Championing Member Interests Through Legislative Advocacy and Community Involvement

Connect & Collect Podcast - Season 2, Episode 9

In this episode of Connect & Collect, Join Mark Avelar, Executive Vice President of Texas Bridge Credit Union and President of the Coastal Bend Chapter of Credit Unions, for a discussion on the importance of advocacy in legislative affairs, the power of community involvement and communication strategies to engage the younger generations.

We discuss the changing landscape of the credit union industry, particularly noting the need for empathy in member relations and an adaptive mindset in the face of ongoing technological advances. Mark also emphasizes the importance of connectivity both within communities and between credit union professionals.

What we're talking about in this episode:

• The impact of legislative advocacy and community involvement on credit unions
• Overcoming the fear of change and the importance of internal adaptability
• Engaging and attracting younger generations and the value of empathetic communication
• How credit unions can help provide better financial literacy education
  
  

It's the right thing to do. Customers should have the choice and they shouldn't have to pay a premium just because they want to finance it at their financial institution of choice.

Guest Profile:

Mark Avelar - Connect with Mark on LinkedIn

Read the Transcript:

[00:00:00] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexo 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.

[00:00:21] Here's your host, Michael Pupil, Vice President of Sales at Lexop. 

[00:00:26] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Hello everyone. Welcome back. My name is Mike Pupil. I'm your host and a lot of fun. This is season two, episode one, and super excited to be online today. And I'm going to introduce our first speaker for season two, which I actually consider at this point now, Mark, a personal friend. And so I'll do ,the introduction the right way by giving you your introduction, because I think we're going to have a fun conversation today. 

[00:00:53] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so, for those of you listening, those of you watching, who I've got online for season two, episode one, is Mark [00:01:00] Avalar, who currently serves as the Executive Vice President at Texas Bridge Credit Union and 80 million dollar community credit union.

[00:01:06] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Also, Mark serves as the Coastal Bend Chapter for credit unions. And provides a series of networking, leadership training opportunities, and networking specifically for the area credit unions in that corner. He's also actively engaged in legislative advocacy and public efforts, which is incredibly cool.

[00:01:27] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And I got a firsthand account of going through that process and can't wait to talk about that. Mark is also a graduate of the Leadership Corpus Christi Class 29, a former steering committee member, a board member of the USS Lexington Museum, and serves on the executive board for the Buccaneer Commission, Corpus Christi's longest running community festival.

[00:01:48] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: When I tell you guys that it is an absolute pleasure to have Mark on, I'll go into more detail as to why that intro doesn't do it justice. Mark you are just a standup guy and I'm excited to have you on the podcast. [00:02:00] So thank you for carving out some time in your busy schedule to be with me today. 

[00:02:03] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Michael, it's my pleasure and I really appreciate the opportunity to talk a little bit about our credit union, our community, and the great things that I think our community offers. And what credit unions offer, not only to the community, but to everyone around. So thank you for the opportunity to come in, and I appreciate the kind introduction.

[00:02:21] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I feel like I didn't do it justice, Mark. We've shared a number of drinks and had long conversations. I wish I could have everybody feel the, uh, some of the conversations that we've had, but to your point, let's start you know, right at the beginning, the career evolution. 

[00:02:35] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You know, the passion for the community is absolutely obvious and anybody listening to you for more than 30 seconds would get that.

[00:02:42] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: But you know, you've had a path that I think is unique. And so tell us a little bit about the evolution of your career. You know, certainly what got you into Texas bridge, how long you've been there, and the involvement with the Coastal Bend chapter, kind of the the whole ball of wax.

[00:02:56] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Well, I do agree, Mike. I think I have had a varied career. I've had [00:03:00] the opportunity to serve in a number of industries over my career. But no question that working in the credit union industry was one that took a little while for me to get into. I've been with Texas Bridge Credit Union for nine years now.

[00:03:13] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And it started in 2015, and it has been a very rewarding experience. I think a lot of the prior positions that I've served, everything from petrochemical to marketing and advertising agencies, to also running a local nonprofit in the Ronald McDonald house here, really primed me and set me up for this position as the executive vice president of our credit union.

[00:03:37] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And, you know, our not for profit status allows and aligns with a lot of the values that I stand behind and I feel very firmly that we need to give back to the community that gives so much to us. It's allowed me to raise two wonderful children and it's one where my parents and my in laws also live. And I just feel that anytime [00:04:00] you find success in your career, you must find an opportunity to give back and provide to the community that has served you so well.

[00:04:07] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well said. I'm going to just say it. I told you so. 30 seconds in, if you're not picking up on that passion, you're not listening or watching. I agree. So, I mean, it's amazing to me and it still continues to be amazing to me when somebody says I've only been at the credit union for nine years.

[00:04:24] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You know, and that seems to be rookie tenure. But you're right. I think some of the activities and the philanthropy and the getting involved in the community and the advocacy that you do, you were credit union DNA before you were in a credit union. And I think that's what makes you so unique and a perfect fit to be an ambassador for the community, for the credit union itself, and just all around the right decision making, which is, which is amazing.

[00:04:50] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You know, I mentioned that you get very involved on the legislative side. Talk to me a little bit about that, because I also got some firsthand experience when I came down to visit you as well, [00:05:00] which is, which is wildly a new world for me, and it was an eye opening experience for me.

[00:05:04] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Yeah. One that I've always kind of gravitated towards advocacy on the legislative side of things over the years. And many capacities part of that at one point was my job in the petrochemical industry to work with our elected officials and policymakers to support the efforts of the industries that I was serving at the time.

[00:05:25] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And it seemed like a natural opportunity to do so when I joined the credit union. We have, through the cornerstone league, which is effectively a chamber of commerce for our industry, has a very active and robust advocacy group. And I found myself enjoying what they did, what they stand for, and the legislative priorities that they promote and advocate.

[00:05:50] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So, it was pretty natural opportunity for me to do so. Much of my legislative priorities and efforts have been at the state level. And it's because I've [00:06:00] over the years have developed a number of great relationship with our elected officials. And having that relationship allows you access.

[00:06:08] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Many people find it very intimidating. They're a little nervous. They're, "Oh my gosh, I don't know if I want to meet with my elected official." And nothing is more satisfying than being able to bring someone in. One of my colleagues here in the Corpus Christi area was interested, but she was nervous.

[00:06:24] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: She was intimidated. And at the end of the day, we have to remember they do serve us. And you come to them with a good message, a fair message. Obviously the credit union movement is one that's very easy to sell, and many of their constituents are credit union members.

[00:06:40] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So not only do we bring a voice, but we also bring realistic and not unreasonable priorities and objectives to there. So, you know, getting to have that access, that ability to communicate, is invaluable to the industry. And [00:07:00] it's a really neat. You know, in the state of Texas, our state legislature only meets twice or once every other year.

[00:07:07] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So every odd year, they meet and they only meet for less than 150 days. So you have to do a lot of work at a short amount of time. But really where the work occurs, is that other time when they're, they're not in session. So we do so by through the coastal bend chapter credit unions, we bring in our elected officials to talk to us about what their priorities are, how we can maybe help them out.

[00:07:30] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And then we also do the same. We go to them, tell them there's some concerns and some issues that we had. In 2023 was legislative session, so there's not one going on right now, but we're constantly working with our elected officials as we speak now. It's a little difficult because we're coming up into our primaries and elections coming up in November, but we are always planning ahead, you know. 

[00:07:53] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And some of them are common sense ones, you know, where as the priorities that we have at the state [00:08:00] level is to defend our franchise tax exemption. That's one that always seems to come under fire by other financial institutions in the industry. 

[00:08:09] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And then also, defending what we consider at times to be a little bit being over the top on the regulatory burdens they put on. And I know firsthand, because we are a smaller credit union at 84 million in assets. Some of that regulatory burden can be very cumbersome, can be almost impossible for us to do internally. 

[00:08:28] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And it adds layers of costs. It adds layers of time. I recall the other word, I'm nine years into this job, the regulatory compliance side of things was just a fraction of my time.

[00:08:41] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And now it's a significant portion of my time. So while we recognize that regulations are necessary and appropriate to do, they also need to be reasonable. 

[00:08:50] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: But you know, one that we're really proud of for this past session that I had the opportunity to engage with and learned a lot, I was unaware in the state of Texas [00:09:00] that auto dealers can not sell a vehicle or upcharge the vehicle if they chose to do so, if a customer wants to go in and purchase their vehicle and finance through a credit union. 

[00:09:13] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So, we have advocated to, and they have, they're calling it " captive financing" and we are working with the legislature to modify this. And saying that you cannot deny the sale or increase the sales price of the vehicle because you want to finance it through an outside institution. And it's one that really opened the eyes for many of us in the industry that it's always been on the books.

[00:09:35] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: It just, it's becoming a, especially during the pandemic when inventory became a premium, that's when it became more prominent. So we worked very hard. We were able to block the advancement of that bill in the state. As many people know, and in Texas, we had a very contentious state legislative timeframe.

[00:09:55] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And so, a lot of priorities got pushed aside due to a school [00:10:00] choice and other bills that became a higher priority. But we anticipate that this will come up again in 2025. And we're going to work hard to amend that part of the finance code or that code, which allows dealerships to do that.

[00:10:13] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So just one example of what we do. And it's the right thing to do. Customers should have the choice and they shouldn't have to have the premium, pay a premium just because they want to finance it at their financial institution of choice.

[00:10:24] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well said. So there's a nugget for everybody outside of the state of Texas, that if that's an ongoing piece, get involved, have the conversations. And yeah, they're not intimidating. They put on pants, 1 leg at a time as well. And kudos for the continued defense of the nonprofit stats. I think that that's important, like, self, you know, kind of, identifying you're Canadian born and raised.

[00:10:46] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I spent you know, the better part of a decade about 11 years in the United States, 5 years in the state of Texas. And so, I never understood really how every single American doesn't have a credit union that they are a part of, and you can [00:11:00] have multiple financial institutions. That's fine.

[00:11:02] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: But if you live in a community and you got to live somewhere you know, that's where I really think that the legislative piece that you engage yourself with, to really understand what's happening at the ground level for the community to identify these type of things and then get involved, on the legislative side, as well as the community side, that's where it becomes eye opening.

[00:11:21] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And that is a very, very different business model than traditional banking or the mega banks that are out there. 

[00:11:27] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: No question. And one perception that's out there is it takes money to get the attention of our elected officials. Not the case. Now, we do have the political action committee through the quarterstone league that they will support certain elected officials or people that are running for office that are supportive of the credit union effort. 

[00:11:46] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: But it doesn't take personal dollars to get the attention of these elected officials. I'll give you another great example in 2021, one of our local state representatives called me on my cell phone [00:12:00] and late night, you know, after nine, 10 o'clock at night. And he says, "Hey, Mark, I am here on the floor of the house and we're getting ready to vote on a piece of legislation."

[00:12:10] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: I want to know what the credit unions' position is on this. And uh, it was one that I was able to make a phone call to our advocacy group, just to make sure that I was in alignment with what I felt that we are kind of already knew where we stood on this, but just to verify that. And confirmed with the state reps saying, yes, this is one that we support and do so. 

[00:12:31] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: That wouldn't have happened, and it's very possible that we could have had legislation passed under our noses without us knowing. So to be able to have that relationship and that ability and to communicate at any time during the day, when they need something is really something, and how you get there is you just become the subject matter expert.

[00:12:48] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: We're all subject matter experts on credit unions. It's what we do every day of our lives. So when we go up to Austin to meet with them, we're talking about things we already know. So, when you speak from the [00:13:00] heart, they listen. And you become a resource and nothing is more satisfying to do so.

[00:13:05] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And to continue to support the efforts of what we do as a credit union both for our community and the state as a whole.

[00:13:12] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well said. You know, I tried to tie the legislative efforts that you're doing as well as the efforts that you have on, kind of the passion and giving back to the community, the volunteer work that you do so much of it that you do. Spend a minute or two, just talking about the passion of some of the projects that you're currently in today, Because I know that we spent a long time talking about it and I just, I think it's cool.

[00:13:34] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And I want everybody to hear about it.

[00:13:35] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Well, I appreciate that, Mike, and it is one that I firmly believe in. I come from a family of educators. My mother's a retired teacher. My brother's a current teacher. My sister was an instructor and then director for the Texas school for the blind. So it's one that's been in that I never pursued the education pathway.

[00:13:58] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Oh, and on top of that, both of my [00:14:00] sons are studying to become educators as musicians. But it's one that obviously, it's in our DNA. And how I elected to do so was to serve. I've served on our local education foundation for about a decade. And then, transition to serving on the Buccaneer Commission. The Buccaneer Commission is one that is very near and dear to my heart that you and I spoke about at length. It is Corpus Christi's longest running festival. We call it Buc Days and Buc Days is just short for Buccaneer Days. And it's an 11 day festival that incorporates a rodeo, carnival, two parades.

[00:14:33] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So it's just our city festival. Everyone has one, but ours has been around since 1938. And it is the longest running one, and I've had the pleasure of serving on a number of committees over the years, and now I sit on the executive board and helping to plan that. But at one point, we had just like everyone, did back in the day, you had kind of a beauty contest. And we'd have 20 contestants. And this was as recent as [00:15:00] 2006 when I really became involved, we had 20 young ladies that would compete to be Miss Buck days. And only one would get a prize. And usually it was a trip to Disneyland or something of that nature.

[00:15:14] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And we realized as everything evolves that we need, we saw an opportunity for this to be instead of a beauty contest, let's develop this. Let's turn this into a leadership program. So we also incorporated young men into it. So we have high school seniors, 10 high school seniors that are boys and girls participate in this program.

[00:15:34] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And regardless of how they end up at the end of the program, if they are selected the King or the Queen, for lack of a better word, they each get a 3, 500 scholarship to the college of the choice. But not only is it that we're giving them the money for school, we're also developing them.

[00:15:48] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: We've incorporated Dale Carnegie training in that. They get the opportunity to tour the major employers and industry in Corpus Christi. The hope is we hope [00:16:00] that they go off, they either attend our local university or if they go to another university, whether it be in state or out of state to consider Corpus Christi when they come home. You know, we don't want to suffer from brain drain that they start off here and then they never come home.

[00:16:14] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: When they have the opportunity to tour the port of Corpus Christi to see our local military facilities, to see our petrochemical industry or the other emerging industries that we have, perhaps they'll consider doing coming back. So, tying that education piece is huge. And then finally, I also serve on the board of the USS Lexington, which is a famous carrier from World War II.

[00:16:38] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: It is now a museum located right on the Bay here in Corpus Christi, Texas. And uh, it's been here since 1992. And again, that's another education piece. But at the same time, it also recognizes and honors our current and former military. Those that served. And that's one that we're a proud military [00:17:00] town as well. And serving on that board is truly an honor because you get to see, not only are we a tourist attraction and one of the top 10 in the state of Texas, but it provides a very neat education tool. 

[00:17:12] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And just like any theme park, if you go to SeaWorld. You know, Six Flags, any of those every year, you have to have something new and different. You can't have the same rise. Same thing with when you're operating a museum like the Alexa. You always have to have something new and different. So people think, ah, it's just this old ship from the 40s. Far from it. It's got a full interactive displays. We're incorporating AI into some of the exhibits and whatnot.

[00:17:35] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So really, really neat. So yeah, just a snippet of some of the work I do in my community. But again, it's one that I truly believe in. This community has served me very well. And this is my part to kind of carry the torch forward.

[00:17:47] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I tell you, if you're, if anybody is listening or watching to this, if you haven't realized that Mark is probably the greatest ambassador for the city of Corpus Christi, I don't know where you could turn to, to get something different. The part that makes this so interesting [00:18:00] to me, when we were breaking this down, and we haven't even spoken about this, so I'm gonna bring something up that's a little bit new, but you're tapping into something that is so incredibly important and by the evolution on the Buccaneer Commission by changing the perception of what it is that we're going for, now let's do something different. 

[00:18:15] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: What you're doing with the USS Lexington in terms of incorporating AI, where I'm reading into what you're doing is ensuring that there are differentiators in the community, and I know that you're also incorporating this, and everybody is as we communicate to different generations in different topics, and there is a change that needs to take place because of technology and especially communicating with younger generations.

[00:18:41] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And you're right, avoiding brain drain of kind of moving off and doing something different, and how do you get the next generation engaged. And same thing for the membership of credit unions, how do we engage more members and the up and coming or the generational members that we see. Regardless if they stay in state or out of state, that there are some [00:19:00] ties that stay within Corpus Christi and the credit unions that they work with. 

[00:19:04] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so I see, you know, the dots as you speak being connected. That while there may be work done in one area, it absolutely translates to the communication within a credit union. And every credit union is experiencing, "How do you communicate with younger generations? How do we get more members? How do we engage? How do we make the 6 flags ride of our credit union a new attraction? What are we bringing in to get this up and running and feel fresh all the time?"

[00:19:32] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So maybe if I switch gears, and talk about specifically the younger generations and how you're communicating to that, what the plan is. Talk a little bit, because maybe it has a very similar parallel to some of the activities that you're doing on the philanthropy side. 

[00:19:46] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Certainly as Michael, I couldn't agree more. And I wish I could answer that in a quick snippet to say, this is how you get to the younger generation. We haven't figured it out. And a lot of credit unions haven't figured out whether you're [00:20:00] $84 million or you're a 5 billion credit union, that is always the magic question. How do we do so? 

[00:20:06] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Where we have found some success, I will say, listen, listen, ask. We tend to find ourselves go to a conference, or we talk in a boardroom and say, okay, this is how we're going to attract the next generation. I ran into this problem with my oldest son who had problems with his debit card.

[00:20:25] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: This happened in August and we had gone five years without any problems while he was away at school and he had fraud on his card. And he didn't have a debit card. Well, we didn't plan. We didn't think about it. He didn't even have a backup credit card. And he had fraud and he had no card, and no access to funds.

[00:20:45] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: He was 450 miles away from us. Be it a smaller credit union. We don't have shared branching. We don't have some of that technology that would have been very convenient for him, you know, digital wallets, things of that nature. And. Mike, I mean, I'm embarrassed to [00:21:00] say this, but it was so bad.

[00:21:01] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: I had a Western Union money. I've never done that in my life, but he's in a small university town of 8,000 people in far Northeast Texas. That was the only option until I could get a debit card overnight. Well, what did it need to tell me? We need to look at investing in digital wallets. We need to look at investing in Apple Pay.

[00:21:21] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Those are easy words to say. It's the cost. It's hard for us to do. But you can't give up on that idea. And we're finding, now it's more affordable as we start doing some homework and start searching for debit card processors or whatnot. They're now incorporating these services into that by simply listening and observing what they're doing.

[00:21:42] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: I tell our member services quite often, talk to the parents of kids who don't bank with us. Why doesn't your child bank with us? And sometimes they're overcome saying, no, we do offer that service. Or, yeah, we do have E docs. You know, we do, we do offer a lot of convenience.

[00:21:58] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: They may not be aware [00:22:00] because they hadn't utilized, but there's the assumption, well, there are smaller credit unions, so they don't offer that. Not necessarily the case. And we're always playing catch up, obviously, capital expense and the investment is high. But can you find a happy medium in that? I believe you can. And we're currently an ongoing doing that. But it is the education and listening to why they choose or choose not to bank with us, really has the solution. 

[00:22:26] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Now we also offer through the credit union, a scholarship program. We give out 10 scholarships that we just opened our scholarship window in early February. And that'll go until the end of March. And then we award those scholarships in April.

[00:22:41] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: We're hoping that it accomplishes very much what we do on the Buccaneer commission as well, that brings attention to the credit union and allows us to support the members and their dependents who have supported us and keep us in business. But also, top of mind for that scholarship recipient that, "Hey, I remember that credit union took care of me."

[00:22:59] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: We also [00:23:00] offer a student loans. That's another opportunity if you could get their attention by becoming their financial institution of choice and offer reasonable interest rates on student loans. Those are other ways. So yes, there's many ways to attract that. And I believe if we could do it as a small credit union, others can do it as well. But it is an ongoing challenge on how to attract and retain that younger generation and keep them a part of our credit union.

[00:23:28] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Agreed and spot on. I don't think anybody has cracked the code. I don't think anybody has the solution of the answer is 6, there you go. You're welcome. And everything will work clean and unfortunately, I don't think it works that way because there's going to be another generation behind that one and then another generation behind and all of a sudden, we've all seen now Apple Pro, those vision goggle, you know, I haven't tried yet. And it's going to be the next wave of whatever that leads to, and then there's going to be more after that.

[00:23:54] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so it's a never ending process. But what I love the most, is just you [00:24:00] boil it down to communication being the number one piece. Listening first and then identifying where to go. And while you can't do everything, because things are cost prohibitive sometimes, the best part about technology is that as the technology evolves, it is supposed to get cheaper.

[00:24:13] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I always think about the first flat screen TV. The first one that we got the weight of 1,000,000 pounds. The picture was terrible and it cost an arm and a leg. And I can remember my parents yelling if you got within 3 feet of it, just in case. And today, you know, time, it doesn't have incredible technology that's in there.

[00:24:30] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And so that's the whole point. And that's where you're really supposed to push, you know, the vendor partners that you have to try and go bigger, better, faster, stronger, and certainly cheaper so that you can, you know, kind of spread the wings of service that's out there so that you could give back to them. 

[00:24:44] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And definitely another challenge is internally. Our ability to adapt. We struggle to adapt. We struggle with change internally. I don't think I'm saying anything that anyone else is in feeling within their credit union saying, "Oh my gosh, this board of directors. They're just so [00:25:00] old school or what?"

[00:25:01] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Well, not necessarily the case. You have to present the different opportunities. And you present a reasonable case for it. They're going to support you on it. But we tend to, let's work for us for this long. Let's keep doing it this way. That's when you set the trap for yourself.

[00:25:14] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: If you're not adaptable, you're definitely not going to be successful. And it's much easier said than done, trust me, I'm in those board meetings and I'm sitting down with our executive team and I'm guilty of it as well. Of sometimes not willing and wanting to change some things because I'm comfortable with it. I know how to do it. And it reduces the amount of time I have to get a certain task done because I'm used to doing it that way. 

[00:25:35] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: If you disrupt that, "Well, gosh, now I got to learn this. And now I'm going to spend an hour as opposed to 30 minutes on it. And where am I going to find that time?" Well, you do.

[00:25:43] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Yeah. The adaptability internally is just as important as looking for a third party vendor or a partner that's going to help you retain membership through technology investment.

[00:25:53] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Perfect. So you read my mind, Mark. I was going to say that's the first half of the coin. The second half is the internal [00:26:00] side of things, because now it's new communication channels. It's new technologies to use. It may be new systems that, you know, now the credit union is logging into in order to initiate these type of workflows.

[00:26:11] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Which is a challenge in and of itself that adage of, "It ain't broke, don't fix." Yeah. I think we all subscribe to it, right? It's working. I've got enough to deal with on a daily basis. Now you want to, you want to change you know, something else. And we all know that everybody has an aversion some to varying degrees but even myself, and I would love to think that I embrace change, but we are creatures of habit. You know, sometimes as well. So I think what, what's that saying go? The necessity is the mother of innovation.

[00:26:41] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Of invention. Yeah.

[00:26:42] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: So, you know, when does the pain point hit a threshold that says, well, now we need to do something and then it becomes reactive. The trick is, well, how do you get that in a proactive spot that you're not just changing for the sake of changing, but you're changing with the idea that you've listened.

[00:26:58] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And that you've [00:27:00] identified a potential area that you can take advantage of, or kind of progress and see some evolution to it, or fix a problem that has been reoccurring for a long time. You mentioned it before with the car dealerships, it was there always. It was exacerbated during the pandemic when things became a lot worse.

[00:27:18] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And then now, all of a sudden, the pebble in the shoe just became a little bit too irritating that we needed to tackle it.

[00:27:23] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Yeah. And listen to everyone internally, whether be your president, or your member service person, that's on the front line that says, "You know, I'm getting asked this question a lot, and do you think we can do something?" Our president came up with a brilliant idea recently that I had never even considered.

[00:27:40] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: One of our locations is right at an intersection that is in a growth area that used to be surrounded by cornfields and whatnot. And now we've got a new high school and we've got emerging businesses and strip centers coming in. And we have this four way stoplight and we had a stone monument with our logo on it.

[00:27:58] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And he says, "You know, I want to [00:28:00] do an LED sign." And I said, "What?" He says, "Yeah." I said, "You know, they're expensive." He says, "Yeah, and I'm going to go with the double meat with cheese version of this. We're going to go, you know, I think nine foot by nine foot double sided LED sign." 

[00:28:13] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And I said, "Wow." And my goodness, Mike, we've had it less than a year, it has driven more traffic, more conversation, when I'm at a restaurant. There's a small restaurant down the street. I was there for breakfast and said, "Yeah, I work for a Texas Bridge Credit Union." "Oh, the one with that neat LED sign down the road?"

[00:28:30] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: It's like, wow. Not only just for the visibility, but now we're promoting products and services where we used to have static four by eight coroplast signs out there. Now we have this dynamic piece. It took a little learning and now it's a real valuable tool. So it's like I said, just listen, observe, you know, and my boss said, "Hey, I see our traffic count increasing in this area. People are sitting at the stoplight for a lot longer. So if we rotate a different slide every 10, 15 seconds, we're [00:29:00] going to get some great messaging out there." Brilliant idea, but no one person has it all figured out. And that's if you can collaborate as a team, you're going to find success. You're going to find solutions to many of your problems.

[00:29:12] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Well said. I think that's really smart, really savvy. Also very simple. Sometimes the best ideas are the simple ones. But it is indicative that there's always change both internal external. Here's a great example. The last couple of years, I think we've seen change at an increasing rate that I don't think any of us have ever experienced within our tenure because the change is so significant and so fast that we're always playing catch up. Like you said, right? 

[00:29:38] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And 2023, I think was a, a tougher year than most and certainly you know, not to tie back to anything specific, but in terms of the overall economy, there's reports of credit card debt hitting over a trillion which is the highest level ever. That's indicative of more borrowing that's taking place.

[00:29:58] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Now we see [00:30:00] constantly, the job market in terms of some layoffs and interest rates higher, the cost of loan servicing increasing as well. And so these changes force us to adapt and kind of change into par with it. And there will be more changes in 2024 and more changes in 2025. 

[00:30:17] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: One thing that we talked a lot about that I absolutely love about the credit union industry, not just giving back to the community, becoming ambassadors for the community members that they serve. But is also communication and how much of an investment credit unions from coast to coast invest in empathy. 

[00:30:37] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And understanding not only their colleagues, but also members. And so I know we have spoken a lot about this, but I would love for you to just shed a couple of comments about your personal thoughts on an empathetic approach to communication, members, staff, the leadership that you provide. Because I know that that is a topic that is close to your [00:31:00] heart. And I think your insights are terrific.

[00:31:02] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Well, I tell you, I've been very fortunate to have, good role models, mentors over the years to do so. Both in this industry, my boss, but also other leaders that I've had the past. One of my mentors is one that I worked at an advertising agency for more than 20 years ago, but still bounce ideas off of, it's always so simple, you know, the great leaders simply keep it very, very simple. 

[00:31:28] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And the ideas are simple. The solutions can be a little bit more complicated at times, but the KISS method works and it always will. And it is one. I learned a lot through from our president as I started.

[00:31:42] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: I came in in 2015 with no financial institution experience. And it took a while for me to get to that comfort zone. It took years to get there. But having you know, a good leader that showed the value of empathetic communication and [00:32:00] listening and more importantly, anticipating where things are going to be, or how it's going to turn out 99% of the time, the guy's right, you know.

[00:32:10] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: He says, "Okay, I've seen this before." Yeah. Are there always curve balls? Absolutely. We see them and he said many times, "Well, that's a first for us." Usually that was most of that was during the pandemic. We all learned a ton through there and had to navigate, but we navigated together on that.

[00:32:26] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: But one thing I'm most proud of with our credit union because we're smaller, we're a staff of 23 employees. And one of the feedback that we get so much is that we do listen well. I mean, do we, do we stub our toe? Do we mess it up? Absolutely.

[00:32:42] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And frequently at times. But at the end of the day, we make it right. And that's the difference. That's why we maintain our members. That's why even though we have eDocs that, we didn't offer before the pandemic and now we do. And we think that it's this wonderful tool. It makes the process [00:33:00] a lot easier for our members when they're financing a vehicle or getting a signature loan, whatever it may be.

[00:33:07] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: But more often than not, they're still wanting to come in. And meet with our loan managers. That speaks to the ability of effective communication that they want that relationship. They want to still shake our hands. It still exists. And you, there is still a model and a successful model for doing so.

[00:33:27] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: If for those that say, " If you're not going fully digital and you don't have ITMs, you don't have all of this in the next few years, you're obsolete." I heard that nine years ago when I started in this industry and it still works today. And it's not just our 50 plus members, our younger members are still coming in. They like talking with someone because maybe mom and dad didn't teach him financial, give them any financial advice or, "Hey, this is what I'm looking at." Or, "Wow, I'm finding myself upside down on this. How do I get myself [00:34:00] out? How do I consolidate this debt? How can we do that?" So you can't assume mom and dad had it all figured out.

[00:34:05] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So we do have younger members that are coming in and seeking advice. That's what we're there for. So, no. Do they all want to be have a no touch experience? Not at all. And that's why I do believe digital, all online banks aren't going to be the threat that we thought it was. Because at the end of the day, people still want the touch.

[00:34:25] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I agree. It's about the experience. I think there's a couple of really great nuggets in there. One, I hope I live to see the day that financial education or financial literacy is brought into the schools at a very young age to understand how credit works. And, you know, the financial system as a whole.

[00:34:42] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: I think everybody would echo the same how that has not happened yet, I don't know. Maybe there's another piece for the legislative advocacy that we can, we can go into. And I'm sure every corner across , the United States would agree with that.

[00:34:55] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: If I could add something to that, Mike, especially those that are listening that are in the [00:35:00] credit union space, we have and we we're looking at launching again. It paused during the pandemic, obviously, but we offered a financial literacy program in a local middle school here.

[00:35:12] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: The program is called BizKids and it's funded through our credit union league. And they provided us the tools, resources, the lesson plans and whatnot. And the BizKids teaches them just the basics of financial literacy, but how it makes it fun, they break into groups of like four or five, and they compete in a Shark Tank-like setting. Where they come up with a solution to a problem, they present it, I bring in judges, sometimes elected officials, someone that sits on our local school board. And the winner gets a substantial prize. You know.

[00:35:46] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: When we were doing it in 2018 and 2019, we were offering up to a thousand dollars to the school to invest in other tools or things that that school would need.

[00:35:56] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Schools welcome that because financial literacy is [00:36:00] not required. And it's not a critical component that is there. So, we were able to incorporate. It started off as an afterschool program that the student council would do. And the principal saw so much value. We are incorporating it into classes.

[00:36:14] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Whether it be the math class, the history class. And once a week, we go in there. We meet with them for 45 minutes, give them that lesson, and then we're out. And it culminates over a six week program for this competition, which got us a lot of success and a lot of media attention as well.

[00:36:30] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So it's an older program, but it still works. It's still valid. Finance is finance. And in the middle school space, you always got a new group that doesn't know how things in the financial world work. It's one that I highly recommend to anyone that wants to get engaged on the education level. That's one that's usually welcomed with open arms from your local school districts.

[00:36:51] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: There you go. So take a look guys, BizKids. I think that's a very cool thing. Listen, all I know personally, a couple of buddies of mine that are long removed [00:37:00] from that age bracket that are still struggling to try to understand how things work. And you can get yourself in a lot of trouble. So I hope that that is a, is an initiative that continues to be championed and a great idea for those that have not engaged in it.

[00:37:13] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: If you're looking at it, and you do want to advocate for that financial education and financial literacy side, take a peek. You got the blueprint and it seems to be working really well.

[00:37:22] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: It doesn't cost a lot of money, but it does take a little time, but you can make time for things like that.

[00:37:26] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: It also builds a loyalty and that will feed into the credit union. And that's where the next generation comes in. That's where your ideas come in. It's all a cascading effect. There is no start and end. It's brilliant in my mind.

[00:37:37] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Mark, I know we're running towards time. I'd love to ask you one last question here as we wrap up.

[00:37:43] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: We're at the beginning parts of 2024, what exciting plans, goals are you looking forward to most in the next, what it'll be now that maybe 10 months, 11 months that we've got left?

[00:37:53] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Nope. It feels that way. I tell you we just recently like everyone did, you know, as we went through our budgeting [00:38:00] cycle, we've never been more bullish, 2024 as we have been in the past few years, you hit the nail on the head. 2023 was difficult across the board. We hadn't seen the rate rollercoaster that we saw in any generation.

[00:38:16] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: We do see things settling down. So we do see things getting back to as much as normalcy as you can. But we are very, very encouraged both at my credit union side, we're really looking forward to it. We think it's going to take a little time, but we see a loan demand increasing again.

[00:38:35] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: I think 2023 was great for anyone who had money and saved. You made out really well in 2023, but those that had to finance, I was just talking to someone last night that had to buy a home last year and it was painful. And I said, well, you know, give it to the end of the year. You're going to be in a better position.

[00:38:50] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: You might be in an opportunity where you could refinance that home. Because they bought at the peak of that, but they just didn't have an option. We're very encouraged [00:39:00] where things are going, we're excited as we talked about. We're investing in some technology. I am really looking forward to launching some of the products that we have invested in.

[00:39:10] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: They're going to take a lot of work and a lot of time. But might as well do it when you don't have a legislative year. And then, some of the big question marks for us are how faster rates going to come down and what is this election going to do to us? Whether we like it or not, it's going to have an impact on our bottom lines.

[00:39:26] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: So a lot to be seen. Obviously anyone says they haven't figured out, obviously does not. We don't, but we're definitely a lot more encouraged and anticipating a much more, not only profitable, but a successful year for our credit union. We have some great initiatives in mind and, you know, especially on the employee development side as well.

[00:39:46] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Yeah, I've got, I have a lot to look forward to. I would not have said the same 12 months ago where we were, there were so many uncertainties. I believe a clearer picture of where we think things are going to be. Anything can happen. We [00:40:00] know, but we're very bullish of how the next 10 months are going to lead us.

[00:40:04] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: What a positive and amazing point to pivot towards the end of our conversation. 

[00:40:08] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Mark, it is a pleasure. I wish we had more time and I know that we are going to personally have more time. I can't wait for my next trip to Corpus to see you and certainly continue our conversations.

[00:40:18] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: You've been not only a great ambassador of Texas Bridge, but also Corpus Christi. Like I said, at the beginning of this podcast, you know, I consider you a personal friend at this point. And I just want to thank you again for your insights. The thought process that you have some of the activities that you've been going through, and hopefully anybody watching listening has picked up a couple of these tidbits.

[00:40:39] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: And of course, Mark true to form, you're always open to discussing some of the initiatives that you have. So hopefully this also leads to new connections for yourself. So thank you for joining today.

[00:40:49] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Well, and thank you for the opportunity, Mike. You know, I really appreciate it. This was a new experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for making it a comfortable one for me as well. I [00:41:00] will say to all your listeners as well, I got to meet Mike in October, brought him in to provide training to our local chapters, our local credit unions, we have about 13 credit unions.

[00:41:11] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: Mike provided a quick training on empathetic communications for our group. So well received. If you have the opportunity to engage with Mike and bring him to your communities to speak, you're gonna find a lot of fruit from that. We took a chance and it played out so well.

[00:41:28] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: And so, Mike, I really appreciate the kind words. You deserve just as much because you made our chapter look good. You taught our frontline staff so much and still talking about it to this day. So thank you for all you've done for the Coastal Bend Chapter of Credit Unions as well.

[00:41:43] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: That, that's incredibly kind. Thank you, Mark for that. Quick shout out there. It was, it was a lot of fun. And anytime you want me to come back, no shortage, you know, I like to talk.

[00:41:52] Mark Avelar - Executive VP, Texas Bridge Credit Union: We look forward to it.

[00:41:52] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Will put me up there. Right buddy. 

[00:41:55] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: Thank you so much. And again, and well thank you everybody for listening.

[00:41:58] Mike Pupil - VP of Sales, Lexop: We'll see you on [00:42:00] episode two of season two next month and look forward to chatting with you. Thank you. 

[00:42:05] 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 comment.