Credit unions’ COVID triage: ‘Who needs what from us right now?’

After nine years at the Credit Union National Association, culminating in a stint as the trade group’s chief marketing officer, Amy Nigrelli has moved to Nusenda Credit Union. While she’ll still hold the title of chief marketing officer, the two roles are far from identical. For one thing, the position has seen Nigrelli relocate from Madison, Wis., to Nusenda’s home base in Albuquerque, where she’s in “listen and learn mode” to better understand the credit union and the communities it serves.

In this Credit Union Journal Q&A, Nigrelli discusses the shift form a trade group to a natural-person credit union, what individual institutions can learn from CUNA and why the pandemic has provided credit unions an opportunity to showcase what they do best.

Read on for highlights from that conversation. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

What led you to make the move from CUNA to Nusenda?

AMY NIGRELLI: Over the years I’ve gotten to fall in love with the credit union difference and fall in love with credit unions. I wasn’t really looking to [change jobs] at all, and then the phone rang one day and there was this opportunity to go get that much closer to members and that much closer to really serving the mission of what credit unions can do … it was really just this opportunity to take all the passion I’ve acquired over the years for credit unions and serving communities, and put it into practice and get one step closer.

What’s your vision for Nusenda?

I’m really in listen and learn mode right now at Nusenda. They do really incredible things for their communities and their members; they’re a really strong and well-known brand here. I wouldn’t say it’s unique, but they’re really strong in this marketplace and they’ve done a lot of leveling up for their members and community because of the coronavirus. So listen and learn mode, and then I really hope to be able to bring my experience and knowledge, and help them build on the successes they already have in place.

What do you feel like Nusenda and other CUs can learn from CUNA from a marketing perspective?

[CUNA’s] Open Your Eyes campaign and the idea of really getting after credit union awareness was a fantastic project. … One of the big learnings from that was that it’s really important to understand what the [awareness] gap is and what the barriers are, and we’ve learned that can be different in different places. In a lot of the U.S., it’s a notion that I can’t join a credit union or a credit union isn’t for me. In other places there might be different barriers — I can’t join that particular credit union or I’m worried about the rates, I’m worried about this or that. I think what’s really smart about what CUNA has done that everyone can learn from is not to make assumptions — to look at what’s going on in specific markets, to understand the data and to put something out there that is really respectful of that market and that data. And the kicker on all of it is that you’re never done … just being relevant and respectful of the times, and understanding where your members are and where they need you to be as a credit union are lessons we can all learn from.

Have you been able to identify or get a sense of what those barriers are for New Mexico or Nusenda’s field of membership specifically?

I haven’t — really, my earliest reactions have been, “Wow, our penetration in New Mexico is pretty fantastic.” We’re in Taos and Santa Fe and some other communities, so how can we do better to serve more communities? Nusenda does excellent work in the community relations space … and a lot of our connections are there. [Nusenda] is part of the warp and weave of communities here, so sure there are opportunities where we can help more people … but they’re doing an outstanding job in connecting with people.

Vice versa, what do you feel like CUNA can learn from individual credit unions?

CUNA does a really nice job of listening to credit unions. When I was at CUNA there is access to CEOs, to people who serve on the CUNA board — people aren’t shy about telling CUNA what they think. CUNA also has this great gift of the CUNA Councils, so they interact with professionals in all the key functions at a credit union [and] get to hear day to day what’s going on and be there to serve. Part of the challenge for any association that serves so many different kinds of credit unions or so many different kinds of anythings [sic] is that they don’t all have the same needs, and really trying to figure out how you do your best to serve a broader set of needs.

How has the pandemic changed credit union marketing?

I don’t know if I can speak broadly on how it has changed credit union marketing as a whole, but I can tell you that many credit unions are seeing a K-shaped recovery, and there are people who are doing just fine, who are buying new homes and spending money and have a totally different set of needs than people who are waiting for that next help to come from their state or federal government. So I think really credit unions have had to figure out how do we understand who needs what from us right now? How do we make sure we’re getting the right kinds of lending and depository tools in the hands of the right people? Deposits are up everywhere — everyone’s trying to pay down their cards and save a little money because they don’t know what’s happening next — and smart credit unions who understand their members are aware that they need to manage both ends of that spectrum of members whose needs are perhaps more different than ever right now.

When you are part of that warp and weave of a community, you’re already there and you already have your ears open to listen to what those needs are, and you can just help that much faster. That’s a real gift that credit unions have compared to banks [and] other organizations who might be more national in nature, who might be more corporate in nature and aren’t there to serve their members as their owners but are there to serve their shareholders and others as their owners. We should lean into that right now.