CEO and she has launched this Room (39)a as a CUSO that will offer subscriptions to its research.

As for what it does, CFCU’s Room (39)a describes itself this way: “a place where possibility and the unexpected collide. We blend the precision of research with human imagination to unlock new ideas, products, strategies and opportunities for companies and brands.”

Could this be exactly what credit unions need today as they battle with mammoth money center banks and fintechs with massive war chests.

On the show is Blake Woods, a CFCU SVP who also serves as chief ideator at Room (39)a.

The episode explores the Room (39)a approach to research, how it decides what topics to pursue, and why it believes the credit union industry very much needs the kinds of research it is doing.

Don’t think this is a propeller head show. Quite the contrary. We dive deeply into gambling, for instance, and also into questions about credit union sports sponsorship deals.

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Three years ago Tropical Financial Credit Union, a $1 billion south Florida institution, signed on as a sponsor of the Florida Panthers and magic happened because the Panthers - in the National Hockey League - won the Stanley Cup in 2024 and won again in 2025. That’s the equivalent of winning the World Series in baseball or the Super Bowl in football and, definitely, the Panthers now are the darlings of south Florida because everybody loves a winner.

On the show is Marylen Yiris, vice president of marketing at Tropical Financial and she tells how the credit union partnered with the Panthers and the benefits she believes the credit union has gotten from the arrangement. Note: new member activations are one metric she uses in assessing the value of the relationship.

Understand: Tropical Financial is enthusiastic about sports sponsorship. It now has inked a sponsorship with Fort Lauderdale United FC, a women's soccer team that competes in a new league.

And Yiris indicates that Tropical Financial is open to exploring still more sponsorship deals with sports teams.

Earlier this year the CU 2.0 Podcast hosted Christine Blake, CEO of Cardinal Credit Union in Ohio which has a sponsorship deal with the Cleveland Browns in the NFL.

It’s hard to get noticed in today’s cluttered mediascape - and the credit unions that have sponsorships say they work in elevating brand awareness.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Back on the show today after a hiatus is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union and now a partner in Parc Street Partners where he focuses on credit union executive retirement plans.

Kordeleski has been on the show many times but he always is welcomed back because he has deep insight into what it’s like to be a credit union CEO and also into how to compensate those CEOs appropriately. Here’s a link to the Kordeleski Archives.

What brings Kordeleski back to the show is that much is changing in the retirement planning for credit union CEOs and senior staff. Changing macro economic conditions have triggered significant changes in the retirement plans. Breathe easily. There remain good, stable plans. Kordeleski tells about them here.

Know that appropriate compensation for senior executives is a must at credit unions that want to succeed. And a good retirement plan is a critical part of that package.

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Kordeleski brings us up to date.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Tansley Stearns had been working in a credit union for maybe five years when a big idea grabbed her: she decided she wanted to be a CEO of a credit union.

For a young woman who had grown up on a farm in southern Michigan that was a very big idea.

Three years ago she made it happen, when she was named CEO at Community Financial Credit Union, a Plymouth MI headquartered institution.

How is she liking the job? Is sitting in the CEO seat what it’s cracked up to be?

‘In this show Stearns faces questions from two hosts, Robert McGarvey and also CU 2.0 CEO Kirk Drake.

You’ll hear what she thinks credit unions will look like a quarter century from now, what she believes the impacts of AI will be on the industry, and also what credit unions need to do more of to stay competitive.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Whew, credit unions dodged the threat of loss of their tax exemption - but don’t think all is smooth sailing for credit unions in today’s turbulent Washington DC. Lots is happening that may impact credit unions, large and small.

On the show is repeat guest Elizabeth Eurgubian, a lobbyist - with the Defence Credit Union Council among her clients - who also has served as NCUA Director of the Office of External Affairs and Communications and Policy Advisor to Chairman Harper. Before that she was deputy chief advocacy officer at CUNA and before that she was a vice president and a lobbyist for ICBA.

Her specialty is regulatory matters and that means NCUA, but also CFPB and other agencies.

In this episode she talks about what’s up with NCUA’s one person board, the shrinking of CFPB, the GENIUS Act and the opportunity presented by stablecoins, and NCUA’s Central Liquidity Enhancements Act and why this matters to smaller credit unions in particular, and also NCUA’s recurring paperwork review and how it’s an opportunity for credit unions to seek changes at the agency.

See: there’s a lot happening inside the Beltway.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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You might know it as the dismal science, but a conversation with Bill Handel, Chief Economist of Raddon, a Fiserv company, is anything but dismal. It in fact is an enlightening romp through the complexities and confusions of today’s global economy.

In the show Handel makes a prediction about the future of interest rates - and, no, don’t expect an imminent return of 4% 30 year fixed rate mortgages.

He also talks about how young adults are adjusting their financial habits to navigate today’s economy.

Importantly, too, Handel explains what is going on in the White House’s attempt to reset the global economy - and he indicates that the present economy is something of an artifact of the aftermath of World War II so there are reasons to think a reset is in order.

But how is a credit union CEO supposed to navigate in a global economy that is filled with uncertainties? Handel’s advice is to create plans that feature built in flexibility - because, really, you don’t know where interest rates will be a year from now. Staying flexible will be key to succeeding, he says.

Handel also says that the operating margins of credit unions have to improve. Period. He tells why in the show.

Dismal science? Not in this show. Here, economics becomes an exciting tool for navigating what’s coming at us.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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I am not going to explain to you in any detail what TrustGrid does and that is because in the show Joe Gleinsner, a co-founder of the Austin TX company, does a much better job of explaining than I could.

But here’s the fact: TrustGrid’s tools - which enable secure connections of fintech apps with banking systems - are on the job at a couple thousand US credit unions, says Gleinser.

Why haven’t you heard of it? That’s because TrustGrid does not sell to credit unions, it sells to fintechs and it’s the fintechs that pay for the service.

TrustGrid says it delivers fast, reliable fintech networks at scale - and that is why it is a leading provider in a space that is crucial to the safe, secure, reliable flow of financial data.

Understand: this is NOT a technical show. But listen up and you’ll hear why TrustGrid is important and why so many credit unions and banks use its tools.

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Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Now for a feel good show.

Lee Silber has put together a book, The Credit Union Way, that he says is inspired by the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and right away that tells you this is a feel good book.

How did it come together? On the show Silber tells how he put together the stories - each of which relates a special credit union moment.

In the episode Silber reads a chapter from the book - entitled Frank’s Fund - that was written by Anne Legg who happens to be a past CU 2.0 podcast guest.

Read the book and next time somebody asks you how a credit union differs from a bank, just give the gist of one of the stories and it’s QED.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto