 Hi, I am Jan Reardon, and I am a board member of the Jennifer Reardon Foundation, which was formed by my brother for my sister-in-law. And the pillars of Jen's foundation are women's empowerment, financial literacy, early childhood education, and community vitality. So today, I was thinking about this on the way over, but not only do I have somebody representing one of the pillars of Jen's foundation, which is what I always seek out as somebody that is involved in something that ties back into those four pillars, but I was thinking actually, as I go ahead and introduce you to Bob Morgan, who is the CEO of North Country Federal Credit Union, I was thinking to myself, you know, Bob is truly like you are a pillar of this community. And that's why it just seems so beautiful for me to know this is one of Jen's pillars, financial literacy, and you are the guy. I mean, I had the pleasure of meeting you back when I was at the Y, you were on the board, and obviously at that time became the CEO of North Country Federal Credit Union. And that's when I became very familiar with credit unions. I, you know, up to that time had just been involved with the bank. So what I want to do is obviously introduce you, Bob Morgan, and say, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. I know I have some idea what your days are like, and I know you hit the pavement, and you don't stop until late into the evening. So I really appreciate you being here. Well, and you do the same. I, you're so full of energy and passion and what you're doing with for this foundation is great. It's just absolutely a pleasure to be here. We've known each other for a long time. I have so much respect for you. Oh, thank you, Bob. And just really look forward to having this conversation. This is great. As much as I now know about the credit union, because I am thankfully a member of North Country, and I have enjoyed every transaction that I have had and every interaction with your staff. That's wonderful. It's a wonderful group. I knew a few people closely back in the day at the Y when you always sponsored the golf tournament. That's fundraiser, which was one of our largest fundraisers, and you stepped right up for that for many years up at Berlin, well, Stowe Country Club, then moved over to Berlin to Country Club. And that's where I remember you and so many of the different CEOs from local credit unions that had such a nice camaraderie. So what I'd like to start with, Bob, if you could talk about the mission of North Country, and then also just talk a little bit about how do you differentiate yourself from a typical bank? And so just go right ahead with the mission, if you would, please. Absolutely. Well, the mission for North Country is to make dreams come true for all by offering personalized financial solutions. Love that. As a financial cooperative, we are inspired and empowered to do the right thing for our members and employees. So I think that's a really important place to start. And you know, one thing with credit unions that's just really important to understand is, structurally, we are cooperative. So it is a member-owned, member-governed organization, and every member is an equal owner and has equal rights to the credit union. And I don't think a lot of people know that. I did not before I became a member. I did not realize that structure. So I'm so thankful we're talking about this because it's a great way to operate your finances. Yeah. It's important to understand. I mean, we are in the business of offering financial services, so you can think of checking and savings and loan products, mortgages, the whole gammon of things. But how and why is fundamentally different and differentiating, right? And you know, I'm not here to say banks are bad. Banks are absolutely important. And they are a foundational piece of our economy, nationally, locally, otherwise. Their structures are different. Most of them are stock-held organizations, so that's part of their overall stakeholders they need to be concerned about, right? Our stakeholders as a cooperative is very centric on our members and by extension the communities that we serve. And you were mentioning the collaboration and the camaraderie with other credit union CEOs. I think that comes from that sort of cooperative structure. We do compete with each other, obviously, on products and services and other things, but there is a strong collaboration within the credit union movement because we're aware that, you know, no one of us is large enough to serve all the needs of all of our members. So you complement each other so nicely. It really is important that we, you know, are supportive and work together, especially as we're working on common issues or problems, so it's really good. And how many locations do you have throughout Vermont? We have 13 locations now. We just opened two weeks ago. Who's the newest? Richford, Vermont. That's a community right up north. Where is it? Yeah, it's very close to it, right in Franklin County. Oh, nice. That's fantastic. We opened it in partnership really with the town of Richford because they've been without a financial institution since pre-COVID. And we've been talking with town officials, community leaders for some time trying to find the right fit. And we rented half of the building that they ran out the other halves with their post office. And now there's North Country Federal Credit Union there. Fabulous. And the reception we've been receiving is fantastic. I'm sure just again, you know, based on being, you know, such a smaller community, it's probably very tight-knit. And then that fits in so nicely with the credit union, where everybody wants to be a member. It does. And, you know, the other key part of it, and this isn't the only time we've done this, is we've really kind of reached out and had a presence in a location that, again, does not have any other options. So it's really providing meeting an unmet need in the community. Exactly. Which is really important. And it makes a huge difference. And we look to do that with our products and services, some of our branch locations. North Country serves the northern 10 counties of the state of Vermont, and then Clinton County, New York, and Coas and Grafton County, New Hampshire as well. Oh, I didn't realize that. Yeah, so we have 13 branches. They're all in Vermont today. Right. You know, we'll be looking at what opportunities there are to benefit communities in New York and New Hampshire in the not too distant future. Okay. And I need to find out. I mean, you're from Essex. I'm from Essex. We're just talking about now Essex is a city. So are we going to have North Country Federal Credit Union? I had to put you on the spot. I'd love to have one in our little neighborhood. It would be really convenient too, right? Again, I think when we evaluate locations, we really look at... I love your strategy. You know, what's out there today? Where are there opportunities to serve more people that aren't being served fully? And does it make sense from a community perspective, a member's perspective, and the credit union perspective? So that's all part of our decisions that we make. Right. And so members, would they have heads up on something like that? I'm trying to think I might not look at every single email. So do you discuss like strategically, like where you may be going next or looking for another market? Is that something that's put out to the membership or is that something that stays with your leadership? Well, like yourself saying, where you'd like a branch location, we do get a lot of input from our members. And that's really important. We also, you know, kind of really look at our overall market and do a sort of a survey of what's being offered in communities today. Where aren't we? Where are the needs the greatest and kind of what makes sense? And then, you know, there's other factors like the location, cost of entry, and those things that all kind of tie in. So we can make good decisions that benefit everybody. Right. So how do you do such an amazing job with, you know, and this is you and the culture you've created at North Country. And as I said, you just have the greatest employees and a lot of longevity. We sure do. Yes, that's a thing. I mean, even when I still will call and I hear Julie's voice over there, I'm like, wow, that's a blast from the past. I mean, has she been there 15 years maybe? She predates me. And I've... And how long have you been there? I started North Country March 1st to 2000. So I've been there over 23 years now. She was there before. Julie predates me by a year or two. She's our vice president of creative and branding, runs our marketing areas. Couldn't have a better person too. She does such a terrific job. It's so genuinely too. She, with that golf tournament, she made that event, you know, well, in her team for marketing. She sure has. And most of the leadership at North Country's had over 10 years, which is really... Very impressive. And very unusual, again, if, you know, and I think about, you know, friends in the banking industry, that's not the case. It's certainly not in the last five or six years. There's been, you know, everything is in such flux. But with your team and the culture you've created, how do you really kind of a two-part question? How do you determine which nonprofits you'd like to align with for different things? Or how do you handle the process if somebody approaches you? Like, what are the... Like, what's the criteria? What are the parameters for you to say, hey, this looks like... Like the golf tournament, for instance, I mean, it's for the YMCA. Obviously, you could see what each dollar was doing for each child and sending kids to camp and really making a difference in so many lives in our community that now these are kids that are very, you know, well-established. And I have to believe, you know, many of the dollars that were spent in their younger years and giving them such an opportunity to understand the core values of being a human being, that have made a difference in these kids. So how do you decide which events or which organizations to support? Well, a couple of things. And I think you really hit on it. And first, North Country last year gave over a half million dollars to support community organizations. I'm glad you mentioned that. Thank you. Yeah. One of them continues to be the Greater Burlington Y, which we've supported for many years. Yes. And I think it does such great work. And excuse me for one second, but to the point where I remember when you, the North Country Federal Credit Union first came on board with sponsorship and the golf tournament was just the beginning of so many things. But we had a maintenance week and you're in there cleaning the preschool classrooms. Yeah. I tell you, it brought tears to my eyes. You just don't really see that. It was beautiful. And that was like so early on. And I get that picture of you just right in there not saying anything to anybody just doing your thing. Yeah. I think part of being good community partners is not only the financial part, but also the engagement with our nonprofit partners who are doing the work to protect the most vulnerable among us. Back to your question, you were asking some of the things that we think about. And I think it really starts with impact. What is the contribution going to result in? That outcome. Right. What is getting done because of it? Or if it wasn't there, what wouldn't happen? And do you find that it's all like when you do make very significant and substantial donations, is it all evidence-based? For instance, are there certain things that based on the metrics, that's why you do that? Or what are the other criteria that would come along to make that decision? Again, I think a large part of it really comes into kind of impact of the funding. What's going to happen because of that? With well-established nonprofits, there's financial information available. There's 990s. There's other things along those lines. Exactly. Very transparent. Understanding how the stewardship of the organizations are being managed is really important. Is it meeting kind of a critical need in the community? These are things that all get factored in and considered. And then within our organization, it's interesting we have some amount of our community giving budget that's management directed. And we have a committee of employees, not senior leaders too. Really employees throughout the organization that really review these and determine what they're going to do. And then the larger contributions, frankly, go before our board of directors. And I can assure that we spend a good deal of time really thinking through, you know, are we making the best decisions here? Are we being the best community partners that we possibly can? And I'm proud of that. I'm proud of our board and our staff's effort to support our community actions. Right. You have so many wonderful affiliations that do tie into that as far as realizing the outcomes from something of that nature are just so much more significant than other things that perhaps have been done in the past. I mean, you really put, you know, such a footprint on opening up new programs. I know for the why, the opportunities, you know, with the preschool and being able to do so many things that, yeah, you can operate without those, but boy, the outcomes are so much better as a result of those things that you provided the funding for. Yeah. And it's very important to who we are. Again, we are a member-owned, member-governed organization, but our members live in communities. Right. And so as a credit union, we're only as healthy and as strong as the financial health and strength of our members. And our members' financial strength is really based in part on, you know, what's the fabric of the community that supports them. Right. So these things are all related and it's important. And we're just happy to play a very small part in all of it. And again, kind of going back to, you know, the banking industry, what would you say in your, you know, elevator speech? What is the major difference? I mean, obviously being, you know, member-owned versus having customers, but is there something else that, if, you know, I just met you and found out that you're the CEO of North Country, why should I go to North Country instead of going to any other bank and we don't have to mention anything, you know, they're out there? What would be? Well, it starts really with our three fundamental core values that we have, which is confident, caring, and creative, and how those kind of display ourselves and our interactions with our members and interactions, interactions with ourselves. You know, confidence, confidence to do things like open new branches and communities where there haven't been one. Right. Talk about, you know, taking a risk. Yeah, confidence to launch products like our employer-sponsored income advanced program that offers emergency workplace-based financing with a partnership with over 50 employers across the state. Creativity to really understand member situations, understand member stories. Every member is unique. Every member is in a unique position. Right. And that in itself is the major difference. And see how we can, you know, fundamentally improve their lives by taking action through some of our products and services. Right. And caring. Caring oftentimes presents itself as our strongest core value, the culture that we have internally in our organization. We've been one of the Vermont's best places to work for seven that award, I know. And I think a lot of that really comes down to the culture that we have. And a lot of that culture is based on how much our employees care for each other, care for their well-being. And that translates to really strong connection with our members as well. We measure member loyalty, member satisfaction through a net promoter score, which is ranged between 70 and 74 now for about three years. That's a really, really high metric that we're very, very proud of. And I think these things are all related. So it starts with those values. And that really gives us opportunities to create strong connections with our members and potential members. And so you're in a situation where there's not really, is there a governing body that's something like a decision to open up a new location outside of your walls? Is there any other approval that you need to get, or you internally can make that happen? Well, those types of decisions involve our board of directors, which is all volunteer. So our board is 100% made of members who are volunteers to the organization. They set and guide the strategic direction of the credit union and really represent the members. They do a fantastic job. So in terms of how we're offering services, if it's an expansion of services, a new loan program, a new branch, those types of things, we have really a lot of flexibility to determine what we do within that. If it was something that was more significant, if we were to want to expand our geographic footprint beyond what we have today, that would require regulatory approval by the National Credit Union Administration. So those types of things, there is a regulatory and approval process that's involved in that. Where is that based out of? So we're federally chartered. So the NCOA is based out of Virginia. Interesting. So do you, with the local CEOs of credit unions, attend conferences and all together down that way? Or is there any? There's lots of conference opportunities. The NCOA often participates in conferences. They don't hold many of them their own. But there's credit union education and advocacy groups that do. And certainly part of our job in being good stewards of the organization is knowing what's the emerging trends, staying educated on things, and that is an important part of what we do. And how many employees do you have? We have about 195 right now. Fabulous. Yeah, it's always growing. And how big is the board? Board is made of 11 volunteer members. Wonderful. And then what would you say, having your 24 years at North Country, what has been the biggest change that you've experienced, even just in the industry in general? Yeah, we were talking before we came on air and we were talking about of all things COVID, right? And what some of those downstream effects were. And I think just the speed at which all things have gone digital really started well before that. But the acceleration of that through that COVID time was remarkable. The concept of work, right? I mean, in 2019, at our headquarters, it was hard to find an open meeting space, an open workspace. And now over half of our staff works remote or hybrid. Wonderful. And, you know, so those are really significant changes. Changes and productive. Yeah, they're productive that promote also efficiency and health and wellness and happiness and happiness and all sorts of caring about one another and knowing that you're doing all you can to give somebody that quality of life. All sorts of things. And those aren't getting reversed anytime soon, right? So I think that's been a really probably a the noticeable change, sort of the how of what we do. The what of what we do is largely the same. I mean, you know, loan products, deposit products, listening to what our members' stories are, really understanding what those they're stated in unmet needs are and providing advice to help them kind of achieve financial wellness. That is what we're all about. Right. And that balance that, you know, brings somebody's mindset in a positive way to work each day. Absolutely. And there was something that I don't think we talked about before, and it just crossed my mind and hopefully it's going to come back to me because when we were talking about remote, I hate to hesitate like this, but let's see, I'll ask you something else and then I can be thinking about that. I'll go back to my questions. Let's see. So as far as, you know, the transparency that that exists with different events and different, you know, sponsorships that you have, is that something that people can go to your website and be able to view or how can somebody find out all the different organizations you support, for instance? Yeah. So there is a community giving page on our website. And what is your web address? www.northcountry.org. Okay. And there is a community giving page. It includes applications for people to go in and apply for community giving contributions. And it does include a, I don't know if it has all of them, but a list of some of the more significant places that we've contributed to. That's also listed in our annual report, which is on our website as well. So there are places to go and get that information. That's good. So I did think about it. My guest a few months back was John Pelletier. And he is obviously just full speed ahead. Financial literacy. Exactly. And full speed ahead as far as having personal finance be mandatory in the curriculum for, you know, K through 12. What's your, I have to believe you're very supportive of that. What is your view on the reality of that happening within the next couple of years, I think is the goal. I mean, it's obviously going to take a while, even though we all wish it was in place. Yeah. John is, John's terrific person. Very passionate about that. So, you know, I, North country is not going to stay any particular positions on things as it relates to school policy. But here's what I can say is that, you know, having our young adults leave high school and enter the workforce and be financially literate is really, really important. That is a goal that we all should embrace and work towards. Exactly. We're doing a few different programs with education institutions. We have close partnership with Winooski High School called Steps to Success. It's not financial literacy, but it's preparedness to enter the workforce. It's focused on some of their new immigrant population. We do that in partnership with resource as well and a number of their high school students who have graduated have attended a five or six week session where they get education about, you know, resume building, interview skills. What a credit union is. Job opportunities within a credit union. We've actually hired a number of the program graduates as well. Oh, I love it, boy. Talk about going full circle. That's phenomenal. So that's at Winooski High School level. Winooski High School. And we've done some partnerships as well with Spalding High School. We have an internship program we're working at with St. Michael's College as well. So I think these things are all related. That is fabulous. And I think, you know, the degree that education institutions or businesses or credit unions can get involved in connecting with youth preparedness for job skills, preparedness for financial literacy, this will pay enormous dividends as we move forward. There's not a downside to it. I mean, absolutely not. Right. How about for adults? Do you have anything in place from an educational perspective that the bank is involved or the credit unions involved in versus, you know, people that might just be a member of a bank and they don't really have that educational component? Yeah. So this past January, our board and our executive team attended our most recent strategic planning session and we adopted a new strategic framework. One of the most important pillars of it is creating and executing a financial wellness program. So on that process, there's tools that we have today. There's a partnership we've done with a company called Balance and we offer these online learning and webinars and stuff as part of our website today that we've just launched. But we're going to be building out a much more comprehensive wellness program that will not only provide education but really work with our members that are interested to help them achieve those two kind of foundational piece of financial wellness with this both not only financial security but then financial freedom, freedom to do things, you know, freedom to... Two words. Yes. It's so important. So we are at the beginning stages of a long journey with that. So maybe I can come back on some follow-up. Exactly. I love the path though that you're on because, you know, even, you know, obviously people that do have a fairly good sense of household budgets and all of that, times have changed so much and it's so nice to know that there's somebody out there that really does care about the quality of your life from a financial point of view. You know, if you do the right things, then you'll be rewarded and there's ways to have that freedom that you talk about which is fabulous that you're addressing that. Absolutely. And, you know, that's is part of our strategic goals is to be very successful in that financial wellness space. Fantastic. I love it. Absolutely. We can wait to go to the website and check on some different things here. Thank you. I encourage you and everyone else to do the same. Absolutely. So what would you say we're going to be wrapping up here in about a minute or so and I just wanted to ask you what you would say at this point has been your greatest accomplishment as the CEO of North Country Federal Credit Union? I think the greatest accomplishment, the things that I am most proud of are things that we've largely already talked about, our organization culture, the strength of our employee engagement as evidenced by the best place to work as evidenced by Gallup scores that are in the top echelon of companies that are worldwide and how we've been able to create a working group of people that really embrace and understand what our core values are and live those out each and every day. You know, it's so funny. We have something known as a retail success program in our organization and part of that is just kind of highlighting those special service moments that our frontline staff, our staff whether they're on the phone or in person are doing with our members and I get a list of these things every single month and I have to say it's inspiring, it's humbling just to read how magnificent our staff is and so you know that I've been able to play a small part in having that culture take place. I have to disagree with you. Go ahead. It's a hundred and ninety-five people. Yes. And engagement is the responsibility of a hundred and ninety-five people and the values is the responsibility of a hundred and ninety-five people and I'm most proud of that. And as you should be Bob, I mean that is just such an accomplishment when you can actually feel you know that type of culture just walking into any one of your branches and you know sometimes there can be great things going behind the scenes but it's not as out in the open as you have made it and I certainly thank you for that being a member of the credit union. I thank you for being a member. My pleasure. I think I go way back and I've always had the as I said the best of service. Before them you go way forward too. Yes, yes. I hope so. But when you get this list of different things that the front line has done, is that coming to you from other staff or from members or where do you get this information about these magic moments that that happen? A little both. The list I was speaking of was coming from other staff who were not talking about their own actions but talking about their work actions. Right. I love that. What is most gratifying unquestionably is when we get an unsolicited letter or email complimenting the amazing actions of one of our team members. Absolutely. And we get those more frequently than you would think and I have to say getting that is has to be one of the absolute best parts of my job. Highlights, highlights definitely. I know and you know I remember back obviously you know being in business for so many years you want to see somebody doing something good. The last thing you know you don't want them to see you come and think I better you know I need to do something you want to see those things going and it's so good when you get to that place where it's just natural we used to call the magic moments and to hear about that and you know you can just feel it. The vibe that you get is just so much better and you know to me what I love about this is it all goes back to kindness. You know being kind to one another you know kind loving caring and sharing that's what it's all about and if you can you know whether you use different words and some of our words are very similar in the mission of you know the foundation versus the mission of the credit union and many of the other organizations that have been present here with me all have that that thread of just being good to one another caring genuinely about one another and and to me that's what I feel such a difference you know whether it was obviously the incident with Jen just bringing so much you know more to the surface but again like with the pandemic and as you said you know we're at a place now where we can just you know appreciate so much more because it was taken away from us and to again have that human contact and not have the masks not have little kids not know what you know their little classmates look like and things like I just feel like we're in such a good place and there's just really good energy there's a lot to be grateful for right now exactly and right and I think that's what we have to continue to message versus all of the terrible things that are going because it can be as bad as it is good on any given day but you know the good things seem to get kind of brushed away and when you bring them to the forefront it really does help our own mindset like you said if you like somebody giving you a note about another staff they feel good just knowing that you know that and they didn't you know something they did but you always feel good if you can do something for somebody else it makes you feel just as good as the other person it does and that's why I have to compliment you that's why this foundation that's why this program that's why your work your passion your energy is so important thank you and I truly enjoy every bit of it you know I obviously wish that we didn't have this foundation but since we do it you know my brother could not have done a more amazing you must be so proud of the work you're doing well yeah he's he's pretty overly generous to me in the sense of compliments more than I deserve because I I do well thanks I do enjoy every bit of this and getting to know people on a on a deeper level means so much more to me now than it ever used to I mean you you know you go through those years and you're you're working and you're kind of you know blinders on and doing your thing and to stop now and just appreciate somebody else's core to me is such a gift I just I am so thankful for the life that I have and you know obviously for the great things that this foundation is doing I did an east coast kindness tour last summer is that right yes we went we went down these coasts so we went to we started in Baltimore well started here Colchester High School my brother has a scholarship in Jen's name because she went to Colchester and so we started there with the you know the sponsorship and filmed all that we had Johnny Mendez from Henhouse Media oh fantastic along with Brian on the tour it was phenomenal we have a kindness fan and so we headed down Baltimore was our first stop and so again we tied into the four pillars and that was all about childhood development it was just amazing work that we were looking for smaller type of organizations that needed a little support and just needed to get some exposure so we stopped there and then we stopped in Richmond Virginia we stopped in in South Carolina Camden we went to this was an amazing you think it's a dog rescue but it's Danny and Ron's dog rescue they have a movie they have books they now are putting all Jen's bookmarks in their books and everything forever home for these dogs they have it's a horse sanctuary land so these dogs are living a nice life and they have 144 dogs oh my goodness this is all about community vitality you know so many people during the pandemic you know lost their animals because they couldn't afford to take care of them these guys like they do all the spaying and neutering in Aruba all all over Aruba so there's not a dog that shouldn't be spayed or neutered there because they're trying to solve the problem whether all these you know dogs on the streets yeah and same thing in Camden South Carolina they opened up a clinic and they provide all those services people can call and they'll fund operations for dogs but they now have 144 dogs living at their house and you can't even smell a dog I mean it's just a beautiful love story of these animals and how these two guys came together and have really just transformed that community now everybody they have volunteers from all over and it's given a whole new meaning to people so it's really about community vitality so that was you know wonderful we just we went to you know another place in Virginia that we talked with this minister who has done all this great programming for disadvantaged youth and just talking about different programs and again the outcomes and hearing about that you know child that then goes off to college and then has a career and is hiring this guy's son type of thing you know how it all goes full circle when you put yourself out there so we heard so many stories I'll send you some clips because Johnny and Brian did an amazing job capturing the emotion of these people and how talk about passion how passionate and grateful they were for the job that they were doing to help their communities I mean they're as invested as you or I could ever be they're just like that is their world and it was it was a really transformational time for me just going on that tour it just has changed my my view of of human kindness I just I feel like you know there are so many good people and good things going on out there we need to expose them we need to talk about that a lot more and get more promotion over the good things instead of oh here we go again and yeah I mean it's horrible some of the things that are happening but we can't just stay in that place and talk about that we need to show a better way and to me this it doesn't get better than this that's fantastic thanks for Sharon well thanks for asking I think you asked probably 10 minutes ago that was my long wait I don't even know what question you asked but I threw in the tour and that was fun and I'll send that along but this has been such a pleasure I am so appreciative of your time obviously but just who you are and and chatting with me this has been Sharon it's been great to connect with you again you know your friend and well maybe we'll do it again so I was gonna say or well we're gonna do a follow-up for sure with the different programs that you're gonna be launching so I'll be on the lookout for that and bring you back in six or seven months and kind of do a little review I would be delighted if you ever look for somebody to golf with you know pick me pick me okay we can do that we can do that yeah yeah where do you play a particular course or are you kind of you do all the fundraiser tournaments that's for sure I'd like to say so my golf game I'd like to say I get a lot of value for my shot because I hit a lot of balls yeah I had a lot of balls but um you know I play it a few times a year so it would be fun it would be fun I love playing over at the links yeah yeah that's that's a good spot because it's not it's an executive course so it doesn't take too long I don't have the attention span for anything like some of these are so long all four or five hours it's just a nice course that's beautiful so absolutely maybe we'll get together over the summer months that'd be great all right I didn't try that thank you so much Jan have a great day you too thank you bye bye