"We’re all recruiters for the credit union movement" - Doug Leighton

Welcome to episode 11 of The CUInsight Experience podcast. Hosted by Randy Smith, co-founder and publisher of CUInsight.com. Today's guest is Doug Leighton is the SVP of Community Accounts at Visa. You’ve probably seen him around the last few years, because he’s a big fan of the credit union community. And you’ll get to hear more from him today, because he’s the guest in this episode! Doug joined Visa after going to graduate school, and has now been with the company for 21 years. 

We’ll start off with talking about tap-to-pay, specifically how it functions as a bridge to other technologies such as mobile. It’s not a short-term bridge, though, Doug explains; cards will continue to be around for a long time. As you may have noticed, the US has lagged behind other countries with EMV and tap-to-pay. This has been the case for several reasons, particularly fraud concerns, as you’ll learn from Doug today. Fortunately, tap-to-pay alleviates fraud issues, and reduces the use of cash.

One of Doug’s passion projects involves mentoring young professionals in the payment space. In fact, I think you’ll hear in his voice how enthusiastic he is about this topic! In terms of credit unions, Visa is sponsoring Filene’s Center for War for Talent, as well as supporting the Crashers. He’ll dig into this topic, talking about the broader initiative of building the next generation of credit union leaders.

We’ll chat about the challenges for credit unions in staying (or becoming) top of wallet, and how Visa is helping. Doug will dig into the significant changes that he expects to see in credit unions and other financial institutions in the foreseeable future. We’ll learn about the three traits that define his leadership style: empathy, mentoring and developing people, and saying “thank you.” Finally, and importantly, he’ll share his pro tips for a trip to Disney!

Full show notes on www.CUInsight.com. 

Learn More About Today’s Guest:

Doug Leighton on LinkedIn

[email protected]

In This Episode:

[00:03] - Welcome to episode 11 of the CUInsight Experience! Today’s guest is Doug Leighton.

[02:48] - Does Doug see tap-to-pay as the bridge between the traditional card and mobile or wearables?

[04:17] - Doug talks about why the US lags behind other countries in certain technologies.

[06:47] - Does tap-to-pay create new security challenges, or does it help alleviate fraud?

[07:50] - What does Doug see as the biggest current challenges for credit unions to stay (or become) top of wallet?

[10:36] - We learn about how Visa is helping credit unions with the challenge of staying top of wallet.

[11:56] - Randall shares an experience he had with one of his cards getting hacked.

[13:29] - Is mentoring young professionals something that Doug is working on personally, or is it a movement that Visa is involved in too?

[16:14] - Doug talks more about changing the guidelines of who Visa hires, and at what point in the process it starts. He also shares his enthusiasm for working with younger talent.

[19:32] - We learn about the findings of the survey that Visa commissioned involving women and money (read about it at this link).

[22:11] - Randall talks about his upcoming international credit union trip.

[23:06] - How&