From Jennifer Kerry: As the economy improves, so does consumers’ willingness to use credit to purchase those items and services they have put on hold for the past four or five years. This is happening in consumer spaces such as auto loans, appliances and other bigger ticket items. Consequently, we’re seeing a substantial surge in [...]

From Chris Wolgamott: I was six when my dad taught me to ride a bike.  This wasn’t an easy feat since I’ve always been a little clumsy. It took a lot of hard work and conquering of pretty daunting fears to keep getting up on that seat to try again. After many scraped knees, sore [...]

From Steve Rodgers: The CU Movement is blessed with extraordinary leaders.  Every year at this time, we’re honored to present four exceptional leaders who you’ve nominated over the past year as Credit Union Heroes. These individuals exemplify the credit union philosophy of “people helping people,” and they’ve gone the extra mile to extend credit union [...]

Rick Olson, President, Rick Olson Seminars Every year, credit union professionals gather to seek insights from the masters of service culture, the staff of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Known for its staff empowerment practices and dedication to its customers, the Ritz sets the bar for the service industry, acting as model for other organizations to strive [...]

The opening keynote of the 2013 CUNA Consumer & Residential Mortgage Lending School will be delivered by best-selling author and popular solutions presenter, Lee Silber. His presentation, titled Credit Union Rock Stars: Lending a Hand, will discuss the life and business lessons to be learned from rock stars and their careers. Lee was kind enough [...]

From James Marshall: A lukewarm Saturday afternoon, I land at Dulles airport following an eight hour flight from London. I am in Washington DC for my first ever Credit Union conference in the USA. I certainly picked a good one. CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference, The GAC. Over 4000 CU professionals from all over the United [...]

On more than one occasion since the end of this year’s Governmental Affairs Conference, I’ve been asked what my takeaways are.  To be honest, it’s difficult to have perspective so soon after such an event; however, as I contemplated the question, I was repeatedly drawn to the theme of this year’s GAC — Powerful Cause [...]

From Mark Arnold: Although it’s hard to believe, we are already into our second month of 2013! Whether you are still analyzing 2012 or well into your 2013 tasks list, one thing is certain: there is still uncertainty about our economy. Unemployment numbers could be better, jobs aren’t being added like we’d like to see [...]

Let’s just pick up right where we left off in my last post:  “While nothing is certain, the promise of a vote seems as firm as possible at this stage.  Winning the vote depends on our ability to solidify and expand on the support we have in the Senate.  We’ll need the people most invested [...]

Stop me if you’ve heard this before:  What’s the opposite of progress?  Congress. Whether your reaction is a groan or a quiet chuckle, we react to that joke because we all know there is an element of truth to it, especially these days.  The 112th Congress stands to be the least productive Congress since World [...]