Where Corporate Growth and Community Impact Collide

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You are listening to Leaders in Lending
from Upstart, a podcast dedicated to helping

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consumer lenders grow their programs and improve
their product offerings. Each week, here,

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decision makers in the finance industry offer
insights into the future of the lending

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industry, best practices around digital transformation, and more. Let's get into the

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show. Hello and welcome to Leaders
and Lending, brought to you by Upstart.

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I'm your host, Barry Roach,
and I'm happy to be joined today

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by Nathan Cox, who's the CEO
of Inroads Credit Union in St. Helens,

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Oregon. Nathan's taking a winding road
on his way to the CEO chair.

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Started in the wine industry, worked
his way through some incrementally challenging roles

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at banks and credit unions across California, but he's really blazed his own trail

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to hit this career milestone a CEO
of a credit union. But the quote

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unquote finish line is really only the
beginning for Nathan. In today's episode,

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Nathan's going to talk about embracing failure, overcoming doubt, taking lessons from adversity,

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and also enlighten us on the vital
role of credit unions play in community

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economic development and the unique approach of
the Inroads team has on improving the financial

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wellness of their members. Let's get
started. Hello everyone, thanks for joining

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us on the Leaders and lending podcasts
with Upstart. I have the pleasure today

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of talking to our good friend Nathan
Cox, who's the CEO of Inroads Credit

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Union. Really glad to have you
on today, Nathan, I know you

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are a fairly new CEO in the
credit union space. Maybe tell us a

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little bit about your background and starting
from going way back to when you started

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in your career to where you are
right now, and a little bit of

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that history and that path that you've
taken. No, sounds good. Thank

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you again, Barry. I'm honored
to be on the podcast. Look forward

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to our dialogue so way back when. I've been in the industry for over

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thirty years. However, this industry
isn't my first job, so to speak.

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My first job out of college was
with the Galla Wine Company, where

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I was selling and building displays and
I got promoted a couple times. Tis

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then that brought me from southern California
to northern California and I got in the

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banking industry literally on a fluke in
nineteen eighty nine. A friend of mine

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had recommended that I go to a
job there, and I said, well,

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I am happy and I enjoy what
I do, but I'll go on

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and go anyway. And by chance
I ran across someone for HR. There

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was a recruiter and they worked for
Wells Fargo, and Wells Fargo at the

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time was recruiting outside salespeople to grow
their banking business. So in September of

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eighty nine, I went from the
wine industry to financial services industry and have

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been in the industry since September of
nineteen eighty nine. Wow, that's a

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non traditional path, Nathan, right, going from wine to banking. Any

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lessons from the wine industry that helped
you when you go into banking, well,

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timing is everything. I left the
wine industry when I thought it was

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tailing off, and the wine industry
took off and the banking industry had a

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recession. So I tried to predict
the future too much. That's a good

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idea. Yeah, So a little
bit about your banking history then, I

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know you started with some fairly large
banks in northern California, correct, Yes,

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so started off with Wells Fargo and
I've worked for both domestic, publicly

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traded banks and large international banks.
Most of my career has been with Wells

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Fargo and Bank of the West,
where I spent ten years each. But

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my most recent kind of bank background
was with US Bank, being the market

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executive for Sacramento and kind of the
greater Central Valley area. That was my

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last stop before I hopped into the
credit union movement, which I'm enjoying thoroughly.

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And was it about the credit union
movement that kind of made you feel

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like this was a good move for
Nathan, a good move for your career,

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you know? For me, it
really is three things. Number One,

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I love the entrepreneurial attitude to where
you know, we can partner with

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FinTechs or vendors that can help us
go our business. That's number one.

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Number two two is that for me
it's the greatest combination of taking the financial

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expertise and having impact on the community. So again that would be number two.

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And the number three is that it's
a growth opportunity. I think the

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movement is really expanding its lines of
business, and for me, coming to

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Inroads, it was a chance to
help transform this company to prepare for the

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future given everything it's taking place in
the industry terrific. Yeah, you know,

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you and I have similar backgrounds.
I started banking as well and evolved

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into credit unions, and you know, nothing against banks or anything like that,

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but one of the biggest differences I
found was and I worked for very

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large bank, like a very large
bank, and there was a lot of

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talk in the bank about we'll focus
on the customer, put the customer at

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the center of everything you do,
and looking in the rear for mirror of

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that. Now, it's they didn't
necessarily follow that ethos, right. There

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were a lot of decisions and a
lot of strategies that were made in that

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bank that clearly were not in the
best interests of the customer. It was

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more about the shareholder or some other
constituent. Right. You go to credit

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unions and it is completely all about
that member, right, Like, if

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you are not focused on that member
and on that member experience, then really

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you don't have much of a business
to grow on. Just kind of wanted

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to get a sense from you.
Did you feel the same sorts of things

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coming into the credit union industry or
did you have a bit of a different

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experience barrier spot on for me.
I think, and again, banks are

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bad per se, but I think
they're focused is shareholder driven and shareholder value.

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When you look at the crediting movement, it's more focused on stakeholder value

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and that member experience and stakeholders can
be working with vendors, various business partners,

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community partners, but at the end
of the day, everyone is properly

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aligned to drive and optimize the member
experience. Right, That's great, And

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now you're a CEO, So congratulations
on that. I mean, it's been

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almost a year for you now,
right, yep, yep, coming up

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on nine months next week. Time
flies still standing and you've got one hundred

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different things coming at you on a
daily basis, right Whereas I believe your

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past role was very much more focused
more on the lending side of things,

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and now you've got such a broader
view of the whole organization. Just maybe

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talk a little bit about the transition
there, Nathan, like, how that's

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been going and sort of what's been
most helpful for you. I guess through

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that transition. You know, the
transition has been great. I had a

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dialogue with my board Shair a few
weeks ago, and you know she was

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talking about a few things that were
unexpected, and I said, well,

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to be honest and said, I'm
enjoying the transition because if everything went the

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way it's planned, we're not really
going to grow as a company or grow

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as leaders. So for me,
transforming the company into what is capable of

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being has been a great honor and
a great privilege, and I'm having a

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ton of fun. I think for
me, the move from California, you

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know, Oregon has been great.
I think the people up here are very

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I love the food scenes. I
gotta watch. I don't need too much.

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But the transition actually has gone fairly
well. I think for me it's

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integrating a fail forward, fail fast
mindset because I want people to take risk

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so that way we can grow the
company. And I guess, if I

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had to summarize it into one simple
phrase, we are transforming the company through

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digitization. Love it. So there's
a connotation there that perhaps the company was

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on a path of digitization that wasn't
quite where it needs to be today to

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compete. Was it more of an
internal thing, more of a member focused

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digitization strategy, or maybe a little
bit of both. I think a little

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bit of both, and probably the
mentality that I've tried to implement the most

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is don't operate with both feet in
the business today. Operate with one foot

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in today and one foot in the
future, because you always have to look

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forward. And what I'm doing is
ideally inspiring and transforming our leadership mentality to

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be more forward thinking. And also
with the board as well, which they've

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totally embraced. Right, that's great. And those board relationships are so critical,

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right. They are the ones who
who can be your biggest supporter sometimes

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can also bring in some challenges for
you. Right, So describe how you

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successfully create those those effective board relationships, not just with the chair but with

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the broader board. No, thank
you, that's an excellent question. I

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think number one. To have a
strong relationship with the board, there has

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to be transparency. So when I
first started having my monthly one on ones

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with the board chair and so,
look, there's one rule that we're going

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to have this non negotiable and it's
called no surprises. You don't surprise me

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and I don't surprise you. And
I think that level of transparency has been

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respected to appreciate it. Also,
I think the next thing is accountability.

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We have to hold each other accountable, and lastly, really making it a

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partnership. I've really had an open
dialogue with the board and it's just about

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accomplishing those things, being transparent,
being accountable, and just being open.

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And again they've completely engaged kind of
forward thinking mentality and they support me.

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So it's a lot of fun,
a lot of hard work, but a

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lot of fun. Terrific. Yeah, not a lot of pleasant surprises in

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the credit union industry, right,
Like, usually pleasant is not the adjective

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you think of with surprises, usually
something that's really gone badly. So that

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effect of communication, I think is
kind of the number one thing, so

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that everyone's always on the same page, right correct. And you talk before

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about failing fast, and there's a
lot of people in the credit union industry

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who don't really think of it that
way. They think, oh my god,

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you know, we don't want to
We can't really fail at anything because

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our members are relying on us for
something. But my experience has been that

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sometimes your best lessons come from adversity, right and how you deal with it,

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how resilient your team is in dealing
with it, how you respond to

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these unpleasant surprises that can happen.
Maybe walk us through a little bit of

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how that fail fast mentality has worked
at Mwroards. You know, it has

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worked fairly well. We still have
a ways to go. But I'm just

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a firm believer that you learn more
from your failures than you do your successes.

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And I'll give you a little bit
of a basketball analogy. When I

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walked on at Loyel and Marymount to
the basketball team the summer before and for

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workouts alliday, was just shooting.
I mean, I'm practicing shooting, a

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little bit of dribbling, but more
shooting, more defense. So when I

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got to the actual tryout and I
was trying to compete for a backup point

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guard spot, my dribbling was not
where it needed to be. So I

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still made the team. But the
coach pointed out to me, he says,

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hey, your role is not to
be a shooter. Your role is

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to be a dribbler, a facilitator, and to play great defense. So

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I learned from that my weakness was
dribbling, especially my off end. So

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during the season I worked that much
harder on my dribbling so that way I

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can fulfill my role. But if
I can focus on the shooting, and

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I'm not asked to be a shooter, then I haven't really grown. So

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that's why I say it's important that
you learn more from your weaknesses than you

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do your strengths. Right, I
promise I wasn't going a fanboy about your

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basketball career, but you know,
hats off, right, congratulations, Like

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not everyone can say that they played
D one basketball and you weren't recruited by

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anyway, really right, this was
just your hard work and efforts that got

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you into that position and gave you
that experience, right, well, and

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thank you, and really that's it. Yeah, I was not recruited athletically,

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had a host of academic scholarships and
opportunities, but you know, I

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love challenges. And my high school
coach, when I asked him after the

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season where I could go walk on
at a Division one school, he just

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looked me in the eye and said, hey, you're just not that good.

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You need to go find a small
Division III or in AIA school to

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go play and hopefully they'll make the
team. But you're not that good.

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So I internalized that challenge and again
did the work, put in the effort,

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and got to the point where you
know I made the team. And

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the funny thing about making the team, I couldn't get a playwright, couldn't

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make a pass, right, And
as you know, fall practice starts at

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the beginning November. And I went
to the coach's office on November first,

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and you know, my head's down
thinking, yeah, you know what,

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I didn't make the team. And
I walked up the stairs to the office

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and he had my my practice uniform, my game uniform, my shoes.

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Isay, you made the team.
Go put your stuff in your locker and

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then get your ass on the floor. Practice starts in a half an hour.

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And again that's the success story.
So hard work does pay off.

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Hard work, But in the motivation
of that challenge, right, people doubting

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you, people saying oh you can't
do this, right, that's fuel for

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you. Right. And this was
quite I won't say, but it was

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a few years ago before I had
right hair at the boss spot. Mary,

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Yeah, you've experienced it those for
your career, and Eathan, I

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mean, you know, we've all
had people in our careers who maybe down

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to this, we've even downed ourselves
sometimes, right, and yet you continue

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to persist and try and strive forward. You talked about how shooting was great.

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Now, back then you didn't necessarily
have designated shooters. Right now,

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the game has evolved. If you
can shoot the three, you can play

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anywhere now, right, So you
worked on dribbling. You didn't have a

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three point line. That's a good
point. Yeah, and short shorts.

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Your point line came in two years
after I graduated. Yeah, there you

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go. So there were all two
pointers exactly. So, but you worked

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on dribbling, right, You worked
on and with your off hand. So

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all those maybe weaknesses you had,
right, I know in your academic career,

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because you've talked about this in the
past, that you had some weaknesses

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academically or with your own knowledge base
that you knew you needed to correct that

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to be able to get to where
you want to be in your career.

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So talk about that a little bit. Because you graduate from LMU, you

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ended up going off to getting a
second degree. How that all happened?

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Yes, I had some great mentorship
early on in my career at Wells Fargo

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and just had some great managers.
And one of the pieces of advice I

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got was to go back and get
my MBA Master's in Business and the logic

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was, and this is what the
executive told me. He says, you

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don't want to be in a situation
where you're competing for a job and the

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only reason the other person gets the
jobs because they had an MBA and you

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didn't. And that was when the
light went on. So I said,

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okay, I'll go back and get
an NBA in marketing. He said,

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nope, go get an MBA in
corporate finance. And I said why So

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that was my worst subject in undergrad. He says, no matter what line

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of business you're in, in a
financial institution, HR, marketing operations,

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or lending, whatever, it all
revolves around finance. So the more you

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can have a strong understanding of finance, that will help you. So that

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goes back to our conversation about the
weaknesses. I put all the effort into

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the weakness and for me, graduate
school was much easier than undergrad because I

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was working during the day and going
to school at night. So in nineteen

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ninety six I got my MBA and
corporate fininance from Goldigate University and just missed

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Magna cum latte. So wow,
I had a little hiccup at the end

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of my term, but I was
very happy with my GPA and my experience

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impressive, Nathan. And so I
know because that finance background again similar similar

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experiences what you've had. I also
got my NBA and finance because it was

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in a strong suit. But now
as the CEO, I mean, if

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you don't have that fascile understanding of
the numbers and the relations between the numbers,

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it's really really hard for you to
make informed decisions. Right. So

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you've mentored many people through your career
as well, right, I'm sure as

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you've been in leadership positions and trying
to help those who work with you and

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beside you really achieve the best they
can be. Maybe describe a little bit

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how you've been able to sort of
mentor people throughout your career. Because we're

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not going to be here forever,
Nathan, Right, we need those players

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on the bench to be coming up
and taking these roles for us as well.

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So maybe talk a little bit about
how you've been able to do that

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successfully. Yeah, just had that
conversation last week with our executive team.

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So Number one, I think an
NBA doesn't necessarily make you smarter, for

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what it does is it makes you
think in a more analytical mindset, and

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you need that mindset to be a
successful leader in the financial services industry.

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So I've taken that along with what
I think is a very high level of

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self awareness and saying, Okay,
here's where I'm at, here's I want

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to go. How am I going
to get there? And I think we

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talk a lot about servant leadership or
you know, all these different management tenants.

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I think really being an effective leader
is about communicating with your people and

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earning and keeping trust. So the
big thing I've done in the company,

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a lot of the business decisions were
centered at the executive level, and what

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I've done in myself and our head
of HR, we did a listening tour.

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So for ninety days, all we
did was visit every department, every

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division, and we took notes to
put everything together. And I realize that

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we have really, really good people. We empowered them to make decisions.

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So over the last couple of months, I've taken a lot of decisions that

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were done at either the executive level
or the leader level, pushed them down

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to the organization and we're getting great
ideas, great engagement. Because the executive

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team can't do everything to change a
company. It's going to take the entire

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company to move the needle and help
transform where we need to be. And

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we're getting some phenomenal ideas from the
staff and they were always there, we

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just never solicited them. Right,
terrific. I mean, kudos to you,

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first off for listening to the staff, because sometimes they don't feel like

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that's they've ever had a voice that
way. Secondly, kuz to you for

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actually acting on it, because the
worst thing you could do is go and

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ask for that feedback and then do
nothing with it, right, stick it

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in the bottom drawer and go,
oh that was great. I kind of

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check that box. I'm going to
go on and do my own thing.

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No, you're absolutely those best ideas
are really coming from They may not be

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fully formed ideas from the German population
of the staff, but there's enough initiatives

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there that that's where your executive team
can come in and really turn those those

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germs of ideas into real positive solutions
for both your members and for your staff.

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No, you're spot on. And
one of the things I'm doing,

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we're out on a listening tour and
one of the branch staff they called me

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out of something that I promised to
do and I didn't. I say,

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you know what, You're right,
So we changed it and shifted. So

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I think this is it goes back
to the whole thing about transparency. So

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once a quarter, I actually spend
a day working in a branch where I'm

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actually the greeter, or maybe I'll
work behind the desk somewhere. But I

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want to be visible. So when
the members come in and I don't say

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who I am, I just greet
them and say how can I help them?

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And then during the course of the
conversation I let them know on the

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CEO. But there's nothing that can't
be done that I won't do. And

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if I can impart that mentality in
the company, then the other employees will

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also say, Wow, he's willing
to make sales calls, he's willing to

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solve problems with the members, then
I can do that as well. So

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really trying to empower and engage the
entire company to move us forward totally.

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Oh that's awesome, Nathan. So
if you really want the unfiltered opinion from

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your members, go to the call
center for a day, right, Because

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people over the phone tend to be
a little braver in their opinions of things

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and so on and so forth.
So you know, if they've got a

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beef with the CEO, and the
CEO actually answers a call, hey maybe

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you can maybe you can knock that
problem out right away, right, you

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know, it's funny you bring that
up. I actually did that one day,

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spend half a day with our live
staff taking calls as people are going

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up to the ATM. And because
we have these interactive ATMs, so you

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can do a video or you can
do a regular chat. And it was

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interesting some of the feedback you got. And then but the best part,

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and this is one of the coolest
things about the job, we decided to

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give members fifty dollars on a random
basis to credit in their account. So

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they didn't know it, but we
had this one lady and she had a

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small child on the back seat,
and you know, she's kind of going

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through a transaction. So I said, he you know, by the way,

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I'm the CEO, blah blah blah, and I'll turn it over and

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so and so to do the transactions. They completed the transaction that I came

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back on and said, hey,
just to thank you for being a member,

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we're going to give you a fifty
dollars credit and your account and make

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the deposit right now. So thank
you for being a member. And Barry

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was so moving. She looked at
us, she looked at the baby in

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the backseat. You can see the
tears coming down her eyes because that fifty

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dollars made a difference. But for
me, it wasn't the fifty dollars.

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It was the fact that I as
a CEO connected with the member and deepen

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that relationship and built that trust.
So that's what our business is about,

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establishing trust to optimize the member experience. Yeah, one member at a time.

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Right. So you're in that Portland
metro area slash rural Oregon, you're

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somewhere in between, and we all
know metro areas teem to expand, so

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it becomes maybe less rural daily and
more metro, right, that's true.

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But you're also competing with a lot
of large banks are important in a lot

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of large credit unions as well.
So for inroads, Like, what's your

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vision for for how you see inroads
sort of owning whatever it is that element

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of the market that you want to
own, Like, what's it going to

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take for you all to get there? You know? I think our focus,

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and I've tried to tell people we
can't be all things to all people.

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Let's be excellent at what we're really
good at. So we're going to

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build a foundation of financial wellness,
and that financial wellness, if you can

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envision a three legac stool, is
financial health, physical health, and mental

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health. And we're going to go
to market branding that three leged stool,

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part for the consumer member and then
the other part for the small business member.

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We can't compete with the larger of
the regional banks because we don't have

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the infrastructure and the product set,
and we have very friendly competition with the

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other credit unions. I mean I
sit on councils with the other CEOs and

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we trade ideas all the time.
So our focus is we have a very

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strong market share in Columbia County where
our branches are, and we're expanding into

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Washington County because that's one of the
growth areas. So again, we can't

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be everywhere. But my vision going
forward is that as we digitize the company,

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we leverage our what we call our
segs, our specialized employee groups where

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we basically do banking services for large
local employers. We leverage that using our

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digital technology to grow our membership base
and expend our footprint. That's terrific.

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Two of those three legs, right, Physical health and mental health not something

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you typically hear from a credit unit, right, But admirable that you're thinking

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of it in a much larger sense
rather than just financial health. I mean,

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financial health is maybe a component or
it can be a detriment to someone's

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mental health as well. Right,
So why did you choose those two elements

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of the stool Because it's so unlike
what I've heard from other credit unions and

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certainly some banks. We have lots
of banks and credit unis who maybe are

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donating to certain causes and so on
and so forth. But you're actually making

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this part of your corporate ethos almost
right? How did that come about?

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00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.839
Nathan? You know, you bring
up a really good point about the banks,

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and again, just being very realistic, I think a lot of times

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financial institutions will make charitable contributions because
it's the right thing to do for a

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variety of reasons. If you look
at a credit union, we're driven by

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community involvement and community impact. And
if you look at the data, and

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no matter what the source, you'll
see, there's a direct correlation between the

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strength of someone's financial health and the
strength of their mental or physical health,

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and if their financial health is not
strong, that stress impacts their mental health

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and that mental health impacts their physical
health. So we're working with we have

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great programs for middle schools and high
schools to help them about the budget and

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what we call financial reality fair,
and then doing the same thing for small

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00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:10.559
business owners because by default, crediting
is serve a lot of the underserved or

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underrepresented communities, and those communities do
not have financial equity. So we could

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take all three of those areas financial
health, mental health, and physical health

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and really use them to have an
impact. That's why we're changing lives and

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leaving a legacy at Inroads, and
the companies completely bought off on that.

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So now we're going to execute that
strategy going forward. Impressive, so impressive,

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00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:37.319
Nathan. So that's part of that's
through digitization, right, the ability

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00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:42.680
to provide more services faster and at
the time and in the channel in which

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the members need to access them.
So you've obviously had to establish some new

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fintech partnerships right up starts of fintech, So we partner with hundreds of banks

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00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:57.319
and creditings across the country for making
sure that we are providing lending in a

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00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:03.400
more inclusive and more accessible man across
the country. So talk about at inroads

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00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:07.240
and maybe even personally, what you
look for in a fintech partner or what

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00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:11.119
really is a catalyst to make inroads
feel that this is going to be something

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that's going to be sustainable and a
fully functioning partnership going forward. I think

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my definition of a great partner would
be what I would call a stakeholder.

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They have a vested interest in the
company because they want to optimize the member

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experience, not just complete a sales
transaction. And literally I'm starting to draw

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00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:37.799
the line for the company between partners
and stakeholders. I would consider obviously a

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00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.880
company like Upstart being a stakeholder because
based on my knowledge of the company,

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which goes back several years, you're
really making a difference in the underserved community.

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And that's what I look for is
you know, there's an old saying

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00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:53.240
Barry said, if you really want
to know where somebody's at, don't watch

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00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:56.079
their lips, watch their feet,
because they can tell you one thing,

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00:25:56.119 --> 00:26:02.359
but their feet will say something different. I think companies upstart when you watch

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00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:06.319
your feet, you guys are doing
all the right things really, you know,

378
00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:11.000
being a stakeholder with credit unis to
try to drive lending to underserved,

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00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:15.559
underrepresented areas. So just using you
as an example, that's what I look

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00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:17.960
for. I don't want a vendor
just to come to me and said,

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00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:22.279
oh, we have the solution,
click on here for a meeting, invite.

382
00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:25.640
No, I want to know your
value proposition, how you can help

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00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:30.279
us, help the community. And
I think when you have a mutually beneficial

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00:26:30.359 --> 00:26:33.119
relationship, that's a win win for
everybody. Awesome. Yeah, No,

385
00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:37.319
So it goes beyond just what the
solution is, right, it gets into

386
00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:40.359
what are the values of the company. Was a vision of the company?

387
00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:44.200
Does it match what Inroads is trying
to do, Because then you know that

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00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:48.920
you've got a partner for life basically
on this right exactly. Terrific, Nathan,

389
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:52.559
this has been a great discussion.
A couple other things I do want

390
00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:55.960
to touch on. You work on
a lot of economic development initiatives, and

391
00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:59.359
you've got a long career as a
commercial or small business banker, so you've

392
00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:03.359
sort of seen the impact that credit
can have to really the lifeblood of certainly

393
00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:07.319
new businesses as well. So talk
a little bit about in the inroads area

394
00:27:07.400 --> 00:27:11.559
in your market, how you see
inroads sort of helping from that perspective,

395
00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:17.039
and it could be from either better
access to credit for small businesses or you

396
00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:18.720
talk a little bit about your work
with schools, but any other sort of

397
00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:23.000
economic development initiates that you think you
guys can be at the forefront ome.

398
00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:27.799
I think two areas. Very one
would be obviously small business, but also

399
00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:33.839
focusing on the micro lending or loans
under one hundred thousand dollars. You have

400
00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:40.119
a local dentist that needs to get
more equipment to expand his or her practice,

401
00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:44.920
or a local restaurant chain that wants
to do something put up a distribution

402
00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:51.240
facility financing that I think when you
really zero in on small business lending,

403
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:57.440
the economic impact isn't just the financial
viability the company, but it's also job

404
00:27:57.480 --> 00:28:03.839
creation and then have that job creation
trickle down through the community because it affects

405
00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.440
so many people, you know,
the daycare provider, the local grocery store,

406
00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:11.079
so forth, and so on.
So what I've been able to do

407
00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:17.319
is in part kind of a long
gain view of economic development here and having

408
00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:22.400
people invest in the community and really
look at it from a relationship standpoint,

409
00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:26.519
not a transaction standpoint. Right.
What's statistic, Nathan, You probably know

410
00:28:26.599 --> 00:28:30.920
better than I do that every dollar
that gets put into the community for supporting

411
00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:33.319
small business turns into eight dollars in
GDP or something like that. Right,

412
00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:38.440
And so as you're supporting that small
business community in your area, it just

413
00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:41.640
has that much of a greater impact
on the whole community at large from an

414
00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:45.920
employment perspective and so on and so
forth. And I think one of the

415
00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:51.759
things that's really fun about working in
a rural a suburban community the passion for

416
00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:56.599
the success of the community is great. So as a native California now working

417
00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:02.240
in Oregon, I've been well received
because I'm taking this personal and I want

418
00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:04.920
people to see my passion for the
community to be successful. It is not

419
00:29:06.039 --> 00:29:10.599
just about inroads credit union, but
what the community can do to band together

420
00:29:11.079 --> 00:29:15.160
across political lines, across governmental lines. How can we have impact Because Verry,

421
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:18.440
what people are starting to see now
is that if we don't reach out

422
00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:22.240
to the middle school and the high
school kids and get them going a financial

423
00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:27.759
wellness and they go down a different
path not only are we losing an economic

424
00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:33.559
impact, but these are potential employees
that we're going to have five to ten

425
00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:37.599
years down the road, and if
we don't move them along properly through that

426
00:29:37.720 --> 00:29:42.599
financial wellness, how can they be
employable down the road if they've been exposed

427
00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:47.559
to other things that will have a
negative impact on their lives. So that's

428
00:29:47.559 --> 00:29:51.079
what I think the aha moment hit
folks locally, is like, Wow,

429
00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:55.160
this really is important, and everybody's
on board. Yeah, amen to that.

430
00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:59.319
Financial literacy is not in the curriculum. I have school aged daughters.

431
00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:03.880
They're not learning through their school,
and there's two camps in that that may

432
00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:08.599
think that it's necessary or it should
be part of what the school system allows,

433
00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:12.640
but you're sort of ignoring that aspect
of it and just going ahead and

434
00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:15.319
saying, Hey, we know this
is a gap in our community. This

435
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:18.519
is something that Inrods can certainly help
with, and you're just going forward with

436
00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:22.599
a program on that. So is
this something Neathing that Inrods has had for

437
00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:23.799
a long time or does it serve
of a new thing that you brought in.

438
00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:27.279
It's a new concept that I brought
in, and it parallels with some

439
00:30:27.400 --> 00:30:33.440
legislative approvals that were done in the
state of Oregon of mandating financial literacy being

440
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:38.240
taught at a certain school age level. So again we're running kind of side

441
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:41.519
by side on this, but really, to me, it's just common sense

442
00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:47.880
for a financial institution because we have
a great community impact in the communities that

443
00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:51.119
we serve. That's part of our
mission is, you know, we have

444
00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:55.799
to help transform lives and help them
be better off, not just for our

445
00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:57.960
benefit, but for the benefit of
the community. So I didn't know this

446
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:03.799
was a state legislator concept. So
then I guess the school boards have to

447
00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:07.200
find institutions that are willing to partner
with them on this unless they're building this

448
00:31:07.240 --> 00:31:12.200
curriculum themselves. Potentially, yes,
there was some legislation passed I believe came

449
00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:17.160
through the Oregon State Senate. It's
not going to be implemented for a few

450
00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:22.160
more years. But in Roads has
had partnerships with local high schools for the

451
00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:26.519
last few years. So now we're
going to deepen those partnerships. We're also

452
00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:29.839
going to go to the middle school
level, and as we expand out our

453
00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:33.599
footprint, we're going to reach out
to other local high schools and explain to

454
00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:37.839
them about our financial reality fairs,
our Team Up for Schools program. So

455
00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:42.559
as an example with our Team Up
for Schools, the local high school gets

456
00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:48.240
a branded debit card and it's like
a cash back rewards program. They get

457
00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:52.519
five percent of all the debit cards
spin back to them at the end of

458
00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:57.119
the year. So we've been able
to present checks from maybe ten or fifteen

459
00:31:57.160 --> 00:32:01.480
thousand to his high as six thousand
and one check we present was over one

460
00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:06.759
hundred thousands, So this is real
money and again as part of our financial

461
00:32:06.759 --> 00:32:09.920
wellness commitment, terrific, terrific.
Well kuno's again to you guys for taking

462
00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:14.000
that initiative and to you Nathan,
I mean this was your brain job coming

463
00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:16.920
in. This was one of these
new ideas. The CEO has maybe a

464
00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:22.200
disproportionate effect on sort of the future
of the organization, and this is maybe

465
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:27.359
one example of where you're really coming
in and this isn't just rhetoric. You're

466
00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:31.000
truly making a tangible impact to the
lives of your community. So again,

467
00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:35.319
props to you and the Inroads for
that. Thank you. I'm going to

468
00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:38.519
close with what we typically do on
leaders and Lending podcasts where we talk about

469
00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:42.240
your bold prediction for the future.
I'm gonna put a little bit of a

470
00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:45.279
twist out of here, Nathan.
I want to know a bold prediction that

471
00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:49.279
you think more from a financial services
perspective, and then maybe a bold prediction

472
00:32:49.359 --> 00:32:51.839
for Nathan, because you're a well
rounded person, right, you have a

473
00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:54.480
lot of things going on personally in
your life. So one bold prediction for

474
00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:58.559
Francise services, one bowl prediction for
Nathan, and then we'll hold you accountable

475
00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:00.559
for this X number of mine from
now. I won't say how many months,

476
00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:06.640
but at some point bold prediction for
financial services, I think you will

477
00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:14.799
see continued mergers amongst credit unions and
acquisitions of credit unis buying small banks or

478
00:33:14.839 --> 00:33:22.359
bank branches. The regulatory environment and
the increased cost of technology is becoming an

479
00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:27.519
issue for most of us, and
then when you layer that over intrastrate risk

480
00:33:27.559 --> 00:33:30.240
and liquidity risk that we deal with
on a daily basis, at some point,

481
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:35.000
I think it just makes sense to
merge. And I'm not saying that

482
00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:37.279
for us, I'm just saying generally
speaking for the industry. And then a

483
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:40.960
lot of CEOs are retiring, so
you'll see that come together more and more

484
00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:45.480
in the next twelve to twenty four
months. Definitely bold prediction for Nathan.

485
00:33:45.960 --> 00:33:49.319
In fairness, I sprung this on
you, but that's when you get the

486
00:33:49.559 --> 00:33:54.720
most genuine and authentic answer. Right, let's see consistently. Shoot, I

487
00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:59.480
have a golf scorer in the mid
eighties, mid eighties. Okay, I've

488
00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:01.440
been playing the rain up here.
I really tried to get better. Well,

489
00:34:01.480 --> 00:34:05.759
there's you know, there's driving ranges, right, there's putting greens and

490
00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:07.039
stuff like that. But are you
at one hundred and twenty right now?

491
00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:09.760
We are you at ninety? Like? I kind of no. No,

492
00:34:10.199 --> 00:34:15.159
My handicap has been seventeen for the
last six years because I just don't play

493
00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:20.760
enough. And you quick, funny
story, So we're as you know,

494
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:22.920
we had a pretty bad ice and
snowstorm up here a couple weeks ago,

495
00:34:23.079 --> 00:34:29.079
so it was pretty harsh, I
think for about four days pretty much the

496
00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:32.159
city got shut down. So I'm
tired of staying inside. So on Sunday,

497
00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:34.960
I was like, all right,
the sun is out even though there's

498
00:34:34.960 --> 00:34:37.599
snow, and the sun is out, and I took a picture of sent

499
00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:40.039
it to my friends. I went
to this driving range and a lot of

500
00:34:40.039 --> 00:34:44.000
the range is covered with snow.
And I'm out there hitting balls and it's

501
00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:46.280
forty degrees and snow on the ground. But I'm out there hitting balls trying

502
00:34:46.280 --> 00:34:50.599
to get better. So we had
a good laugh about that. That's dedication

503
00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:52.679
right now. These are yellow balls
that you can find the snow, right,

504
00:34:52.760 --> 00:34:55.800
not not white balls because that'd be
pretty hard for the for the you

505
00:34:55.840 --> 00:35:00.519
know, some were yellow summer white. But that's on the fact of these

506
00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:02.800
guys at the driving range. But
in all serious I think it really comes

507
00:35:02.840 --> 00:35:06.920
back to what we start off on. You got to put in the work.

508
00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:10.519
And I always tell people I don't
have the perfect answer for everything.

509
00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:15.559
I don't have all the answers,
but my breath of experience and my death

510
00:35:15.559 --> 00:35:20.800
of experience gives me a really good
perspective about problem solving and how to get

511
00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:25.320
things done. So I've imparted on
my executive team. As we talked about

512
00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:31.119
earlier, fail forward, fail fast, but just don't look you straight ahead,

513
00:35:31.559 --> 00:35:35.400
broaden your perspective when you learn a
lot more, and when you learn

514
00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:38.039
more, you become a better leader. Nathan, no better way to attend

515
00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:40.599
the podcast. And on that note, thank you so much for your time

516
00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:43.920
today. I really appreciate it.
I want to run through a wall for

517
00:35:43.960 --> 00:35:47.519
you at this point right now,
you're just very motivating and I just think

518
00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:51.559
that that you and n Roads are
in for some some great successes in twenty

519
00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:54.760
four and beyond. So again,
congratulations and everything that you've accomplished so far.

520
00:35:54.800 --> 00:35:58.119
You've got a long road to go. I'm rooting for you, and

521
00:35:58.119 --> 00:36:00.159
I'm sure that you'll all make it. So thank you again, Thank you,

522
00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:04.039
very friend, and utter thank you. We'll see you all sometime soon.

523
00:36:04.119 --> 00:36:07.599
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524
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