“Getting it right means getting the right people, balance, structure, and authority—and everyone loving what they’re doing.” – Mark Zook

Welcome to episode 230 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight, and Jilly Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by Alacriti, a leading payments fintech helping credit unions modernize money movement. Alacriti enables real-time money movement experiences for loan payments, A2A transfers, digital disbursements, and bill pay. Through a single cloud-native platform that connects to RTP, FedNow, Fedwire, ACH, Visa Direct, and Zelle, credit unions can progressively modernize without overhauling legacy systems. Learn more at alacriti.com!

In this new 2026 season, Jilly and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

Join us for this episode as we welcome Mark Zook, President and CEO of Maps Credit Union. He joins us to discuss something that many leaders experience but rarely say out loud: the fact that real growth often begins after you become the CEO. Mark stepped into the CEO role internally and has continued to evolve as a leader via years of work both inside his organization and across the credit union movement!

Listen in as Mark shares what it was like moving into the CEO seat after seventeen years at Maps, believing himself to be prepared only to quickly realize how wrong that he had been. His first months in the role happened during the chaos of the Great Recession, which forced him and his newly assembled executive team to come together quickly, make difficult decisions, and build resilience in real time—all early challenges which shaped how he approaches leadership today!

We also spend some time talking about one of the biggest transitions leaders face: shifting from being the person who gets things done to the person who empowers others to do the work. Mark reflects on how his “builder” mindset had to evolve once he became CEO. Instead of being the one executing, he instead had to learn how to listen, support, and guide the people around him.

Throughout our conversation, we also touch upon the role that mentors play in leadership growth, with Mark reflecting on the major influence that former Maps CEO Dan Penn had on him, having pushed him into opportunities long before he felt ready. That spirit of curiosity and experimentation has shaped a lot of Maps' culture—from launching organizations that benefit the industry and even to entering newly emerging areas such as cannabis banking. We also talk about the value of iteration in leadership and how ideas rarely start fully formed. Hear how many of the initiatives that began as small experiments at Maps have grown into major organizations serving credit unions nationwide.

Along the way, Mark shares lessons about risk, resilience, and the importance of building strong teams. If you have ever wondered what leadership growth looks like after the promotion, our conversation with Mark Zook offers an honest and thoughtful perspective!

Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.

Connect with Mark:
Mark Zook, President/CEO of Maps Credit Union

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“Creating space isn't accidental, but an actual decision that must be made every day.” - Jilly Nowacki

Welcome to episode 229 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight, and Jilly Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by Alacriti, a leading payments fintech helping credit unions modernize money movement. Alacriti enables real-time money movement experiences for loan payments, A2A transfers, digital disbursements, and bill pay. Through a single cloud-native platform that connects to RTP, FedNow, Fedwire, ACH, Visa Direct, and Zelle, credit unions can progressively modernize without overhauling legacy systems. Learn more at alacriti.com!

In this new 2026 season, Jilly and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

Join us for this episode as we discuss something that is seemingly simple but surprisingly difficult for leaders to do: creating space—space for the work that actually matters, space for the people who matter most, and space to think without your calendar screaming at you! Between emails, notifications, and endless meetings, it’s so easy to let the urgent take control over what's truly important, and we’re sharing how we intentionally carve out the time, energy, and focus to prevent that from happening.

Tune in as we discuss why leadership isn’t just about doing more but is also about choosing what to give your attention to. Jilly shares why protecting your energy matters just as much as protecting your time, and we explore how easy it is to let the squeaky wheel hijack your focus. We talk about strategies like the urgent-important matrix and service level agreements, but also the subtler art of saying “no” without feeling guilty. Learning to resist comparison and focusing on your organization’s mission instead of someone else’s success can make a bigger difference than people realize.

We also talk about the seasons of life and work, and how priorities shift over time. We reflect on moving from constant networking to more meaningful conversations, and we share how integrating personal and professional life helps with alignment and with what matters most! We also both share how we try to honor our natural rhythms, protect uninterrupted time for reflection, and avoid letting the “urgent” distract from the work that has the most impact.

By the end of this episode, expect to hear how intentional space—not just busy schedules or productivity hacks—creates clarity, energy, and better decisions! We are sharing honest experiences, practical habits, and a few birthday weekend laughs along the way!

Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.
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“As women, we have a lot of work to do—and that work is something we have to continue to be impatient about.” – Tansley Stearns

Welcome to episode 228 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight, and Jilly Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by Alacriti, a leading payments fintech helping credit unions modernize money movement. Alacriti enables real-time money movement experiences for loan payments, A2A transfers, digital disbursements, and bill pay. Through a single cloud-native platform that connects to RTP, FedNow, Fedwire, ACH, Visa Direct, and Zelle, credit unions can progressively modernize without overhauling legacy systems. Learn more at alacriti.com!

In this new 2026 season, Jill and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

Join us for this episode as we welcome Tansley Stearns back to the show. Tansley is the President & CEO of orsa credit union, and she helps challenge us to think about leadership from the inside out, sharing a candid conversation about what it actually takes to become the kind of leader you’re proud to be, not just the one who looks impressive on paper.

We talk with Tansley about a defining moment during COVID that reshaped how she thinks about people, trust, and growth and how, from that experience, came her powerful framework of “cushions and wings,” or the idea that leaders must first create safety, care, and trust before asking people to stretch, innovate, and take risks. Without the cushion, the wings can do real harm. That idea really sets the tone for our discussion on authenticity, emotional honesty, and the responsibility that leaders carry when people are watching everything that they do.

Tansley shares what it’s meant for her life and journey as a leader to let go of people-pleasing, borrowed identities, and the masks she once wore to fit into rooms that didn’t always feel like home. We explore how embracing who she truly is—laughter, emotions, bold dreams, and all—has made her a more effective and trusted leader, and she also opens up about her uncompromising standards: no “brilliant jerks,” no behavior that harms people, and no shrinking herself to make others feel more comfortable.

We also reflect on the mentors who have shaped us, the feedback that changed us, and the responsibility that we now have to show up for the next generation of leaders. We talk about values, joy, growth, and why leadership is ultimately about people, not metrics. This episode is for anyone who’s questioning who they’re becoming at work, who feels the weight of trying to belong, or who wants to lead with courage, care, and clarity, with Tansley reminding us that authenticity isn’t a destination but a practice! Enjoy our conversation with Tansley Stearns!

Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.

Connect with Tansley:
Tansley Stearns, President & CEO of orsa credit union
orsacu.org
Tansley: LinkedIn
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