With an eye toward positive disruption for credit unions, Las Vegas-based consulting firm Mitchell, Stankovic and Associates is expanding its "Underground Champions" program.
According to CEO Susan Mitchell, the firm intends to selectively invite companies and CUs to become Underground Champions with an eye toward driving dialogue that can invigorate the industry and consumers. Credit unions, she added, are particularly well psotiioned to disrupt Wall Street and arrive as "superheroes."
“Credit unions are a vital part of social and economic prosperity throughout the world, and there needs to be a united voice that cuts through the divisive rhetoric that has both engaged and enraged the population,” Mitchell said. “Credit unions should be the game changers. Instead we are talking about the industry going away, imploding. It is not a time for pessimism, it is a time for activism. This is why we have the Underground Community for change.”
MSA’s Underground Community was established as a way for all voices in the credit union space to be heard. Mitchell invited those interested to visit
MSA has hosted an Underground Conference at each of the last two Credit Union National Association Governmental Affairs Conferences, along with an event in Las Vegas last fall around the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues’ Annual Meeting and Conference.
“The Underground Community is online, and is a place where people share ideas virtually,” Mitchell explained. “The Underground Conference had panelists and speakers, while the Underground Collision was a late night brainstorming event. Out of these events came the idea of putting together a thought leadership group, and we named it Underground Champions. It will push past the noise to talk about what really needs to be talked about.”
Mitchell also outlined some of the major issues facing credit unions this year, including:
· Urgency of the credit union voice – “We have a rare opportunity to be part of the disruption,” she said.
· Widening gap of membership/asset size – “Credit unions with $1 billion or more in assets are growing, while the others need to collaborate.”
· Business model choices for the future.
· Assessments coming from NCUA.
· Taxation realities.
First Underground Champion
CU*Answers, a credit union-owned CUSO based in Grand Rapids, Mich., joined MSA as the first Underground Champion.
Brandi Stankovic, senior partner at Mitchell, Stankovic and Associates, said, “We want activists, creators, and differentiators to join us in this dialogue – people who do what is right for their organization and the industry, even if it is unpopular. CU*Answers is the right partner, at the right time. Their CEO, Randy Karnes, knows how to stir things up and get things done… execute.”
Karnes said, “Do you ever find yourself daring to think about potential solutions for your firm or the credit union industry that are just not ‘polite’ conversation starters in traditional industry exchanges? You know you need to run the ideas down with peers, but where do you start? That is what the Underground Conference confabs and the Underground Community is all about. Talk-thinking! Robust brainstorming! And themes that might drive us all to disruptive innovation and industry renewal!”
According to Karnes, “Some of my best ideas, and hopes for the future, are a long way away from being briefed at a CUNA event, and not organized enough for a Filene exchange. I need to go underground with peers looking off the beaten path and harder at yesterday’s taboos that might just be ready for prime time soon.”
