By Lisa Hochgraf
I had the distinct pleasure this morning of crashing the "Crash" meeting here in Rochester, N.Y., where I live and telecommute for CUES.
What's Crash? According to the group's Web site, it's "about changing the credit union movement from the inside out."
"We’re a group of passionate young people," the site says, "and we don’t think we have the answers. But we want to come together--with people our age and with people who’ve been in this industry for a long time--and work to find the answers."
Today's "meet up" was facilitated by Brent Dixon of the Filene Research Institute and Allison Barna, CUDE, community development coordinator for the Credit Union Association of New York, which coordinates a young professionals commission that has hosted two previous events in Albany.
Brent's opening comments focused on ways young professionals can grow in the movement, including reading research by Filene, sharing insights with other up-and-coming young pros on the Crash site and studying to be a Credit Union Development Educator. He even let me gush for a few minutes about the excitement last week in CUES' announcement of the winner of the Next Top Credit Union Exec challenge, and tell the group about CUES' $99 NextGen Membership, designed for professionals age 35 and under or with less than two years of experience in financial services.
(Top photo: Jen Fisher and David Presby from Pittsford Federal Credit Union; bottom photo: Francesca Iraci (left) of Gates-Chili Federal Credit Union and Twanda Christensen from The Summit Federal Credit Union. Brent Dixon is in the background.)
In all, about 20 up-and-coming credit union professionals gathered in a coffee house near the Rochester Institute of Technology campus to talk about what's on their minds:
- Web site redesigns. Attendees from three separate credit unions said a Web site overhaul is in their sights for 2011.
- Pursuing their passions as well as their day-to-day jobs. One participant from nearby Buffalo said she was piloting a financial education program. Another participant who both helps staff the call center and does loan underwriting for her CU also coordinates the staff vegetable garden.
- How to most effectively sell their ideas to senior managers. The woman from Buffalo said she sold the idea of the financial education program by doing a project proposal and showing exactly how the program would work and what it would cost. (Read an article on this topic here.)
- How to get members who are parents to start a new generation of members by opening accounts for their kids. One participant suggested talking about children's accounts to seniors when they are bragging up their grandkids.
- How to reach young people using the technology they use. In particular, the discussion here focused on online account opening.
- How to drive a technology and training initiative to cross-sell loans and get decisions on applications--all at the teller window.
The high level of activity among young credit union professionals has become almost a movement within the Movement. It's wonderful to see their ideas get out and be heard.
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
