Paul Brucker: A CUNA Mutual Select Council Report

​President of Railway CU just returned from the first CUNA Mutual face-to-face meeting in over a year.  An update on the Council’s goals, projects, and most recent progress. 

by Paul J. Brucker, President, Railway CU
 
Recently, I was able to attend one of CUNA Mutual’s first face-to-face meetings in over a year.  While I was slightly skeptical of attending a meeting in Wisconsin, which is still deep into COVID protocols, I am happy that I made the trip, as we had some outstanding informational sessions and networking.
 
CUNA Mutual President/CEO Bob Trunzo spent a considerable amount of time with our group, and he was open and honest in his reporting and in the Q & A session.  Some Highlights from President Trunzo’s visit and report:
 
CUNA Mutuals balance sheet is strong and continues to improve.  Bob’s goal for Cuna Mutual is to continue to serve as a bedrock of support to the credit union community.

• He believes inflation is not transitory and will be her to stay for a while, presenting some challenges for our industry.
• Supply chain struggles are going to take a considerable amount of time to resolve.  
• Finding service employees will be an ongoing challenge.  
• The COVID driven changes to electronic services are here to stay.
• CUNA Mutual is averaging only 10 days to pay out on most death claims.
• CUNA Mutual is continuing to support the movement financially with recent donations and commitments including $1M donated to “Open Your Eyes” campaign, $1M committed to World Council of Credit Unions, and ongoing material financial support to FILENE.
• CUNA Mutual is currently working on several projects under the Human Driven Digital & Technology Department 

 
A significant portion of the meetings were spent with Matt Kallman, Director of Software.  CUNA Mutual recently purchased a product called CuneXus.  This product is intriguing as it provides credit unions the ability to export and communicate pre-approved loan offers directly to our members. 
 
CUNA Mutual is also currently working to make the product easily integrable into most core processing systems.  They have a goal to make this product, which is currently very expensive, affordable to credit unions of all sizes.  If they get these items figured out, I believe it will be a product most Dakota shops will be able benefit from using.
 
In closing, I am very happy to serve on the Council for a second time.  I highly encourage everyone that has an opportunity to serve and participate in one CUNA Mutual’s Select Council to do so.  I have found the experience to be very valuable and worthwhile.   
  
Paul Brucker has been a Select CU Council member since 2014.  Established in 2007, the Select CU Council comprises 12 credit union CEOs/Presidents who work for small to mid-size credit unions. Each council member serves a three-year term. These volunteer council members meet virtually with CUNA Mutual Group to address challenges and discuss best practices. CUNA Mutual Group also hosts an annual face-to-face meeting in Madison, Wisconsin to collaborate with the council and set goals. For more information, visit https://www.cunamutual.com/select-credit-union-council/members. 

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