SEE YOU LEAD Ep. 28 John Howard, President & CEO at Merrimack Valley Credit Union

Leadership and Community Service in Credit Unions: A Conversation with John Howard - SEE YOU LEAD Podcast, Sponsored by NetGiver

In this episode of the SEE YOU LEAD Podcast, sponsored by NetGiver, join our host, Glynn Frechette, in an engaging conversation with John Howard, CEO of Merrimack Valley Credit Union. Recorded at the Apex conference, John shares his journey from banking to the credit union sector, highlighting the stark contrasts and unique satisfactions of each.

John delves into the core principles of credit unions, emphasizing their commitment to members over profits. He discusses the cooperative spirit within the industry, where helping people isn't just a slogan but an ingrained practice. John also sheds light on the vital role of credit unions in community support, from responding to local crises to helping individuals with financial challenges.

Tune in to this insightful episode to explore the intersection of leadership, community service, and the cooperative environment of credit unions. It's an inspiring listen for anyone interested in how financial institutions can be more than just money managers – they can be community builders.

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Transcript

0:00

Welcome to another episode of See You Lead, sponsored by NetGiver, the app and platform that enables donors and nonprofits to give and receive on a no fee basis. On this podcast, We feature credit union industry executives and the impacts they make on communities everywhere.

Glynn: 0:20

I am Glenn for set. And today I am joined by john Howard. CEO of Merrimack Valley Credit Union in Lawrence, Mass. And what I should probably say to our listeners is we're here at Apex, which is a CCUA event that they host annually. So John, help our listening audience to get an appreciation for how long you've been influencing and impacting the industry. Talk to us about

John: 0:47

your journey. Sure. So it's it's only been about a decade and a half journey. I am a former banker. I've worked all over the United States in banking and and, and, and I love the banking industry and I love the trading industry, but they are very different. As far as the people who love their members who love their customers, I think there's a lot of similarity. Everybody loves their teller and every teller loves their ways, their own members or their own customers if they're a bank. So there's a lot of similarities there, but there's a huge difference in that the level that we will go to help remember, it's not for profit. We're not here to make a profit. We're not here to make our quarterings. We're here to help our members to be there when they need us, when they need help. We are there. To help each other, you know, it's, it's the kind of industry where, you know, I was saying people helping people. It is absolutely true. It is ingrained in the DNA of people in the credit union industry. There is no competition. There's only cooperation. Everybody works together, even if we're in the same neighborhoods, you know, the same areas. I'll call a CEO of another credit union who's in the same geographic area I am, that's doing great, and I'll ask him the same question and he will answer me. Right. Completely honest and tell me, completely steer me in the right direction. So it's great that way. And, and so that's a big part of it. The other part of this is, is, well, it's not the other part. It's just people. It's, it's the people side. It's everything's about the people side. We're here to help. We're not here to hurt. We're here, you know, we have a saying, you know, people before profit, not just today, but every day. And it's true. You know, it's, it's, we're not there for the profit side of it. We have to earn a profit. We have to be, to be safe and sound. You know, as we continue to grow, we got to keep our capital ratio where it is. So you have to show. a positive net income to make sure you're always maintaining that balance and always there to have the money to pay for the increasing costs of inflation or whatever that happens each year. Right. But that's where it stops. You know, as, as a bank, let's say, or as any profitable institution that's driven by those stakeholders, they have to continue to grow their earnings as much as possible because their shareholders want those earnings, that dividend to them. In the credit union industry, if we had a certain level of profitability that was beyond what we should for a credit union, we'd give it right back to our members. Our members are the shareholder. And that's I think the big difference.

Glynn: 2:55

John, as you're aware, this podcast is about leadership across Credit Union Nation and the philanthropic giving that is a part of, really, the fabric of credit unions everywhere. Talk to us about your leadership position within your own community.

John: 3:12

Sure. So that's a Just like before when I said the DNA of the credit union industry, the DNA of also the credit union industry is about the people side and the community side and help with non profits. It's not even non profits, it's just helping people. We're very much a leader in our community and our industry. When you look at where the Chamber of Commerce goes when they're looking for help, where the Selectmen go when they're looking for help, the Councilmen go when they're looking for help. A state senator has called us recently and said, Hey, there's a flooding. We all knew about this in the news, the flooding taking place in this geographic region, which is part of ours. What can you guys do? We put together a little fund and promised to give them a fast ease and end of credit, a low interest rate, far lower than what they get anywhere else. It's basically a free loan to get them out of the mess that they're in. As a community leader, and there's other ones, there's other Canadians here, I'm looking at a CEO down the hall here, and they're just like us, so that's a big part of our industry. It's not just us, it's all of us together, working together. It's, that's the base of what our foundation is. We're, everything we're building is to help people through the process and the communities that we serve. And so that's the huge pieces of what a credit

Glynn: 4:25

unionistry is. And it almost feels like the recovery if you find yourself in a deficit scenario. And many credit unions are challenged today in the same way other banks are. There are no financial institutions immune. bUt the recovery period is lessened when you have catered to the, to the people of the community as compared to large corps, as an

John: 4:49

example. And you know, the piece of it as well with our industry, we help each other. So that if somebody got over their skis, they can call us and say, listen, I need to increase revenue. Can you sell me some loans? Because we make, credit unions and banks make more money on loans than they do on investment. So if we're sitting there for a bunch of loans and we say, do you have any loans, you guys can keep the servicing, but I'll hold it on my balance sheet because I need to grow this revenue, I'm in a little bit of trouble. In a heartbeat, we do that and we get them out of trouble. We have a very connected industry. If a vendor helps another credit union. It makes us all want to help that vendor. And so we go, you know, get business from that vendor, so long as it's a product that works with everything else, all things B Depot. That's what this industry does. It's so

Glynn: 5:29

interconnected that way. I think it's awesome. I want to be able to give you an opportunity to highlight your employees for just a moment. I'm going to take a leap as I do often times thinking about employees of other credit unions. Social responsibility has become paramount in the hiring process. Of trying to bring on new associates, and from a leadership perspective, your responsibility is to make certain your employees care a lot about the members they serve and that translates into the communities that are served. Can you spend just a second there talking about the employee makeup and how they care about the membership, specifically referring to philanthropic giving?

John: 6:10

I would kind of go down two different paths with this. The type of team member that we have on our team and then the philanthropic giving side. Because unless you have a strong institution, you cannot be a philanthropic giver. Unless you have a strong institution, there is no money to hand to anybody else. You're in trouble yourself. So, you have to have a strong team, you have to have a strong organization. It has to be a machine that just hums in order to be able to support others. That, that machine's not humming whether it's a personal person in their life, or his life, or an organization. So, on the, on that side, the productive side, we have a, I'm so blessed we have such a fantastic team of people who are they don't make hundreds like they're running down the street. They really have an objective to accomplish something in their life. It's not just a career. They're building something. We talk about social responsibility. Social responsibility covers a lot of things. It's not just about giving. Giving is, in my opinion, usually, it usually helps the symptoms of the problem. It doesn't fix the problem. Unless the folks that you're giving to are organized to start to solve this problem. so, we have, our second core value is called elevating people. And it's, it's in our first core value, and it's not in any order, 1, 2, 3, but it's it's, we have, our first core value is one team. We are one team. And it started out with us individually as a team. You know, looking at ourselves internally to build the greatest culture and the strongest organization that we can build. But now it's enveloped out of us, now that we've got that under control on the internal side. Now, what we're doing is focusing that and giving that great culture we have externally to our members and to our community. So now pulling them into this one team family that we have. The second core value is about elevating people. And it's not only on the internal side, it's also on the external side. How do we help people who may have A really poor credit score, or they have a poor credit history. And helping them to fix that problem. We commit to our team is this, you join our team. From the minute you join our team, we have a responsibility to you to make you more marketable. We hope you never leave. We don't want you to ever leave. We hope you stay your entire career, whatever your choice is. You decide it's better for your family to take this next opportunity someplace else or something or whatever it might be. We commit to them that from the minute that they join our team to the minute they leave, they will be thankfully joined our team because they will be more developed, more marketable than they were before.

Glynn: 8:38

Oh, I gotcha. So these core values that you've just outlined, not only are they of course known to the employee base, you're widely publicizing them to the broader membership community. We're just

John: 8:48

going through a branding, a new rebranding here that'll be rolling out in 2025. And so that's a huge part of it. Our third, our third is embracing accountability. We have a philosophy. It's called See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It. So if you see something, you own it now. And it's your responsibility to solve it. And once you solve for the problem, then you gotta do it. You gotta execute it. See it, own it, solve it, do it.

Glynn: 9:11

I like to be able to give back to my guests for taking the time to sit down with me. Perhaps a nonprofit organization that's important to your family. You know, it's one thing to come to work every day and hold up a flag and talk about what's important to the credit union and I know you're genuine with everything you've said to me thus far, but I want to make this a little bit personal for your sake. Is there an organization you'd like to plug? Make sure you're crystal clear on how our listeners would get a chance to, to research

John: 9:41

or whomever that is. If it's okay, instead of naming one, one, one organization something that's important to me. Would it be okay if I talked about a problem? Oh,

Glynn: 9:51

yes. Right on. Let's do it.

John: 9:52

So, and there's a lot of organizations helping this problem. It's the problem of homelessness. So, I'm involved in several organizations about homelessness, but one of the things that I am trying to create awareness for and talk to the folks about is when you look at homelessness, it's rampant nowadays. I mean, there's so many problems in our cities and elsewhere where homelessness is rampant. Homelessness is just, it's almost become an epidemic level itself. It's like, it's reached levels that are outside the charts. And so you wonder why. And when you're involved in the organizations like I am as well, and this is where I've learned this, many of the organizations solve or work to heal or treat the symptoms. It doesn't solve the problems, but it treats the symptoms of the problems.

Glynn: 10:32

The most difficult task of being homeless is

John: 10:38

Having

Glynn: 10:38

to ask someone else to part with their own money. So that unto itself is a real challenge, right? Is, is you're in survival mode, but humbling yourself when you're at the point of greatest need to ask someone else for, for their money. What a pleasure talking with you. Yeah, it was super fun, Great time with you, John. Thank you.

11:01

Thank you for joining us on this episode of See You Lead brought to you by NetGiver, the no fee donation platform for donors and nonprofits. We hope you stay engaged, stay inspired, and continue leading with purpose. Until next time.