Last month CU Certified/Down East Insurance Agency was awarded the New CUSO of the Year Award – Runner Up. This is a one-of-a-kind CUSO that we are proud to feature in our NACUSO Spotlight Series.
What’s your current position?
I am the President & CEO of CU Certified
What would you say most motivates you to do what you do? What are you most excited or passionate about?
I think in some way we all want to make a positive contribution to our communities and the world in general. Sometimes business is not always conducive to achieving that end. When I stop to think about the positive financial impact CU Certified has made to members families over the past four years, I feel a sense of pride and drive to keep delivering on our promise. I relish the label placed on CU Certified as a market disrupter. Listening to our partnered credit unions share with us what they will be doing with the underwriting profit checks they receive each year gives our team an enormous amount of pride.
I want to hear the story of how you came to work with credit unions. What attracted you to work for CU Certified?
I am probably one of a handful of business owners who can say I have never held a bank account in my life. I am a life-long credit union member. In fact, CU Certified’s company accounts are all held by credit unions. My background is steeped in reinsurance. The idea of bringing vehicle service contract profit participation to the movement was an idea given to me by a former colleague. His logic was simple. Corporations and automobile dealers have enjoyed the underwriting profit from consumer protection products for thirty years. Why not offer the same opportunities on member protection products with the credit union membership as the financial winner.
Now if we can go even further back, where did you grow up and what was it like living there? Where did you go to school?
I am a Maine boy. Life has taken me to a few different states, but Maine is “home”. It’s funny to answer this question because so many people say, “Maine huh, where is Maine again?” (insert chuckle here) Maine is a place where a person can experience all four seasons and enjoy the mountains or a rocky coast. I feel the need to state that your readers have never enjoyed the taste of real lobster unless it came from the cold clean coastal waters of Maine. All others are imposters!
Who were your mentors along the way? People who deeply influenced who you are, what you believe in and what you’re committed to in your work and life? Tell me about them.
Hands down, my father. My dad was a full bird Colonel in the Army. More than anything he mentored me towards transparency and honor in all facets of life. I would like to think I have embodied the lessons he taught in my personal and business life.
Finally, can you share something interesting about you that would surprise our readers? It can be anything, a hobby, an adventure, sports, the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you,
Oh, lets go for a little self-deprecation. Just after starting CU Certified, I was asked to speak at a credit union conference about CU Certified. The topic was how to increase non-interest income. I was teaching a seminar based on underwriting profit as it relates to vehicle service contracts. I kept seeing blank looks on the audience faces, but I pushed through thinking I must be making a real impact. At the end of my 45 minute seminar a colleague asked the group of 85 people, “How many of you are currently offering a vehicle service contract in your credit union?” Two…yes two hands went up. I just wasted 45 minutes of 83 people’s life because I did not ask that ONE pertinent question at the beginning of the seminar. 83 people in the audience had no idea what I was saying or how it related to them. In true credit union movement style, not one person left the presentation just to be polite.
PART TWO: The Business Story
Tell me the story of how your CUSO/Company was created – the early days. Tell me about some of the memorable characters in the history, some that brought your story color, drama, comedy, conflict?
CU Certified was created by a collaboration between two CUSO’s of Down East Credit Union and the CU Certified team. I remember my first meeting with the, then President, of the Credit Union. The first words out of his mouth were, “Who are you and why do I need you?”. We look back and laugh at that meeting with fond memories. Fast forward four years to year end 2017 when CU Certified represented 18 basis point of their net income. I would not say we have enjoyed a straight path to success. The two organizations have learned a lot over the years. We look back at the original program and where it is now with great pride. After all, there was a time when it was just us together doing business. As the years went on and the results started pouring in, CU Certified took off on the strength of its own merits. It is something else to breathe life into a product that has been dismissed in the movement for years and turn it into a legitimate financial force to be reckoned with for the member and credit union.
What were the key relationships that mattered most? What were the key sources of support or resistance you encountered?
Ahhh, resistance, what an interesting topic. “It can’t be done!” they say. “The program is a flash in the pan”, they say. “It is unsustainable!”, they say. With the program over four years old and the average service contract sold at forty months in length, it most certainly works. We returned over $500,000 in underwriting profit to Maine credit unions in 2017, after paying more than $700,000 in the same state. Clearly our greatest support comes from our partnered credit unions who realize the naysayers are wrong.
What have been the greatest successes in your opinion?
The gray area claims fund. Having a pool of money set aside, outside of the premium used to pay claims was a gamechanger. We all know contracts are in black & white, but life is in color. Having the ability to assist a member on a claim that falls outside the contractual language of the contract has allowed us to help members avoid potentially devastating financial events.
PART THREE: Reflections and Lessons
If you could start your CUSO/Company all over again, would you do anything differently? Why and what would you do?
As I look back, I think the relationship we hold with our CUSO partner is right where it needs to be. Looking back over the past four years, we have certainly have suffered some “skinned” knees, but we would not be where we are today without those experiences.
Finally, when you think of the future for credit unions, what gives you hope and what makes you concerned?
The motivation behind what credit unions do every day for their members solidifies a bright future for credit unions. The model just plain works.
The main concern I have for credit unions is the paralysis by analysis in relation to their need for a sales culture. I am not suggesting the Wells Fargo model. Members often don’t know what their options are because the movement fears the institution will come off as a sales organization if they present the information to the member. Information is power not a sales pitch. Sharing features and benefits of member protection products empowers the member to make financial decisions which are best for their families.
