Head over to growyourcreditunion.com to see all of our episodes and full transcripts.

How does your board member selection process compare to your hiring procedures for other positions? Many credit unions have detailed vetting for staff roles that includes background checks and multiple interviews. Could similar rigor benefit board recruitment?

In this episode, hosts Joshua Barclay and Becky Reed welcome Stacie Sloan, COO at Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union, to explore the impossible choice between digital perfection and community roots, why board recruitment feels like amateur hour compared to executive hiring, and how the GENIUS Act could determine whether credit unions control payments or become glorified middlemen.

Key Topics

• Can you really choose between digital perfection and community roots?
• Why board recruitment feels like amateur hour
• The payments war credit unions are losing by default

Key Takeaways

• Stop treating digital tools and community relationships as competing priorities
• Board recruitment requires the same rigor as executive hiring, with skills matrices replacing referral networks
• Payment innovation through stablecoin technology will separate leaders from followers
• The institutions building payment capabilities now will own their member relationships tomorrow

"Hands down, relationships. That's what credit unions are all about. But if you want to keep them and you want to engage them, we have to deliver digitally as well." - Stacie Sloan

"If credit unions wait to get engaged in this space, they're going to be beholden to the same giant fintechs that provide them technology today." - Becky Reed