The response to CUES’ Next Top Credit Union Exec challenge was huge! In total 41 people from the U.S. and Canada entered. Their projects were inspiring, unique and innovative. Public voting narrowed the field to six finalists. Learn more about them here. The finalists will present their projects—and the Next Top Credit Union Exec will be selected—at CUES’ CEO/Executive Team Network, Nov. 7-10 in Dallas. But for the next several weeks, we will be checking in with one of the non finalists to see how their project is going and learn a bit more about these next-generation leaders.

Brett Wooden
Business Development Manager
Unitus Community Credit Union 
Portland, Ore.
CU’s Twitter page
Brett’s Twitter page: @Woodb00 

What’s the best thing that has resulted from you entering CUES’ Next Top Credit Union Exec challenge?
The credit union I currently work for (Unitus Community Credit Union) has embraced the iPad in-the-field concept. Unitus now has three active iPads in the field with the business development team. The main goal is to open accounts in the field with potential or existing members who have trouble making it into the branch. The pilot start date was Aug. 9 and the business development team has currently taken a mortgage application, opened multiple accounts, and taken multiple loans and lines in the field using the iPad. They have also uploaded all educational seminars, flyers and brochures onto the iPad to eliminate paper at events, on-sites and seminars. The senior marketing analyst also created a “How did you hear about us?” application that tracked potential and existing members attending an event. This helps us better determine what drives people into the event so we can better spend our resources. Please see attached pictures from our college campus visits and data received from the iPad application for tracking an event.
 
Give us the elevator speech about your project (as in how would you describe your project to someone you meet in an elevator).
Have you ever had that moment sitting in a branch lobby waiting to apply for that mortgage, auto loan or checking account? I bet it crossed your mind, "How much time am I taking away from eating lunch on my lunch break?" or "I really need to get into the branch to take advantage of that lower auto loan rate I have seen but I just don't have time." What if I told you I can meet you anywhere, such as at your work, a coffee shop, lunch or your home and open accounts or apply for loans? That is what the iPad can do in the hands of the member service representatives. We can better meet our members’ needs by doing this while also giving live demos of our Web site, online banking, bill-pay, PFM and more.
 
What progress on the project have you made since entering the competition?
The iPad as of Aug. 9 is in the hands of three business development officers. In that first month of the pilot we brought in over 100 new members as a business development team, which is an increase of 20 plus members year over year. I anticipate this to grow even more after word of mouth from our members starts to kick in.

Unitus Community CU business development officers use iPads when talking to potential members.

What is your long-term career goal? (What do you want to be when you grow up?)
I would like to be the VP of Sales for Unitus Community Credit Union. Currently the position does not exist in the credit union, but that has never stopped me before. I am currently writing a business plan to present to the leadership team of Unitus.
 
Fill in the dots: The future of credit unions will be bright if ...
They embrace technology, but also be a part of creating it. Jim Collins in Good to Great, talks about the Hedgehog Theory, which talks about finding what the organization does best and strengthen that and build an organization around it. What do credit unions do best? Help People. Focus on creating tools and resources that help people strive in a struggling economy and a thriving economy. Take the iPad concept, for example. People are cutting back lunch hours from one hour to 30 minutes to make extra money. This eliminates the ability for them to come into the branch to open accounts during lunch time. The iPad allows us to go to them, causing the stress level of making it to the branch before it closes to go away. Think of the definition of insanity—doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. As an industry we tend to copy others ideas, recycle campaigns and follow. We need to see beyond the next year and look further so we can better map out our next steps to success.
 
Who is a must-follow on Twitter?

Credit Unions vs. Banks
MosWood

Check out Brett’s Next Top Credit Union Exec entry video to learn more about his project.