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Connect & Collect Podcast - Season 2, Episode 16
In this episode, Michael Pupil sits down with Jennifer Audette, President/CEO of POLAM Federal Credit Union, to explore her inspiring journey within the credit union movement. Jennifer delves into her passion for community engagement and the philosophy of “people helping people,” sharing insights on transitioning to a new field of membership and connecting with the Polish community. She discusses the importance of member communication, advocacy, and financial literacy, emphasizing how these elements foster trust and loyalty. The conversation also covers collaboration among credit unions, aligning values with financial institutions, and the unique advantages credit unions offer over traditional banks. Jennifer concludes by recommending “It’s a Wonderful Life” as the ultimate credit union movie.
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Skip Ahead
- 00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
- 02:42 - Jennifer's Journey into Credit Unions
- 07:20 - The Role of a CEO in a Credit Union
- 10:59 - Advocacy and the Philosophy of 'People Helping People'
- 12:42 - Building Community and Member Engagement
- 17:29 - Strategies for Member Acquisition and Communication
- 24:47 - The Future of Credit Unions and Member Education
- 42:57 - The Ultimate Credit Union Movie
Read the Transcript
[00:00:00] Host: Welcome to the Connect and Collect podcast brought to you by Lexop. Connect and Collect is a podcast created with the credit union professional in mind. Our goal is to bring you the latest innovations and trends in the industry by speaking with incredible credit union leaders so you can hear what's happening at the ground level.
Here's your host, Michael Pupil, Vice President of Sales at Lexop.
[00:00:27] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Lexop's Connect and Collect. My name is Mike Pupil, vice president of sales here at Lexop. And, I am smiling and laughing as we were having a conversation just earlier, as I'm introducing today's guest, Jennifer Audette, who is the CEO of POLAM Federal Credit Union. Jennifer's journey with credit unions began during college, where she quickly fell in love with the credit union philosophy, but she originally planned to be a teacher. She has transitioned into the credit union world. Blending her love for education and advocacy. [00:01:00] Amazing.
[00:01:01] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: As the CEO of POLAM, Jennifer has led the credit union to its first ever award and best membership. She's also been recognized as a CU rockstar in 2023, credit union Shapiro advocate of the year in 2024. And non profit businesswoman of the year for her contributions to the non profit sector.
[00:01:18] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Jennifer's dedication to credit unions runs deep. She's known for turning any conversation into one about credit unions and she may or may not have been replacing some pens in restaurants with POLAM pens as well.
[00:01:30] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Her passion and energy are boundless and although she does not drink coffee, I definitely do. She proudly says that she drinks the credit union Kool Aid and I could not agree more. Jennifer, cheers to you. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for coming here.
[00:01:45] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Cheers. I have my pink drink. Non coffee. Yes.
[00:01:48] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Exactly. We color coordinated as well for the, uh, the session, which is always fun. Okay. I'm great to have you here. I just want to give a very small shout out. You've done a couple of podcasts. I've heard them. I think [00:02:00] they're fantastic. And maybe just two shout outs to the groups that had you on Members First Mindset Podcast that had you excellent conversation, Grow Your Credit Union Podcast, excellent conversation.
[00:02:11] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You're so well spoken. You're so dedicated to this. It's an honor to have you on. And I hope that anybody listening to this, we're adding new pieces to the journey that you have. So thank you again, sincerely for, for joining us today.
[00:02:23] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: oh. Thank you. I love, I'd love to be here and love to talk credit unions, so it's great to see you virtually.
[00:02:31] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Right on. And hopefully face to face pretty soon.
[00:02:33] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Yes.
[00:02:33] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well, let's, let's start it for those listeners that don't know who you are, you know, share some of your highlights with your career, what motivated you to make the transition into credit union life, but most specifically with POLAM.
[00:02:44] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I'd love to dig there a little bit.
[00:02:46] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: You know, uh, the bulk of my career was at U. S. Postal Service Federal Credit Union. So, um, I was there for a little over 15 years and loved it, but this is definitely a [00:03:00] different field of memberships. So to go from a very union based field of membership to now the Polish field of membership. Polish is our primary base. We're the Polish American Federal Credit Union.
[00:03:16] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And we do have some hopefully exciting news coming soon with our expansion, but either way, either way, we're growing. Right now, we're in Southern California and we have a membership base of primarily polish-speaking members. I love it. I love it. I am not Polish. I'm the first non Polish employee in the history of POLAM's 55 year history. And, uh, have been very welcomed and absolutely love the community. They are an active social group of people, let me tell you.
[00:03:54] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well, for the first non Polish background employee, they went right to the [00:04:00] CEO and I gotta tell you, I think they absolutely knocked it out of the park.
[00:04:04] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You know, the few conversations that we've been having leading into this podcast, the passion of serving the community is so apparent. And going into that process must have been difficult, but I also think you see things for the first time, whereas maybe, you know, those that come with that background, maybe take it for granted because they come from that community.
[00:04:25] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So everything to you is brand new.
[00:04:27] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: It really is. It's almost like I'm in a different industry. It is vastly different. And knowing your membership took on a true new formation in my mind. You know, we
[00:04:42] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: have always said all of us within the credit union industry say we know our members, I really had to learn our members because this is very diverse and different than what almost 30 years in the industry has taught me.
[00:04:56] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So, you know, you go in and I thought, Oh, I have a game plan. I've [00:05:00] seen the financials. This is what we'll
[00:05:01] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: do.
[00:05:02] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And joke was on me. So it was, um, very different. You know, I remember I have a shirt posted where I have shenanigans coordinator, on Halloween I wore most likely to suggest wearing matching shirts.
[00:05:19] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I'm just known for my, remind me to tell you my bowling story recently that I got myself into trouble with. But
[00:05:27] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: you know, I remember coming in, Okay, it's March Madness, let's get ready. Everyone's like, what is March Madness? What are you talking about? And I thought, well, maybe it's just that I work primarily with women and they're not into basketball.
[00:05:40] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Nobody knew what March Madness was, so change that thinking.
[00:05:45] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And things that just are natural, you know, they're very into soccer. And,
[00:05:52] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: they're very into community days that I had never heard of. Or festivals.
[00:05:58] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And these people [00:06:00] are partiers like you would not believe, whether it be the consulate or their dance groups, or even their insurance groups. Everyone always jokes, you have so many
[00:06:12] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: dresses.
[00:06:12] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I'm like, you know what, there's a lot of things I'll discuss and my wardrobe is not one of them.
[00:06:17] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So, I was recently chatting with the CEO of the Japanese credit union down the street. I always joke, we're about 3. 9 miles away and 45 minutes from each
[00:06:27] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: other.
[00:06:28] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And we were joking and he was like, now just tell me, how many dresses do you own? I said, you know what, I will talk about politics, religion,
[00:06:37] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I will talk about
[00:06:38] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: you name it, any taboo topic, but we're not discussing my wardrobe. So I have a lot of events, alright, you don't know this community.
[00:06:47] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well, it sounds like a lot of fun.
[00:06:50] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: It is a lot of fun.
[00:06:53] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Yeah, and getting to know the members and that really was the spirit I think of credit unions back when they [00:07:00] started. Was to create that community and to have a place of long then to provide financial services and the education part of it.
[00:07:06] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Now, as CEO, you also handle a lot of other roles. I think it's the loneliest job in the world, but it is also probably the most fulfilling because everything runs through it. You know, through the cadence and the speed of the CEO. But, you know, tell me a little bit about some of the new responsibilities and what you're juggling, you know, at POLAM and this role, because you're right, it is different than what you've had before. But, I imagine it is wildly fulfilling.
[00:07:32] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: It is wildly fulfilling. It's the weight of the responsibility does not weigh lightly on me. It is something that I do feel on my shoulders. I feel the responsibility. I feel the burden. I take it very seriously, and think about it 24 hours a day.
[00:07:53] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So, you know, I always joke, I was just at the CEO convention at America's credit union, and I [00:08:00] was trying to pitch my idea.
[00:08:01] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: We need a credit union dating app so that, uh, you know, it's just credit union people that get it.
[00:08:07] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: they understand the commitment that it takes. You know, they started taking pictures of me. I would be on the floor, unplugging IT. Let's try this switch with this switch. I'll be on a ladder. Oh yeah, the roof needs done. I want to see it.
[00:08:29] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So we have a two story building. So there I am in my heels and my dress climbing the ladder. Oh, we have a B infiltration. Okay, let's go deal with the B issue. Oh, we need an exception for a 700, 000 home equity line of credit. Okay. We'll put that
[00:08:49] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: next.
[00:08:49] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Okay. Now we have a security issue over here. I have a tenant complaint. I have upstairs tenants. We're dealing with issues
[00:08:58] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: there.
[00:08:59] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Then it's the HR [00:09:00] issue right here. And then it.
[00:09:02] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Wow, you never know what my day. No, it's funny. I'll start out with an agenda and then just kind of laugh.
[00:09:11] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: It's like well that didn't quite go as planned but you know, you never know what the day will bring, you know. We recently had somebody who broke into a mailbox and threw mail just everywhere just thought it would be fun. So you have a picture of me cleaning up the mail at You know, 7 a. m., you know, sweeping up the mail in my heels and, try, you know, broom,
[00:09:34] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: you know, you just never know.
[00:09:37] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I will say, and one of our early exchanges together was on LinkedIn, when we connected. And at one point, and we're a few hours difference, I'm on the East Coast, you're on the West Coast. But you had sent me a message and it must have been about 10:30 in the evening saying that you were wrapping up for the day dot dot dot.
[00:09:55] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Now you know what? Just one more thing and then I'm going to take off in a little bit and I [00:10:00] happen to get it at that point. And I think I messaged you the next morning, where I said, it is wildly inspiring to have a leader lead by example, right?
[00:10:09] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so if it requires somebody to sweep or pick up something off the floor or to do this, or whether it is grandiose and strategic, or it is more minute and just tactical, I think you never shy away from that.
[00:10:22] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And it is inspiring to see a leader do that, which is probably why there has been such an upswing of, you know, attention towards Pollum, the recognition for members first, your recognition for some of the work that you're doing. And I don't think that that is going to slow down at all.
[00:10:39] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Never. I will never stop.
[00:10:42] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Yeah, you've got a cheerleader.
[00:10:44] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Listen, I changed my shirt once I knew that you were wearing pink. I said, we're going to match. And so you did that without asking. So it, it, it happened there anyway.
[00:10:51] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Influencer. I love it.
[00:10:54] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Exactly. Well, look, talking about the, the advocacy, right? People helping people. Talk to me [00:11:00] about what that means to you as a credit union leader.
[00:11:02] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I think that's the cornerstone.
[00:11:04] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: How could you not feel passionate about three simple words as people helping people? If it's not your life philosophy, it should be. If it's not your work philosophy, you need to incorporate it. And if I ever get a tattoo, that's what it'll be. Maybe with the, with the umbrella man on there too.
[00:11:28] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: But you know, that's, it's the epitome of who we are. What better three words are there out there? People helping people. If we all just lived and breathed that motto and everything that we did, how great would the world be?
[00:11:45] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Life would be a little easier, wouldn't it?
[00:11:47] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Yeah.
[00:11:48] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I agree. I agree.
[00:11:49] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: That's all we need.
[00:11:50] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I think servant leadership is a noble pursuit for sure. I think leaders, or managers, or directors, whatever title you want to put, you're supposed to be working for [00:12:00] your team, not the other way around. Somewhere along the way, I think we lost sight of that and it became more dictatorial.
[00:12:07] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Thank you. So I completely agree. I think if anybody could just help and do the work, right? It's, picture the analogy if everybody pulls or if everybody rows in the same day, right? Like all of those analogies that if everybody just pitches in, you know, the work ends up being so much easier and everybody's built into the same piece.
[00:12:25] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So how did you corral Pollum to do that? Is it just through your own, just jumping in and getting your hands dirty and doing this and leading by example? Or was this a plan that you had, like you said, when you walked through the door, you had a plan and this is what you were going to do.
[00:12:40] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Oh, the plan went
[00:12:41] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: out the as soon as I was like, Oh, we're, you know, just reading the financials. You need to, it's people say you should. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know on paper what it looks like we should be doing, [00:13:00] but I know our members now.
[00:13:01] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And I had to take a step back and realize it's not what's on paper, it's what's front of you, and it's that people helping people.
[00:13:13] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So I started one on one. Member by member, talking, listening, socializing, attending Polish mass, sitting next to my members, you know, on a Sunday, sitting next to, at a consulate event, sitting next to them at a festival, attending their scholarship presentations, going to the Polish university club, to the school, Polish school, Polish church, you
[00:13:40] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: name it,
[00:13:40] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: you name it.
[00:13:42] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I've attended it, if it has Polish related to it. And the amount of Polish plays and theater and films that I've sat through, not understanding Polish, again, you get down to that passion. And the passion comes [00:14:00] through. You don't need the language, because you can feel the passion. And slowly they brought me into their world and I started to learn what's important to them and you listen.
[00:14:13] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And that's where my plan was like, okay, this is not what they want. It's very different, you know, where everybody, what may work for credit union a, isn't going to work for Pollum. So, it really is a matter of getting to know them. And they're
[00:14:33] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: vocal.
[00:14:34] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I always joke, if they don't have my cell number, the person sitting next to them at church has my cell number.
[00:14:40] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So, I get texts all the time, which is great. I love to hear it. You know, that's what I'm here for. That's what makes, me passionate about small credit unions, you know, I'm not sure if I had 26, 000 members again that I would want to so freely give out my cell
[00:14:57] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: number, But,
[00:14:58] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: knowing me, I [00:15:00] probably would, it's great.
[00:15:00] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: We, we just had somebody, I, when I was in Arizona recently at a conference, they called me and he said, you're the smartest one I know, my credit union. And I was like, Oh, let's just stop for a second. Take that in. The smartest one I know. Okay, you got me. What do you need? Okay, whatever you need. Okay.
[00:15:21] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So, you know, he had somebody do identity theft. And, you know, he called me and I was in a plane. I was getting ready to board. So, I'm quickly, okay, go to this website. It has all three credit bureaus. You're going to want to put a freeze. You're going to want to put an alert. You're going to want to. And then when I land, on my layover, I'll text you, you know. And that's what we were doing.
[00:15:42] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And, you know, it's multitasking at its finest. And I think that I would be bored to death if I wasn't wearing all these hats. And so, every time I go a little crazy, I think. Really, would I want to be at a place that was [00:16:00] 9 to 5, that you could follow a schedule? Nah.
[00:16:04] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Yeah,
[00:16:05] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I, I
[00:16:05] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: love, I love, you never know what's going to be thrown at you.
[00:16:08] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I love it too, because I think what really resonates with that strategy is that, because the community is so tight, what you're going to get is a lot of word of mouth.
[00:16:18] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And if there's anything that I think, the credit union community appreciates, is that collaboration right amongst credit unions. You were mentioning the 45 minutes. It takes you to get less than 4 miles to talk to a different credit union with a different membership. And I, I would be so bold to say that you guys probably share some strategies.
[00:16:39] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Talk about what's working, especially what is not working. In fact, this conversation is very, very reminiscent. We did a, an earlier podcast with another CEO, uh, Maria Martinez from Border Federal Credit Union, who, you know, very well.
[00:16:52] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And talking the same way about the compassion and the dedication to the membership and knowing them and really [00:17:00] intimately understanding that culture. And then growing, you know, the, the reputation for service, and putting the members first, hence the recognition that you got.
[00:17:11] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You know, talk to me a little bit about the strategies that you have, because I think you're doing some really cool stuff when it talks about engagement, even when it comes to indirect loan holders. Communication that you have, I think you excel at communication. And I'd love for you to just spend a couple of minutes to the listeners talking about how you're, you know, kind of organizing this recipe.
[00:17:31] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Both in the industry and with my members, you know, it's great. I have such a wonderful network. So we call in California, credit unions that are under about 300 million in asset Shapiro size. And so Shapiro size credit union, filled with all rock stars. I'm so fortunate to be in this group that I started a text. And I think there's several people that would [00:18:00] like to opt out of the text thread at this point.
[00:18:02] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: But they're stuck with me. And you know, literally, I can text
[00:18:10] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: 35
[00:18:10] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: peers with a question and get three points of view in five minutes. And it's phenomenal. And so I named the group chat, the never alone in the credit union world group chat.
[00:18:26] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And so some people have joked and they're like, How did I get on this thread? Too bad you met me somewhere, you're on it. So, it's such a collaborative group. And i'm so lucky but my story earlier where I said remind me, I'll do a shout out to Rob Graph over at Delta Schools.
[00:18:48] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And so I don't know why I picked on him. I don't know. He's fun to pick on. He, he's, he's a funny guy. And we were on LinkedIn and someone posted something about an upcoming event. I did, just [00:19:00] being the nutso that I am, I said, I don't know, let's pick on Rob. So I said, oh, for the bowling competition, Rob, I said, let's
[00:19:08] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: make a bet.
[00:19:09] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Let everybody contribute to pack, if it's Team Jen or Team Rob. So I'm thinking Rob, you know, hey, I can beat him in bowling,
[00:19:19] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: No problem,
[00:19:20] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: right? Why did I pick
[00:19:22] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: on Rob?
[00:19:23] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Well guess who owns his own bowling shoes, his own bowling
[00:19:26] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: ball,
[00:19:27] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: and guess who knows nothing about bowling and uses bumpers, okay?
[00:19:34] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So I'm not competitive. I'm the one that nobody will invite to the golf courses because I'm doing snow angels because I find it so boring. I'm on the
[00:19:42] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: ground doing snow angels on the golf
[00:19:44] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: course. So, you know, it's, I'm not competitive. I just am having fun. I steal everybody's turn and mess up everyone's score.
[00:19:51] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: But I did this challenge with Rob. So, Everybody got into it. Like, little did I know how much this was gonna blow up. This really
[00:19:59] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: blew [00:20:00] up.
[00:20:00] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So the whole time, so then I thought, Oh boy, I better, I better really start, like, honing in on my bowling skills here.
[00:20:08] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So, I decided I would be the underdog. So, you know, Rudy, the
[00:20:12] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: movie? Where he was the football player
[00:20:14] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: and the underdog.
[00:20:15] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So I then
[00:20:17] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: said, okay, I'm going to be team Rudy. Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! So I had everybody like chanting, right?
[00:20:25] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And so we're on the bus and everybody's like, okay, team Rudy, what's your average bowling score? And I said, well, Rob, what's your average? And I think he said like 250 or 260.
[00:20:37] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And I said, oh,
[00:20:38] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: well, mine's like 360. And he's like, the max is 300. I said, well, that's how good, I am, okay? So that's, that's how good I am that I'm three.
[00:20:48] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Well, someone got a 27. And one person got like a 280.
[00:20:54] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And so I scored. So I got a trophy that I wish I would have [00:21:00] brought so they were prepared for me, and I got a last place ring that's the size of a future wedding ring I
[00:21:08] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: hope you know.
[00:21:09] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So it's like the size of a silver dollar. It's massive and it says l on it for loser and last place. It has a toilet. I I will cherish
[00:21:19] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: it always.
[00:21:20] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: They turned it into a necklace. The greatest photo ever is, is me. And
[00:21:25] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: everyone's like, why are you so happy about last
[00:21:28] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: place?
[00:21:28] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I'm like, we raised so much money for pack. We had so much fun. There's this great photo where I think I hit the one ball the one time and I'm jumping up and down. Like it's a straight. If someone got it on photo, the whole place went up in cheers. I won. It was a win win.
[00:21:46] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And a hundred percent and so it it's uh, you know. The game itself is not the important part. It's the mission of what it is that you're Yep. there. And that, here comes the comments and I'm sure some of the listeners are [00:22:00] starting to realize the comments of the beginning, where you have this magnetic personality to draw it in. Which is exactly what you want. Once everybody starts participating if we all pitch in, it becomes that much easier.
[00:22:12] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Absolutely.
[00:22:13] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So amazing, so it's funny that you mentioned that I was in Vermont not long ago. Vermont Federal Credit Union, we were doing a little thing and we actually went bowling and just a small little shout out Elaine Cahill had actually organized it with Allied Solutions.
[00:22:25] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Allied. I'm with
[00:22:26] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Allied.
[00:22:27] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So I should I come and she's like, yeah, come on, come on down, their great. We all were terrible at bowling. Myself, especially. But it was so much fun.
[00:22:36] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And I think the, the idea is, is that, there are so many credit unions, in the conversations that we have, understaffed, for sure. Especially some departments versus others. A tremendous amount of responsibility. There's always the extracurricular activities in terms of engaging back into the community, which you have to then try to somewhat balance work life and maybe blend them [00:23:00] together in order to make sure that you're doing everything.
[00:23:02] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so like these type of activities, while they may seem. fun and you know, oh who get, they're wildly important. Because that's where you create the relationship to figure out what is really going well, or what is needing a little attention because it isn't. And the worst thing that you can have is no communication
[00:23:22] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Lexop is on the collection side. One of the hardest things in the world to do is to collect from somebody that doesn't answer you, right? If there is no relationship, then how do you know what it is that you're doing?
[00:23:34] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Same thing on the lending side, away from Lexop for a second, but on the lending side, I think this is what leads into the strategy of your lending and indirect and direct.
[00:23:41] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And, you know, some of the growth that you're seeing there is to engage the community more so that they feel comfortable coming to you first. That's the piece to it. I love that. I love it. I definitely want to see, I may put you on the spot. I may have you send me a picture of that, that medal or that ring that ring. or
[00:23:59] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: it. [00:24:00] Absolutely.
[00:24:01] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Sarah Klein took it and it's so funny, I've posted it and people are like, why they, I zoomed in and it says, last place, why are you, because they ecstatic. Look on my face is hilarious. I mean, it looks like I just won a million dollars and you know, or when I was the advocate of the year, when I found out that was the look on my face.
[00:24:26] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I'm not kidding. I want to be buried in
[00:24:27] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: that thing.
[00:24:28] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: That thing is, I love it so much. I'm wearing it always. It's a staple in my ward. I should have worn it today.
[00:24:37] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I love it. Well, I mean is this how you see I guess, the future of credit unions? I've picked on this topic a lot. I have a Soapbox that I'll probably get on and start to bark.
[00:24:50] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And just like I have on all the other podcasts, but you know, where do you see the future of credit unions? Where do you think it's going to be capitalized on? You know, what practical steps, would you [00:25:00] take, you know, how do you see this? And I know you maybe want to share some pieces, maybe you want to keep it a little bit quiet until you get some.
[00:25:07] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I share everything and keep nothing quiet. I swear, I'm really not even joking. I, there is nothing I cannot turn into a credit union conversation. And it's funny because my EVP will be out with me and you'll see his eyes scrunch a little bit, like, where is she going? And then, afterwards, he'll say to me, I didn't know where you were headed.
[00:25:32] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Within 45 seconds, I saw it and was like, I can't believe she turned. This conversation into a credit union conversation, it's just, it all just blows naturally.
[00:25:46] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: It's my
[00:25:46] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: favorite conversation. I was at the Hollywood Bowl and I was with my girlfriend and the two of us were, were singing some 80s concert.
[00:25:55] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And we hear the people behind us talking about an auto loan [00:26:00] or an auto, buying an auto. And she looks at me and she's like shaking her head. No, like, please don't. please don't Well, I intentionally have a
[00:26:08] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: purse with an outside pocket for me to easily grab my business card. So if you've ever exited the Hollywood bowl, you're like squish, like, you know, sardines trying to get out.
[00:26:19] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And I reach into my purse, I go behind me, I pass it over my shoulder. And I said, if you need help with your auto load, give me a
[00:26:29] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: call, you know? So
[00:26:31] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: every opportunity, I live and breathe. It's actually cost me dates before. Because there was one, one day when you mentioned the pen earlier, we went to sign the check, he said something about, Oh, can I have a pen?
[00:26:48] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So they brought over a chase pen and I was like, Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me. I see. I'm sorry, but really I said your pen kind of offends me. And the waiters looking at me like I'm [00:27:00] insane and I said, you know, I'm a huge credit union advocate and my credit unions right around the corner. I said so I'll make you a deal.
[00:27:10] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: You get rid of the chase pen. I'm going to bring you
[00:27:12] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: back
[00:27:13] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: some great credit union pens. And, uh, you need to have your, your people set. He's like, well, I'm going to have the manager, the owner come over and talk to you. And they ended up opening an account and their account is here. They have endless pull on pens to have their customers sign their checks with.
[00:27:30] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And, uh, score one for credit unions. So, I didn't get a second date, but that's okay. I got a credit union member and that was much more exciting.
[00:27:40] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: It's fine. Probably banks that chase anyway, let it, let them be. I love this story and thank you for sharing that by the way. So the, the soapbox that I get on constantly is about member acquisition or, or growing the membership within credit unions. I am Canadian. Most people kind of know that, but I lived in the United States for over [00:28:00] 10 years.
[00:28:01] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I do not understand why banks continue to have the market presence that they have. When I was living in the U S this was right before market crash, around the 2005, 2006. A couple of years before the big advertisement for most financial institutions, the brick and mortar banks, the big guys that we're talking about, was always surrounding the ATM network around the country because cash was still one of the things that everybody had in their pockets or everybody would go to, right?
[00:28:29] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Which opened the door to all those ATM fees. That went sky high, then got railed back down. But with the advent of technology, the push to tap, many of us using our phone to pay for things, things like that. The ATM network has almost evaporated as a selling point to do financial services.
[00:28:48] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Rates are always better. The service is always more personal. There is a win column almost in every single category when it comes to a credit union, and where I jump onto the [00:29:00] soapbox is that so many credit unions do engage in indirect lending and try to open that door, but use very, very little resources to try to encourage that member to acquire more services than just the card loan that they bought. Where they didn't even know that they were walking out of the door, now being attached to a credit union.
[00:29:23] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so they're going to continue to work with Wells Fargo, Chase, US Bank, whoever, Citibank, Bank of America. All the rest of the stuff where they are one of millions instead of being able to be part of that community. So I don't get it. That's where my passion comes in. It's also where I try to fuel. So I think we share that a lot and your story is a really important one.
[00:29:44] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: The little effort that it took to engage that conversation sparked up a new member and an engaging one.
[00:29:52] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: What's interesting is on LinkedIn, I've gotten a little, battle with a banker this weekend on a, I don't know if I'm still connected with the person, [00:30:00] but,
[00:30:00] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: he mentioned publicly that he was looking for a credit union in Texas
[00:30:04] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: and,
[00:30:04] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: you know, I always, I always joke on Miracle on 34th street, there's Santa who referred them to the best deal.
[00:30:13] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So I
[00:30:14] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: forget what the department with story is in the movie, but, he would say, okay, we don't have it, but, you know, Wolver's has it for 29. 99 on sale this week and refer them over. I do that constantly. And so if I'm not able to offer it, I will find you a credit union that can.
[00:30:37] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And I have done it many, many, hundreds of times where I've done that. And what's great is this morning, the original poster, he did not unfriend me, or disconnect, whatever. But he reached out and he said, I would like to take you up on your offer. And so the two of us are going to have a conversation and I'm going to find him a [00:31:00] credit union in Texas that fulfills his needs.
[00:31:04] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And so he had a bunch of banker friends that were chiming in. Why would you join a credit union? They're behind the technology. There with. And so what do I spend my Saturday to? Well, I was right here at this desk, but I did peek in on LinkedIn and I said, is this satire? I said, I don't know what credit union, you know, technology is, is lacking.
[00:31:27] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I said, you know, I will find you a credit union with whatever your top three needs are. And I do a lot of advocacy work. And when I go and I speak in Sacramento or DC, I always talk to the aides, and so these are the 20 year olds, these are our future, these are our future political leaders, and I give them my card, so everyone else is speaking to the senator, the, whoever, not that
[00:31:56] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I'm not.
[00:31:57] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: But I zero in for the [00:32:00] aides, I zero in for, and I have had I've had dozens of them actually follow up with me to have zooms and discussions about affiliations with credit unions. And so it's never been my credit union, but because if it's in Sacramento, I refer them to whether it be Schools First or Sacramento Credit Union or, you know, whatever it may be, wherever I'm at, that is typically local to them that they're eligible for membership at.
[00:32:29] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So, I don't care what credit union you join, but join a credit union. There is always a credit union for whatever need that you have. And so, that's what the networking is about. I want to know who to refer you to. I want to find you that situation.
[00:32:52] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: You know, I've told this story to before, but my daughter studied abroad in Barcelona for the summer and she called me [00:33:00] absolutely terrified to tell me that, Oh, mom, I'm really scared. And I was like, please don't be pregnant. Please don't be pregnant. Please don't be pregnant. I don't know why that's what came to mind.
[00:33:12] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I
[00:33:12] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: mean, she was,
[00:33:13] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: you know, she's normally so mellow and calm.
[00:33:15] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And I was
[00:33:16] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: like, okay, whatever it is, I'll be fine. I'll be calm. What, what is it? And she's like, Mom, in the meeting, they said we had to have a bank account to be in Barcelona.
[00:33:26] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And I said, What? What? They
[00:33:29] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: said, What?
[00:33:30] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And she goes, I knew you were going to be upset. And I said, Oh,
[00:33:33] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: you get me
[00:33:33] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: a name, you get me a phone number, I want to contact information right now. I want to know who said that. I said, You do know I have members in Poland that use us as their primary financial institution with zero problems.
[00:33:46] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: You will be just fine in Barcelona with your Pollum debit card. And sure enough, guess who did not need to open a bank account and did perfectly fine in Barcelona with her [00:34:00] Pollum debit card.
[00:34:00] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So
[00:34:01] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So this is part, so I love the advocacy. It's also the education part where I think many, many out there, all the consumer, all everybody across the board. The, the thought process is, is that a credit union cannot meet the needs financially of the services that are provided. You have to go to a Bank of America if you want to have everything that you need.
[00:34:25] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You have to go to a city bank if you have to, you know, do everything and if you're traveling. Otherwise, the credit union doesn't really have presence or brick and mortar, you know, in certain locations versus the other ones. And it's just simply not true.
[00:34:37] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so, that advocacy, that education, that promotion is what you're tackling.
[00:34:43] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And you know, there's several things that come to mind when you say that. One is people are, you know, how there's the promotion of shop smalls, shop small business, you know, we've all heard that. And which I also fully support, right. Buy local, support [00:35:00] small business.
[00:35:01] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: You know, there's so many of those or boycott this company because they, you know, support this or they support that.
[00:35:08] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I need that for credit unions and I am determined that it is going to be my life goal to get people to think that same way about credit unions. And these are your finances. Put your money where your values are. Do you want to be an owner of your financial institution? Do you want to support the people that are supporting your community?
[00:35:36] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Do you want your money to speak where your values align with? Or do you want to be a customer at a for profit financial institution that doesn't know your name? That doesn't know you from anybody. We had a member who was going through financial problems, and we [00:36:00] called a few generous members that we have, obviously gave no information, we just said there's, we have a
[00:36:07] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: member.
[00:36:08] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: They're having some medical issues. We were, you know, coming up with a plan to help them through the holidays. No questions asked. Withdraw 300. Let me give 500. I'll give 1, 000.
[00:36:21] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I'll give.
[00:36:22] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So we were able to help this member survive the holiday season, give gifts for her, children. This was just
[00:36:31] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: a no
[00:36:32] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: questions trust that our members had based on our call because we saw a need.
[00:36:39] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: And, you know, another, another quick example that comes to mind is we used to sponsor a soccer team and this is 25 years ago. And they were cleaning out their garage and had, actually I have a bunch of the mementos out because it was soccer season, and so they came by and [00:37:00] they brought us all these little Polish pennants and, they gave us little plastic like, ID cards that ended up being, what was hilarious, was one of the ID cards belonged to one of our employees husband when he was like 21. It was so cute. So as we were going through the names, and so, you know, he came in with his box that was 25
[00:37:24] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: years of mementos.
[00:37:25] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I'm in tears, you know, I'm treasuring this.
[00:37:29] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: This is something, this is beautiful. Now part of Pollum's legacy. This is permanently going to be in
[00:37:35] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: our vault of memories. And I thought, can you imagine somebody walking into a big bank saying you sponsored us 25 years ago, and here are the name badges And mementos and trophies from that time. And have the [00:38:00] bank CEO come out, cry, hug you,
[00:38:03] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: thank you,
[00:38:04] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: you know, and it's, it's so different.
[00:38:07] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: The values need to align. Align your values with your money.
[00:38:12] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Let your
[00:38:13] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: money speak. Sometimes maybe we aren't the first one because you know what? We don't take risks with your finances. We hold that responsibility heavily and we hold it closely and we do what's best for our field of membership.
[00:38:33] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I've gotten into a lot of these conversations as well. It probably will preclude me from other job opportunities in that field. But I'll call it how I see it. The biggest, still to this day, the biggest reason why many people choose the financial institution that they choose is simply by access. Brick and mortar access. Because it was on the same block, because it was near my first employer, because it was where my mom and dad went.
[00:38:58] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And this is where I go now. There's no [00:39:00] thought process. There's no evaluation. There's no alignment of finances with, you know, the culture of what it is that you're doing. You're not letting your money speak to where you go. And as we go through, I think the literacy rate or the education rate of finances has a massive gap.
[00:39:16] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: We can go down that path for hours and hours, how that is not part of the education system, which it absolutely should be just like accounting, just like a number of different things. That should be included as a in the curriculum, but the and this is why it requires leadership and that promotional, you know, outreach to the community where you may not have 50 branches in the surrounding 10 miles.
[00:39:41] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You may have 1 or 2 or 3 or 4. So the presence. You know physically may not be that large but it doesn't preclude anybody from being able to do what it is that they need to do. In fact, I would I would argue that you'll probably get farther along by having the relationship with a credit union I pick on payday lenders [00:40:00] all the time, too. I'm definitely not part of their christmas party, you know this, this coming year.
[00:40:04] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: How they are at 23 000 or over 23 000 locations today is mind boggling. And in some states, you were mentioning Texas, I think the interest rate is at 656%. That's the cap. Can you imagine, in all good conscience doing that?
[00:40:19] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And the only reason why, if you ever talk to a payday lender, they actually like their payday lenders. It's because of the digital communication and the reminders that they get and the ease of use. Credit unions that are listening to this, you can absolutely employ technology without busting the bank account to be able to serve your members regardless of the location that they're in, including overseas.
[00:40:43] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: That text message I, I think that we discussed recently. it's friendly. And you know what's different is when we get the report of overdraft or NSF activity or you know, any sort of financial problems, we're calling them not [00:41:00] only to collect, but to solve a problem.
[00:41:02] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Bingo.
[00:41:03] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: It's not, "Oh, you're on our profitable list now." And so we're not encouraging that we're reaching out for financial education. So that's a huge difference. I think sometimes checks do just get lost in the mail or, you know, you're on vacation and you forget.
[00:41:22] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: So those text reminders, you know, that you guys offer are phenomenal. It's a, it's a friendly reminder that makes it easy for them to conduct business and credit unions make it easy.
[00:41:35] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: and you know what? Sometimes people lose their job. Sometimes people are bad at managing money where they subscribe to too many things. My God, we make it easy to spend money today. And to put everything on a preauthorized payment. And then once the paycheck comes through, everything is taken away.
[00:41:53] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: All the subscriptions that we're in. I mean, I've probably got about seven of them in this house for different streaming services that I don't even [00:42:00] watch TV because I'm on the road most of the time. So even someone who's preaching this can be silly sometimes with finances and taking the 10, 15 minutes to speak to somebody to help them orient could translate into thousands of dollars over the course of the year.
[00:42:15] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: As a species, we have proven ourselves very, very irresponsible. It is why we constantly have to remind ourselves to go to the dentist twice a year. We should be doing a financial checkup twice a year. We should be going to our doctors twice a year. It's amazing how we're all in that same boat, but we don't.
[00:42:32] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And that's why it takes the repetition, the passion and the energy to do it. And so I wholeheartedly agree. Jennifer you are you've been an amazing advocate for this my god I wish and I know that we're gonna have many more conversations with this I do want to wrap up with one question. You gave me a cool closing comment the last time that we were talking about and it has to do with the ultimate credit union movie.
[00:42:56] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Oh, I love that you learned.[00:43:00]
[00:43:00] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: You're right. The credit union movie.
[00:43:02] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So what would be the ultimate credit union movie, what should people be watching?
[00:43:08] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: You do not need to wait until Christmas to be inspired with It's a Wonderful Life. That movie was written by a credit union advocate. I guarantee you, if
[00:43:21] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: you don't
[00:43:22] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: think that would be my honeymoon, pulling over,
[00:43:25] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: giving out
[00:43:27] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: all the money, you wonder why I'm single, you know.
[00:43:33] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: But that would be me. It's everything that
[00:43:37] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: we are.
[00:43:38] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: I cannot not watch that movie at least twice a year because it is so inspiring. And every time someone calls it a Christmas movie, I think.
[00:43:52] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Well, I mean, I, I guess part of it occurs at Christmas, but did you miss the part about how he was, was [00:44:00] beating the big bad financial take advantage person that was taking over the town and foreclosing on everybody?
[00:44:09] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: To me, it's so clear what the meaning of that movie is and it's credit unions. It's people helping people.
[00:44:15] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So there you go. So we'll, we'll wrap. I can't imagine a better way. So there's a recommendation from Jennifer Audette herself, the greatest credit union movie produced. You do not have to wait for Christmas, by the way.
[00:44:28] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I think the decorations are not that far away from us anyway. So it'll probably be kosher to be watching it, as soon as Halloween passes, so it's not going to be that far away. But Jennifer, thank you again. Thank you for carving out some time. I know how busy you are. And trying to schedule this in your busy schedule is a huge, huge honor for us.
[00:44:47] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: We love the passion. We want to continue to support you and POLAM in any way that we can. I think we've already discussed some of the conferences and things that are happening in 2024 and 2025. And I hope that this is the start of a very, very [00:45:00] long friendship and relationship.
[00:45:01] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: It will be. And thank you for all that you and your company do for the industry. You know, you help us advance. You help us advance and you know, when I am on my debates on a Saturday or Sunday on LinkedIn, I get to say, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, technology.
[00:45:17] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Guess who I'm affiliated with?
[00:45:20] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Feel free to add me to any of those channels that you got.
[00:45:23] Jennifer Audette - CEO, POLAM Federal Credit Union: Okay, you'll be sorry.
[00:45:25] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I'm in. All right. Amazing.
[00:45:28] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I'll let you get back to it. Jennifer, thank you so much again, and for those listening, I hope you enjoyed, this, uh, session of Connect and Collect. We will be back next month for our next edition and as we round out, the end of the year, I hope everybody as well, and we will probably see each other very soon.
[00:45:44] Michael Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Thank you very much everyone.
Thank you for listening to the Connect and Collect podcast. Find show notes and other resources for this episode at lexop.com. And if you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe, like, share, and [00:46:00] comment.
