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The Difference Between Managing and Leading Lending · Leaders in Lending

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  Speaker 1: I was more focused on the work that I needed
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  Speaker 1: to get done, and I didn't really understand what it
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: meant to be a leader of a group of people.
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  Speaker 1: So many people we put into managerial roles and we
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  Speaker 1: don't give them any tools, we don't give them any
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  Speaker 1: training on what that really means and how you go
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  Speaker 1: from being an individual employee to a manager to a leader.
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  Speaker 1: It's about the people on my team, and I'm here
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  Speaker 1: to serve them. I have a job to do as well,
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  Speaker 1: but my main focus is to serve them, to help them,
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  Speaker 1: to coach them, to mentor them and help them to
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  Speaker 1: be successful. So that's what I try to focus on. Now.
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  Speaker 2: We can draw inspiration from many different places, but you've
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  Speaker 2: got to be open to it, right, And I think
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  Speaker 2: by seeking those sorts of opportunities out it says a
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  Speaker 2: lot about you as a leader. All Right, Hi, everyone,
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  Speaker 2: welcome to Off Starts, Leaders and Lending. I'm your host
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  Speaker 2: for today, Barry Roach and with me today joining us
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  Speaker 2: on the podcast is Lisa Highley, who's a chief lending
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  Speaker 2: officer at University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union in Lexton, Kentucky. Welcome, Lisa,
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  Speaker 2: how are you today?
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  Speaker 1: I'm good Barry, thank you all for having me, just
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: trying to stay warm here and out of the snow.
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  Speaker 2: So just so our audience knows, it's a little bit
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  Speaker 2: before Christmas. We're in the holiday season. It is starting
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  Speaker 2: to get chilly across the country, not so much in
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  Speaker 2: southern California. I'm fortunate enough to have palm trees and
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  Speaker 2: sunshine out here, so hopefully wherever you're viewing us or
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  Speaker 2: listening from your staying ace of warm. So Lisa again,
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  Speaker 2: thanks for joining us today. Really the purpose of our
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  Speaker 2: podcast we want to talk to lending professionals from across
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  Speaker 2: the country and sort of get their perspectives on things
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  Speaker 2: that are happy in the industry. You know, you bring
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  Speaker 2: a unique perspective, I think, because I know you've got
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  Speaker 2: a bit of a banking background and you have a
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  Speaker 2: crediting background. So let's sort of start there with sort
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  Speaker 2: of your journey how you ended up in financial services
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  Speaker 2: in the first place.
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  Speaker 1: Sure, so, when I I graduated high school, I was
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: actually going to college to be an agricultural teacher. I
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  Speaker 1: grew up on the farm and took AD classes, was
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  Speaker 1: in four HNFFA and thought I'm going to be an
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  Speaker 1: ag teacher, and I got a couple of years in
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  Speaker 1: probably a year, and actually and wanted a job. And
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  Speaker 1: my mom knew someone who worked at the local bank,
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  Speaker 1: and so she went and talked to her. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: this was back in nineteen ninety eight, so things were
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  Speaker 1: a little bit different. You could call someone up and
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  Speaker 1: you know, say, hey, my daughter wants a job at
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  Speaker 1: the bank. And so I went in met with the
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  Speaker 1: head of HR there. I happened to know the branch
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  Speaker 1: manager as well, and they basically hired me on the
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  Speaker 1: spot as a part time teller while I was in college.
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  Speaker 1: So after working there for a little while, I decided
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  Speaker 1: that I wanted to change my major, that I didn't
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  Speaker 1: want to be an agricultural teacher and I was going
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  Speaker 1: to go into finance and management. So I started as
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  Speaker 1: a part time tailor and I stayed at that bank
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  Speaker 1: for twenty three years, and I worked through being a tailor,
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  Speaker 1: internal auditor, a trust officer, and then my last years
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  Speaker 1: I spent in lending. So I started out as a
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  Speaker 1: consumer and mortgage lender, and then I was a mortgage
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  Speaker 1: and commercial lender, and then my last twelve years there
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  Speaker 1: I spent in mortgage lending. As the director of our
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  Speaker 1: mortgage lending area.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, that's quite a journey.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 2: It's funny, like when you're a little kid, no one
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  Speaker 2: really grows up and says, well, I want to be
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  Speaker 2: a part time teller. I want to be a trust officer.
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  Speaker 2: I mean not that there might be some kids that
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  Speaker 2: are like that, but most want to be, you know,
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  Speaker 2: a fireman or you know, I wanted to be a
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  Speaker 2: relief pitcher for the Yankees, you know, like things like that.
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  Speaker 2: So it's it's really it's really funny sort of how
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  Speaker 2: you fell into this sort of role. But starting from
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  Speaker 2: an agriculture background and then going into banking, like there
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  Speaker 2: must have been something about banking that, I mean, it
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  Speaker 2: made you change your meat. What was it specifically about
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  Speaker 2: banking that sort of really appealed to you.
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  Speaker 1: I loved being a teller, uh, you know, and I
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  Speaker 1: just loved working there at the bank, and that being
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  Speaker 1: a teller, we had fun. I loved serving the members,
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  Speaker 1: I loved working with cash. I'm a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: a perfectionist, maybe a recovering perfectionist, so I loved balancing
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  Speaker 1: that drawer every day to the penny and making sure
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  Speaker 1: that was correct and I just I really fell in
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  Speaker 1: love with, you know, I guess, just business, and it
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  Speaker 1: happened to be a good company that you know, I
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed working for and the people were good. And before
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  Speaker 1: I ever graduated college, I got the opportunity to start
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  Speaker 1: in the internal audit area, so you know, they just
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  Speaker 1: kind of made a career for me there. They kind
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  Speaker 1: of helped me out and helped make a career for it.
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  Speaker 1: So I think that's why, you know, changed my major
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  Speaker 1: and state in.
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  Speaker 2: That took it from there. And so you and I
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  Speaker 2: have a similar background because I also started as a
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  Speaker 2: part time teller in high school actually, and then continued
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  Speaker 2: that and turned into a banking and financial services career.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I've always felt that having that frontline
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  Speaker 2: experience was very powerful at several stages throughout my career.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe you've had a similar sort of an experience.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think it helps you always remember when
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  Speaker 1: you are in operations or back office or you know,
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  Speaker 1: on the executive team now that the core of our
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  Speaker 1: business is the members and that's that's who we are
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  Speaker 1: here to serve, And it helps me remember the teller experience.
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  Speaker 1: And then also when I was a lender it helps
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  Speaker 1: me to remember what it's like on that side. So
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  Speaker 1: now I oversee you know, mostly back office people, our
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  Speaker 1: commercial lenders and our mortgage loan originators are under me,
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  Speaker 1: but you know, we have all of the processing and
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  Speaker 1: the underwriting. And so I have worked hard over my
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  Speaker 1: career to bridge the gap between those two areas. You know,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times they like to look at each
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  Speaker 1: other and say, this is your fault and this is
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  Speaker 1: your fault, and things aren't going boot because of that,
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  Speaker 1: and so I have tried to bridge that gap and
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  Speaker 1: make them work as a team. So I think my
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  Speaker 1: working on the front end helps me have that perspective
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  Speaker 1: of both sides, and both sides are extremely important, and
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  Speaker 1: it takes both sides to make it work, and so
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  Speaker 1: I try to help both sides see that that they
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  Speaker 1: need each other and work as a team.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. I mean, the product developers can come to
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  Speaker 2: some great ideas, but if if your frontline people can't
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  Speaker 2: explain it, or if if you can't execute very well
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  Speaker 2: from an operational or even from a digital perspective, then
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  Speaker 2: what are we doing where you're really giving somewhat of
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  Speaker 2: a false promise, either to ourselves or as I value
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  Speaker 2: proposition out out to your to your customers, to your members.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's that's thank you for sharing. That's that's
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  Speaker 2: really really informative. So let's talk about UKFCU a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: I know you're on a tremendous growth trajectory right now,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of change happening with the credit union. Sort
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  Speaker 2: of what are some of the things that stood out
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  Speaker 2: for you. It's a time of year where we do
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: the retrospective. We're almost the end of twenty five and
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: sort of thinking about, well, gee, what was in year's
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  Speaker 2: eve twenty four like, and then where are we today?
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  Speaker 2: Kind of what are a couple of things Lisa that
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  Speaker 2: you share with your audience that you're particularly proud of
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  Speaker 2: that ukfc FCU has been able to accomplish.
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  Speaker 1: If it's okay, I'll go back a little bit and
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  Speaker 1: say that I started at the credit Union in twenty
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  Speaker 1: and twenty one, so left the banking world, join the
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  Speaker 1: credit union world, really like it, really love our credit union.
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  Speaker 1: And then in October of twenty twenty four we got
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  Speaker 1: a new CEO and so it has been a very
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  Speaker 1: exciting year. Since our new CEO started, we have done
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  Speaker 1: so many different things we've kind of looked at twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty five as a foundational year to put some things
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  Speaker 1: in place that we felt like we needed to get
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  Speaker 1: up to speed. And there it is such a long
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  Speaker 1: list of things that we have started and completed or
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  Speaker 1: started and are still working on. So one big thing
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  Speaker 1: we did in my area was start a mortgage department.
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  Speaker 1: When I got here in twenty twenty one, that was
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  Speaker 1: one of the things they wanted me to do with
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  Speaker 1: you know, my background is get a mortgage department started.
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  Speaker 1: So we had some things that I wanted to work
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  Speaker 1: on first, and so we hired someone in twenty twenty
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  Speaker 1: four and that was their goal was to start our
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  Speaker 1: mortgage department. So we got that up and running at
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  Speaker 1: the end of August and we have had tremendous success
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  Speaker 1: in that department already very pleased with how that's going.
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  Speaker 1: So that was a big lift in lending. Also in
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  Speaker 1: lending in our commercial lending area, we hired a new
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  Speaker 1: head of commercial banking because we want to diversify. We
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  Speaker 1: have a very large indirect and home equity portfolio and
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  Speaker 1: we want to diversify that with our mortgages and commercial.
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  Speaker 1: So we've had a very good year for commercial lending
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  Speaker 1: and grown that portfolio tremendously this year as well. We're
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  Speaker 1: also in the middle of implementing zest, so we hope
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  Speaker 1: to have that going live in the next couple of weeks,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, it's a long process to get that
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  Speaker 1: exactly where we want it, but we hope to start
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  Speaker 1: using it before the end of the year. So those
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  Speaker 1: are kind of major things we've had going on in lending,
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  Speaker 1: but there's a lot more things across the credit union.
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  Speaker 1: We have implemented Mantle for deposit account opening. We have
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  Speaker 1: also created a new checking and product, Blue Vantage, that
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: comes with ancillary services attached to it. We're also going
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: through rebrand so we're not changing our name, but we
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  Speaker 1: are changing our logo and working on our mission and
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: our vision and our values. You know, we as a
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: team talked about what is that we exactly want to
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  Speaker 1: do with this credit union, and our main focus is
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  Speaker 1: to provide better services and products for our members and
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  Speaker 1: to serve the communities that we are in. So you know,
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  Speaker 1: we want to give a lot back to our communities
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  Speaker 1: as well, so that's part of our part of our rebrand.
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  Speaker 1: We're also building new branches so in the next one
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  Speaker 1: to two years or one and a half, we will
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  Speaker 1: have three new branches, and we have we have moved
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  Speaker 1: out of Fayette County for many years, we have had
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  Speaker 1: all of our branches in Fayette County. So we opened
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  Speaker 1: up in one opened one up in the neighboring county,
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  Speaker 1: Jessamine County a couple of years ago, and now we
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  Speaker 1: are going out to Georgetown and Richmond. So those are
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  Speaker 1: our next branches that we're doing, and another one in
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  Speaker 1: Lexing as well. And we also have a merger going on.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, so we're also moving up to Northern Kentucky.
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  Speaker 1: There's a credit union in Northern Kentucky that we are
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  Speaker 1: in the process of completing that merger. We hope to
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  Speaker 1: have our legal date on that April first of next year.
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  Speaker 1: And then probably the last big thing is creating a foundation.
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  Speaker 1: So that was one of the things that our CEO
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  Speaker 1: wanted to do when he first got here and as
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  Speaker 1: part of that giving back to our community. So that's
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  Speaker 1: in process and we hope to get that up and
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  Speaker 1: running next year as well.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been a busy year, but it has been
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  Speaker 1: fun and we are all full of energy, you know,
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  Speaker 1: to go forward and do these things.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, thanks for sharing. So us quite a year.
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  Speaker 2: You've pretty much filled the entire crediting Bengal card. I
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  Speaker 2: think right, we're looking at digital transformation, we're looking at
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  Speaker 2: a brick and mortar transformation as well. Expanding out that way,
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  Speaker 2: you're creating community foundation or foundation so you can give
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  Speaker 2: back to the community. You're trying to improve things on
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: the lending side, improve things on the deposit side. Yeah,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: there's kind of not much left their lease, so you've
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  Speaker 2: got a lot on your plate. And I know you
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  Speaker 2: don't do this in a vacuum or in isolation. You've
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  Speaker 2: got a whole team around you with that. But I
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  Speaker 2: will go back a little bit. You were talking about
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  Speaker 2: utilizing zest and we recognize this using artificial intelligence in
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  Speaker 2: the lending space, so kind of maybe because it's really upstart.
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  Speaker 2: That was how we got our start was really how
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  Speaker 2: can we use AI machine learning to create a better
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  Speaker 2: idea of the true credit risk of people coming through
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: our platform. And we've been pretty stressful at that. So
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  Speaker 2: it's encouraging to see other credit unions out there who
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: are trying to do a similar servi of thing. What
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  Speaker 2: was the reasoning then really for you to to change
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  Speaker 2: your approach in underwriting and to maybe use some of
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: these fintech partners and tools for your undwriting decisions.
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  Speaker 1: So I think it all goes back to serving our
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  Speaker 1: members better, and we were probably probably have been missing
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  Speaker 1: out on helping some members by using our manual underwriting
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  Speaker 1: guidelines because we do believe in those models and we
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  Speaker 1: do believe that we can help more people without adding
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  Speaker 1: a tremendous amount of risk to the credit union. So
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  Speaker 1: we studies show that we should be able to approve
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  Speaker 1: more loans without adding a lot of risk and having
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  Speaker 1: a large increase in delinquency. So it's it again kind
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  Speaker 1: of goes back to that core value of wanting to
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  Speaker 1: help more people.
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  Speaker 2: Right, and you think about now you're breaking into new
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: markets as well, You've got that much more power under
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: you to be able to actually serve those new markets
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  Speaker 2: in a way that you would not have been able
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: to do a few years ago. So, you know, kudos
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  Speaker 2: for you and UKFC you for recognizing that and understanding that, hey,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: we can't keep doing things the way we're doing it.
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  Speaker 2: The marketplace has changed, the consumers have changed, and their
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: expectations have changed. Consumers are expecting visions faster, and they're
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  Speaker 2: they're expecting service to come in in different ways as well. So, uh,
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  Speaker 2: as you're looking at your digital transformation as well, how
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  Speaker 2: does that sort of marry with your brick and mortar
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  Speaker 2: strategy of sort of moving into new markets like digitally?
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  Speaker 2: How do you how's UKFCU also looking at at meeting
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: those member needs in a in a a in a
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  Speaker 2: digital fashion.
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  Speaker 1: So one of the things that we have done in
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: the past year as well is pulled out digital from
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  Speaker 1: our deposit operations area and hired a specific person to
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: run digital and we have moved that under our Chief
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Information Officer. So we recognize that that's the way of
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: the future and you know, so that person is going
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: to work to make the digital experience better. You know.
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  Speaker 1: One example that we've already done is Mantle. We wanted
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: to get our account opening time down. We wanted to
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: make it easier for people to be able to open
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: accounts online and so Antle has been tremendous in being
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: able to do that. You know, we have open we
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: have loan origination systems that allow people to apply online. Uh,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: you know, we hope to improve those as well. Our
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: We currently use Meridian Link for our consumer loans, and
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: you know we will We're going to upgrade that or
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: change that next year a little bit that will hopefully
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: make that process better. Our mortgage software it's new, and
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: so we think that's a pretty pretty good process. But
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: we are going to be making investments in our digital
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: and we've charged that one area to help us do
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: that because we recognize we have to do that in
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: order to keep up with the FinTechs and the other
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: places in the world that are that are doing that
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: or else will be left behind.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: For sure, for sure. So that's really more in sort
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: of the consumer side of the lending. How let's go
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: back to first mortgages for a little bit, because I
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: live in southern California. It is the real estate market
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: here is very different from the rest of the country.
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  Speaker 2: You live in a more affordable area of the country.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: There's no question. Are you seeing now as your credit
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: union has gotten more and more into residential mortgages and
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: so on, how it is the market out there? Is it?
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Are you seeing a lot more first time home buyers
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: than maybe we were a few years ago? Are people
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: still on the sidelines waiting for rates? To come down.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: We've had what six or seven rate cuts in the
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: past fourteen fifteen months, and yet you know, mortgage rates
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: haven't really changed all that much in the past year.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Kind of what are you seeing out in your area
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: than Lisa.
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  Speaker 1: So, our real estate market is very stable. That has
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: been one thing about Central Kentucky my career, I think
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: in banking is that it has been a very stable.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: We don't see the ups and downs in values, so
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: our values stay pretty stable and our you know, our
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: business fluctuates just like anywhere else. With the rates, I
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: wouldn't say that right now, we've seen much increase in
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: first time home buyers. You know, we're getting some purchases
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: of people moving in, you know, taking jobs. You know,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: we have a large university, University of Kentucky and then
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: University of Kentucky Hospital, you know, so we have people
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: moving in to take jobs at those places, and then
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: we've got some refinances. Our retail team is doing an
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: excellent job of referring business to our mortgage loan originators.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: They are just excellent at seeing opportunities and making sure
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: that they are trying to get our members all in
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: with us. So sometimes they refer somebody that has a
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: four and a half rate and they call the mortgage
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: loan originator and says, hey, I've got four and a half.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Is there anything you can do for me? And it's
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: like no, you just sit on that and wait. So
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: you know, as you know, mortgage rates are tied to
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: treasuries and so those haven't moved like prime has. So yeah,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the raids have gone down a little bit, but not
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: a lot. So there it has stirred a little bit
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: of business because they have come down some, you know,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: but I think our success that we're having thus far
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: is mainly due to our retail team bringing those referrals
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: to our mortgagelone originators. You know, they have contacts as
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: well with their real estate agents, but we've had a
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: lot of success due to the referrals.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: That's great, that's great. So you know, again in southern California,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: it's hard for first time home buyer to break in
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: here and thinking of your membership base. So University of Kentucky, Kentucky,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: so you've got a lot of faculty that probably have
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: good incomes. You've got the hospital which probably has good
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: incomes as well, but you've also got a whole cool
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: heart of students who are just coming out, maybe breaking
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: the first job, and so on and so forth. You know,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: it used to be, I'll go back a generation or so,
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: in your twenties, it was possible for you to save
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: enough for a down payment and go out and buy
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: a house that you could afford. That that that that
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: that payment that you you had the debt to income
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: ratio to be able to support that. That's our first payment.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: You know, are you seeing that with your student cohort
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: or your graduating student cohort? And if not, like, how
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: is your credit uns for helping those students save for
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: that first home or find that first home.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: So we do have some portfolio products that we don't
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: sell on the secondary market. We have one that's called
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: a Professionals Program, and we'll go up to one hundred
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: percent LTB so they don't have to have a down payment.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: You know, there's some stipulations that goes along with that
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: for us to go up to the one hundred percent,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: but that helps some of the students coming out of school.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: We go up to higher LTV on some other products
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: without requiring them to have private mortgage insurance as well,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: and we haven't gotten to participate in this yet here,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: but like in the spring, we will participate in Federal
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Home Loan Banks Welcome Home program. So that is a
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: great thing to help first time home buyers so they
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: can get grants. Last year, I believe it was up
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: to twenty thousand dollars to go put towards down payment
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and closing costs. And so we are a member of
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Federal Home Loan Bank and we will participate in that
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: come the spring. So you know, we're looking for opportunities
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: to help those people. We are, you know, just a
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: few months in so we still have some more products
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to build out. We're getting ready to start FAHA lending,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: so we haven't had that up and going yet, but
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: we will have that up and going in the next
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: month or so, and then we'll get into VA and
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: RHS and also Kentucky Housing Corporation. They have down payment programs.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Some of those are repayable, but it's still you know,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: helps them get a down payment. So we'll excuse me,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: we will participate in that as well.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Good good, Yeah, I think just sort of going back
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: to something you said, these all these products and that
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: you're creating are really nonconforming, Right, And I do wonder
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: if there's a real need for for those rules from
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Faniling and Freddy to change to better accommodate those first
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: home buyers, because, uh, your institution and many others across
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: the country have to come up with your own programs
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: which carry a different degree of risk and different degrees
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: of of of leverage required around that in order to
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: satisfy what is a critical need for for for these
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: younger folks that are just entering the workforce and and
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: trying to become productive members of our of our economy. Uh,
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: the old American dream of a I'll get my first
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: house and and my job and sort of go on
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: from there is is further and further away from many people,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: I think than it was maybe when you and I
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: started in our careers.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Right, yes, I would agree, you know, and I think
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Freddie Fanny and Freddy have made some changes, you know,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: to try to help people out, and some new programs
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: that they have and changed how you calculate student debt.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: You know, student debt has brought a new difficulty. You know,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: years ago, people didn't come out of school. College didn't
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: cost as much then as it does now, So people
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: did not come out of school with the type of
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: student debt that they seem to come out with now
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: and then you know, having to count those payments again
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: against them. So there has been a little bit of
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: relief there, but I think there you know, can still
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: be work to do. It is not as easy as
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: it used to be, the dream of voting the home
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: for sure.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Good good, Thank you for that. Let's switch gears a
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: little bit. You know our the name of our podcast
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: is leaders in Lending. Let's talk about the leader part
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: for a second, because I know, Lisa, Uh, you and
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: I talked a little bit before the podcast, and you
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: really honed in a lot on sort of that leadership aspect,
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: and it is something that you've sort of I've always
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: been interested in, almost a lifelong learner of how you
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: could be a better leader with your team. So maybe
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: sort of take us a little bit through that journey,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: because you've been through a lot of different roles, a
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: lot of different spheres of responsibility to where you are today,
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: where you're leading a pretty large lending group and a
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: very important component of the Credit Unions executive team. So
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: maybe tell us a little bit about your leadership journeyings
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: and maybe even something that you think in twenty six
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: would be something that at the end of it you go, oh, wow,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: I'm really glad that I did X. In terms of
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: developing my own leadership.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: There's a difference between a leader and a supervisor or
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: a manager. And when I was first charged with being
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the director of mortgage, I didn't really understand that. You know,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: I was excited to get to be the manager of
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: a group of people, but I also was kind of
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: a working manager, and that I was also the underwriter
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: at the time, and I was more focused on the
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: work that I needed to get done, and I didn't
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: really understand what it meant to be a leader of
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: a group of people. So for the first few years
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: I was in that role, you know, I was more
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: focused on the things that I needed to get done,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: and I answered their questions, I did their performance evaluations,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: but it wasn't about them, you know. And so a
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: few years after being into that, I went to a
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: leadership conference here in Lexington called Emerge and we heard
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: a speaker there, very dynamic speaker who talked about leadership
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and a lot of the things he said just resonated
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: with me and a light bulb came on that you're
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: not doing these things. You know, you are not a leader.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: And so many people we put into managerial roles and
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: we don't give them any tools, we don't give them
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: any training on what that really means and how you
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: go from being an individual employee to a manager to
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: a leader. So when I went to that conference and
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: I heard those things, I said, Okay, I need to
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: learn so much more about leadership and what I'm supposed
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: to be doing. And so I started reading a lot
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: of books, listening to a lot of podcasts, and a
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: couple of my favorite people are John Maxwell and Patrick Lyncioni.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: I love Patrick Lencioni's books how they tell a story
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: and then you learn from that story. And I've used
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: several of his books as well as well as others
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: to do book clubs with leaders that report up to
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: me and even just individual employees as well. So I
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: learned a lot from those and learned servant leadership that
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: you know, that kind of sums you know my style
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: up now, and it's about the people on my team
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: and I'm here to serve them. I have a job
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: to do as well, but my main focus is to
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: serve them, to help them, to coach them, to mentor
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: them and help them to be successful. So that's what
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: I try to focus on now. And you know, we do.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: We read the books together, and it's just one of
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the things I love, you know, love to learn how
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: to be more humble and you know, learn all those
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: things that I just talked about. And it was I
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: always teased that I was a slow learner. Took me
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: two or three years to learn that I was that.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: You know, the manager and the supervisor is different than
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: being a leader. And I still have a lot more
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: to learn, and you know, a lot more that I
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: can do to be better. But I'm glad that I
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: went to that conference that day and you know, learned
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: that and took that and have really dived deeper into
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: the whole leadership faucet and how you need to be
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: as a leader.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: That's great. I mean, we can draw from many different places,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: but you've got to be open to it, right, And
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: I think by seeking those sorts of opportunities out, it
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: says a lot about you as a leader. And knowing that,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: look I'm in a leadership role, I've attained a certain stature.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: I guess in my career. But that's not good enough.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: You've got to keep sort of building, you've got to
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: keep developing your own skills and so on. I love
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: the book club idea because it's such an old school idea,
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: but there's a fellowship with it, and there's an accountability
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: because I'm not showing up to the book club next
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: week if I didn't read the chapters that we all
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: you know, I want to participate. I don't want to
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: just be an observer, right, And so you get a
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: bunch of like minded people in a room talking about
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: the same topic and maybe having different interpretations of a
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: lentcy Oni book, which I've got a couple over here.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: By the way. They're very consumable and very easy to read.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: But and the thing about Lency, he doesn't necessarily tell
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: you exactly what this means, but he'll sort of show
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: you the possibility and allows you to sort of think
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: on your own of, well, how would I approach this problem,
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: or how would I approach this what's the best solution
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: for it? But the fellowship and accountability, I think really
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: goes a long way in terms of developing all of
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: us as leaders.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I'm always looking for an opportunity to learn, you know,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: and just even very small, minuscule things that something might
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: go wrong and I'll be like, well, what can I
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: learn from that, you know? And it might just be
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: something very small. But I think that's one of the
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: keys too, is just being open to like you said,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: and always trying to learn from the different experiences that
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: you have.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: We're recording this before the holiday season. This may drop
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: a little bit after the holiday season. So I'm gonna
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna change this a little bit. I'm not going
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: to necessarily say who's naughty, you're nice, and twenty five.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you to sort of look out
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: another year, so we're a year out from now. What's
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: on the naughty list and what's on the nice list?
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: So I'll start with one. The interest rate environment. At
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: the end of twenty six, are we going to say, oh,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: that was very naughty or that was very nice? For
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: consumers and for financial services.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Well, that's gonna depend a little bit. We have a
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: huge helock portfolio, so when the rates go down, that
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: is the you know, a little bit of a negative
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: for us. But for first mortgages, if the rates go down,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I think that's going to be really positive for us,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: because you know, there could be a small refinance boom.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: You know, if rates get down consistently in the fives.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of people out there that did loans
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: in the sevens. So, uh, I think it's a mixed
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: bag for the credit union. Uh if it goes down,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: if it goes down more. But I'm gonna say for consumers,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: it's nice for certain.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, So nice for consumers may be naughty for banks
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: and credit unions.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Right, maybe possible.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we can see. We're gonna hold you these. By
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: the way, Lisa, we'll come back in the here. We'll say, well, Lisa,
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: was you know corrector? And great?
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: No, Well, I think it will if if they go down,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: it will generate more business. So even though our helocked
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: portfolio interest will go down, it will generate more business.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Things will be happening more in the economy. So overall,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: I think loan volume might go up, so it will
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: help us in the end. But I can't ever ignore
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: our helock portfolio.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: The reason why home equally bounces are up is because
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: no one's leaving their home with their three percent mortgage, right, So,
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: but I hate my kitchen or I want another bedroom
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: or you know, my bathroom's old or whatever like I
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: need to. I may not necessarily love the house I'm in,
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: but I'm stuck because I've got this low rate mortgage.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: So I'd better find a way of making this my
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: house a nicer home for me to live in. So
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: maybe that's that's part of it. And if rates do
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: continue to decrease, you know, maybe some of that, some
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: of that will transition from the home from a second
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: to a first as people do trade down or trade up.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: This case, maybe yes, add anticipate we'd see a good
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: amount of cash out refinances.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Very great, good down. Okay, not your now. So consumer
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: sentiment around the economy, because right now the economic numbers
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: are actually not that bad. Right Unemployment is still pretty good.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: I know, the race haven't necessarily dropped us as we
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: want them to. But GDP is still maintaining as it
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: is right now. Where do you think in twenty six
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: is consumer sentiment going to be saying, Hey, this economy
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: has been really naughty or the economy has been really nice.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I think at the end of twenty twenty six there
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: may be a more positive outlook. I'm not going to
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: say it's going to be to the point where it's
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: great and people are satisfied and happy and things are
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: easier on individual consumers because I know things have been
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: very tight, but I think there might be some positivity.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: All right, good, I will hold you to that one,
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: because we all need a little bit of positivity in
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: our life, right, Okay? How about so AI AI is
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: a topic again, I'll start. We use AI. We've been
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: using it for many, many years as a core part
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: of our business and our under eighty models and so on.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: But we're also starting to use AI as agents to
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: make my job easier, to make all of our jobs
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: a little easier. Where do you is that gonna? Is
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: AI going to be naughty or is it? Is it
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: going to be nice in terms of how it's going
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: to be helping us in financial services or us as
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: just employees do our jobs better?
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: I think nice.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Are you using anything right now, Lisa.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Like co plot chat, GPT. Yes, we use that throughout
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the company.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: Good good? I mean it's uh, it is a bit
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: of a game changer. I'm not one of these dooming
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: loom people that thinks it's going to take a bunch
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: of jobs away. If anything, I think it's just going
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: to enhance your ability to do the jobs you have.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: I don't necessarily see it reducing a number of jobs.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: And you know, a little plug. I use Gemini because
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: I don't cook very well. But you know my wife,
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: you know, we're dual income, right, and we got to
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: share responsibility. So sometimes I'll use Gemini and I'll say, hey,
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: i've got a chicken thigh, I've got a lemon, and
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: I've some broccolini. How do I cook this? What do
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: I do? And surprisingly it actually makes even me a
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: decent cook.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I haven't done that, but I have some
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: friends that say they'll put in what they have available
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: in their kitchen and it spits out exactly what they
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: can do, and they've been very pleased with the results.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Right right, And you can root around your fridge and
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: find whatever, and it'll say, oh, we'll do this with rosemary.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: And I have rosemary, you know, but I have some sage,
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: you know, left or from Thanksgiving whatever. So yeah, so
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: it's it's pretty cool.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, it can make us much more efficient,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: you know. I mean sometimes I can sit there and
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: stare at an email for five minutes, wanting to make
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: sure that that email sounds professional, you know, and doesn't
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: sound negative. And you can throw that in AI and
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: tell it what tone you want to have and it
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: will spit something back out and that's beautiful, you know.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: And it only takes thirty seconds. So I do see
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: it also as being used more for efficiency than been
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: taking a lot.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: Of jobs, for sure. Yeah, I mean first draft or
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: mill draft. Maybe not the Final Cup, but yeah, I
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: hear what you're saying, for sure. Okay, a bit of
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: a niche one naughty or nice University of Kentucky Wildcat basketball.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Oh goodness, man, that's a hard one to say. We're
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: on a bit of a bit of a roller coaster
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: right now. But I'm going to choose to be optimistic
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: and say by the end of twenty twenty six nice.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, then we'll go with that. I mean, UK
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: basketball is legendary national championships and all Americans and these
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: coaching greats and so on and so forth, right, so
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: we all have sort of up and down periods, right,
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: So you're thinking upwards directories can be nice at the
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: end of twenty six I think so.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: And you know, the UK fans are not very patient
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: or forgiving. So you know, we if we don't win
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: a national championship every year, it's been a good year.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: So but I'm going to be optimistic and say that
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: it's going to be okay, terrific.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Good, all right, Lisa, Well, thanks very much for joining
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: us today. Really enjoyed the conversation with you. Learned a
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: lot about you and about UK and UK basketball and UKFCU,
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: and really really excited to see all the things that
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: you and your company have been doing and looking forward
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: to to seeing you again in twenty twenty six.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you. I appreciate you all having me and we
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: are having a fun time here at UKFCU.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: Right the Credit Union for all y'all?
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Right, that's right for all y'all.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Lisa, Thank you,