2023 CU Reality Check

John Kutchey is the Regional Director for the NCUA’s Eastern Region, holding the position since 2020.  As Regional Director, he oversees the examination and supervision of federally insured credit unions in Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Prior to his appointment as Regional Director, Mr. Kutchey served as the agency’s Deputy Executive Director for the NCUA from 2012-2019. Within the NCUA, he has also held positions as Deputy Director in the Office of Examination & Insurance, Director of Risk Management and then-Region II’s Director of Supervision.  He also served as a Supervisory Examiner, a Problem Case Officer and a Principal Examiner. Prior to joining the agency, he worked for various credit unions.

James Robert Lay is one of the world’s leading digital marketing authors, speakers, and advisors for financial brands. Based in Houston, James Robert is the author of Banking on Digital Growth: The Strategic Marketing Manifesto to Transform Financial Brands. He is also the Founder and CEO of the Digital Growth Institute where he has guided more than 520 financial brands on a mission to simplify digital marketing and sales strategies that empower banks and credit unions to generate 10 times more loans and deposits. James Robert has been named one of the Financial Brand’s “Top Global Financial Services Influencers to Follow,” a CUNA “Credit Union Rock Star,” and a CU Times “Under 40 Trailblazer.” His insights have been featured in outlets including US News and World Report, Quartz, The Financial Brand, American Banker, CU Times, and CU Journal among many others.

Viola Llewellyn is the Co-Founder of Ovamba Solutions, Inc. award-winning African “TradeTech” company that creates culturally attuned technologies for Financial Institutions so that they can serve formal and informal African SMEs in the trade & commodities sectors with short term capital and financial inclusion. Ovamba’s solutions combine innovative Sharia-compliant structures with eCommerce, logistics services, and technology to drive financial inclusion and promote growth. As a founding team member of a life insurance investment fund ($500M AUM) in Washington, DC, she led investor communications, and asset management divisions.

In her past career, she has held positions with Unisys Corporation, IBM, Digital Equipment Corp., KPMG Consulting, BearingPoint, and Rothschild’s. Ms. Llewellyn was listed in the “Digital Undivided Report” as one of only 34* Black women in the USA to have raised more than $1 million for a technology company as featured in the April issue of Vanity Fair Magazine. She is listed on Innovate Finance’s 2016, 2017, and 2018’s Women in FinTech Power List and on Latice80’s Top 100 Women in Fintech 2019 list. Ms. Llewellyn is further distinguished by being the first Female African Tech Founder to speak at both “Slush, Helsinki” and “Slush, Tokyo”. Her TED Talk was included as part of the “Reboot” Series with Boston Consulting Group. Ms. Llewellyn is a published author of The Brooking’s Institute’s “Foresight Africa 2019” article, “Winning in Africa’s FinTech: The Ovamba Way,” and the Wilson Centers’ “Africa: Year In Review 2019.”

She is on a number of advisory boards, including the Africa Fintech Summit, the Africa Professional Services Group, the European Women’s Payment Network, as well as the African Women in Fintech & Payments Network. Viola Llewellyn’s family is originally from Cameroon. She was born, raised, and educated in the U.K. and lives between the African Continent and the USA.

Sam Maule is an active mentor, thought leader, and sought-after speaker focusing on the human element of digital and banking innovation. He has over twenty-five years of experience working in the payments, mobile, and banking space across North America and Europe for both global banking and technology companies, and in the start-up community. He was the Managing Partner at 11:FS, co-host of FinTechInsider podcast, and recurring host of Breaking Banks podcast. He has presented for such places as the Thailand Stock Exchange, FinTechStage Luxembourg, FinnoSummit Bogota, Money2020 US and Europe, SAMA Saudi Arabia, SIBOS Singapore, Seoul’s AI Conference, American Banker’s Conference, and CUNA.

Caroline brings over 20 years of experience in and around credit unions to Filene where she will help build out our Member Insights competency. With her extensive experience in finance, marketing, and product development, Caroline is on a mission to find trends and patterns in consumer behavior that will lead to the development of new products and services to transform the credit union industry.

Caroline sees the critical need for innovation in the credit union movement. She understands the importance of knowing your members and understanding how they view their finances and the financial world to provide the best financial services possible and help improve financial well-being. Caroline will be a guiding force into helping credit unions reestablish their identity to remain relevant, competitive, and provide the right solutions.

Prior to her work with Filene, Caroline was at Raddon where she was responsible for Raddon Research Insights, the Raddon national consumer research program, and authored more than 20 research studies. Past roles include CFO at Clackamas Federal Credit Union and SVP of Marketing and Member Experience at Elements Financial.

Caroline earned her bachelor’s degree from Emory University and her MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. While her career has taken her around the country, Caroline is now based in Indianapolis where she can be found spending time with her black labradoodle Shadow. An avid traveler, Caroline hosts a podcast titled Wonders of the World, where listeners can learn about travel destinations, history, and even food recommendations!

Tanya Van Court is the founder and CEO of Goalsetter, an award-winning innovative mobile banking and investment platform dedicated to closing the wealth gap in America through financial literacy tools that empower K-12 students and their families.

Created in 2016, Goalsetter’s vision and mission is to provide every kid in America with a path to financial freedom and an opportunity to build generational wealth.

In 2021, Goalsetter exploded onto the fintech space with the launch of its Drafted campaign, a Black History Month initiative focused on getting one million Black and Brown kids saving and investing. Drafted garnered support and investment from some of the country’s most prominent financial institutions, business leaders, organizations, brands, athletes, and celebrities, bringing to the forefront the conversation of the economic inequities that are hindering progress for American families and making it one of the fastest growing fintech apps in America. As a result. Tanya and Goalsetter’s mission have been featured in prominent outlets across the country, including New York Times, Today Show, CNBC, TechCrunch, NBC News, FOX Business, AfroTech, Yahoo Finance, and many others. Additionally, her work with Goalsetter has earned her a place on the 2021 Ebony Power 100 list and the 2021 Forbes Next 1000, as well as a feature guest spot on the OWN Network’s Speak Sis Series. In March 2022, Goalsetter was awarded the 2022 Fintech Breakthrough Award for Best Personal Finance App of the year.

As the creator and owner of one of the only Black- and woman-led fintech platforms in the country, Tanya is often sought to speak on the challenges, joys, and epiphanies she’s had as a female business entrepreneur in technology as well as issues surrounding racial and economic justice and diversity, equity and inclusion, among other topics.

After attaining two Stanford degrees in engineering and losing millions in the dot com bubble, Tanya climbed her way up the corporate ladder as a digital content executive for some of the world’s most influential cable television networks, including serving as senior vice president of partner marketing at Discovery Education, where she launched digital textbooks to schools across the country. Prior to her time at Discovery, Ms. Van Court led digital preschool and parenting businesses for Nickelodeon, including NickJr.com and Noggin.com, and served as vice president of new media products for ESPN, where she led the launch of ESPN3.

As Director of Compliance and Innovation, Scott has dedicated his time to gaining a comprehensive understanding of how the changing health care climate impacts employers of various sizes.  He is passionate about helping employers leverage their health and welfare benefits platform to optimize the vitality of their workforce in a conscientious and compliant manner. Scott previously held this role with Kistler Tiffany Benefits, which was acquired by OneDigital in January 2020.

Scott is the President of the Greater Philadelphia Association of Health Underwriters (GPAHU), and serves on the Board of the Pennsylvania Association of Health Underwriters (PAHU) where he is tasked with coordinating state-level lobbying efforts on behalf of the region’s health insurance industry. Scott served on the National Association of Health Underwriters’ (NAHU) Legislative Council from 2014-2021 where he regularly worked with federal legislators and regulators to advance national health care policy and held the role of chair of the council from 2020-2021.

A nationally recognized speaker on health policy, Scott is frequently invited to speak at a variety of events for professional associations. In 2016, he was invited to serve as an adjunct lecturer at Villanova University where he taught a graduate course on employer-sponsored benefit trends. In 2018, he completed an intensive program on Population Health Management from Thomas Jefferson University’s College of Population Health.

Previously, Scott was an associate attorney for the litigation firm of Del Collo & Mazzanti, LLP in Paoli, Pennsylvania. Specifically, he defended employers and insurance carriers against Workers’ Compensation claims. While obtaining his law degree, Scott worked as an associate in Cephalon, Inc.’s in-house counsel providing guidance on regulatory matters affecting employment law, patent law, tax law, contract law, and mass tort litigation.

Scott received his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law. He graduated from The Johns Hopkins University earning a B.A. in Political Science.  Scott is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Alloya provides cooperative financial services to 1,400 member credit unions and credit union entities nationally, including transaction, liquidity, and investment services. Headquartered in Naperville, Illinois, Alloya offers a dependable and affordable line of credit, secure and efficient product access and settlement, and unparalleled member service – which are available to all credit unions with or without a capital contribution. In conjunction with its wholly owned CUSO, Alloya Solutions, LLC, Alloya leverages the power of aggregation to ensure its members remain competitive in today’s marketplace. In addition to the support Alloya provides its membership, Alloya supports multiple credit union leagues and associations throughout the country and gives back to local communities nationwide by providing a variety of charitable donations.

CrossState Solutions, CrossState Credit Union Association’s service corporation, provides the tools and solutions necessary to thrive in today’s competitive and ever-changing financial services landscape. We’re committed to identifying partners with top-quality, market-leading solutions, as well as developing our own programs, to ensure our valued member credit unions have access to the products and services that matter most. We offer a variety of opportunities for quality business solution partners to engage with us and the credit unions in our marketplace. From building brand awareness with content marketing and strategies, to lead generation and sales support, the CrossState Solutions Partner Program provides a positive return-on-investment.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY) helps community lenders in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands advance housing and community growth. The FHLBNY is part of the congressionally chartered, nationwide Federal Home Loan Bank System, which was created in 1932 to provide a flexible credit liquidity source for member community lenders engaged in home mortgage and neighborhood lending. The FHLBNY increases the availability of mortgages and home finance to families of all income levels by offering high-value correspondent and cash management services to assist our members in more effectively serving their neighborhoods and meeting their Community Reinvestment Act responsibilities.

Fox Rothschild LLP is a national law firm with 1000 attorneys covering more than 70 practice areas, including corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring, intellectual property, privacy and data security, real estate and litigation. From offices across the country, our lawyers provide a full range of legal services to credit unions, banks and various players in the financial services industries. Clients trust us to stay apprised of the everchanging rules that govern financial institutions while also guiding them through complex domestic and international loan transactions. We also are skilled with corporate governance, mergers and various issues encountered by our credit union clients.

As an expert in non-interest income and expense analysis, JMFA helps provide credit unions insight and intelligence to make the best data-driven decisions. We address your evolving needs with comprehensive overdraft consulting — backed by a 100% compliance guarantee — and vendor contract negotiation services so you can focus on what matters most.

OneDigital’s team of fierce advocates helps businesses and individuals achieve their aspirations of health, success and financial security. Our insurance, financial services and HR platform provides personalized, tech-enabled solutions for a contemporary work-life experience. Nationally recognized for our culture of caring, OneDigital’s teams enable employers and individuals to do their best work and live their best lives.

Trellance is a credit union cooperative and leading technology partner for credit unions, delivering innovative technology solutions to help credit unions achieve more. With a comprehensive suite of analytics, cloud and talent solutions, the Trellance team ensures credit unions increase efficiency, manage risk, and improve member experience. As a tech partner, Trellance ensures that credit unions have access to the latest generation of fintech solutions, filled with powerful tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

TruStage is a financially strong insurance and investment company. For generations, we’ve partnered with credit union leaders to protect and grow their businesses, and help people plan, protect and invest for their future. TruStage offers commercial and personal insurance products; lending and payment security solutions; and retirement, investment, and marketing services.

Vizo Financial Corporate Credit Union’s goal is to drive credit union success through proven excellence, unmatched expertise, and engaged partnerships. It is a state-chartered corporate credit union that serves CUSOs, leagues, chapters, and more than 1,100 credit unions in the U.S. and Canada. Vizo Financial supports credit unions with back-office solutions in the areas of Money Management, Payments, Core Processing and Education. With these services and the promise of our partnership, we strive to help credit unions be their very best.