Credit unions have supported members through a variety of challenges, whether it be financial hardships or domestic violence. It’s those credit union stories of helping members that make them what they are. It’s mission-critical those stories get shared.
Enter Backbone, a project started by a handful of collaborative credit unions, including Community Financial Credit Union. The nationwide public relations campaign to raise all credit unions’ brand awareness.
At GAC 2025, host Sarah Snell Cooke sat down with Community Financial Credit Union President/CEO Tansley Stearns to discuss the Backbone program and how the art of storytelling can help propel the credit union movement. Don’t wait! WATCH NOW!
Read the Full Transcript:
Disclosure: Transcript is automatically generated
Sarah Cooke 0:04
Hello. Welcome everybody. We are here today at the GAC 2025, and I am here with my lovely, lovely guest. Tansley Stearns, CEO at Community Financial Credit Union. Welcome.
Tansley Stearns 0:25
Thank you for having me.
Sarah Cooke 0:26
Absolutely. Alright, so why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself.
Tansley Stearns 0:39
Awesome. So I’m Tansley Stearns. I am the president, CEO at Community Financial Credit Union. We are headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, which is right outside of Detroit. We’re about 1.5 billion in assets, and we originally were chartered to serve Daisy Air Rifle employees, and Daisy Air Rifle moved south very quickly. We’ve been a community charter for years and years, and really honored to serve Michiganders and bring their impossible dreams to life.
Sarah Cooke 1:08
That’s awesome. What are some of the things you’re doing at the credit union? I know you are always active. I see you on LinkedIn or other social media all the time, and you’re at this fundraiser or this event or whatever. What are some of the things that your credit union’s doing beyond like the day to day credit uniony stuff?
Tansley Stearns 1:24
So, what I’m thinking a lot about are two horizons. So one of those is Daily Execution, just what you talked about. We’ve invested deeply in our infrastructure and technology product line in the last two and a half years, and now we need that to be activated by our team, and then there’s this longer term horizon. We’re very lucky that our board set out our ends, which is just a fancy way of thinking about our vision, and it’s bold, and our leadership team is thinking about how we bring that to life, and what that means is walking with people in some of their darker moments. I think all of us consider financial institutions for those typical needs. You might imagine a love lovely couple running down the beach toward their retirement, and we want to be with people in those joyful moments. We also know that the darker times, whether that’s cancer or domestic and sexual violence, death, divorce, these are top times, and unfortunately, oftentimes when people you love walk away from you, and we’ve been marrying our insights area with our ability to really have subject matter expertise so that we can build programs that solve some of these larger challenges for people. And I think if you can walk with somebody in those darkest moments. Those are opportunities to build loyalty for a lifetime.
Sarah Cooke 2:45
Awesome, yeah, no, have you heard of FISAFE?
Tansley Stearns 2:47
I haven’t heard of FISAFE. Yeah.
Sarah Cooke 2:49
You have, you said?
Tansley Stearns 2:50
I don’t think I have.
Sarah Cooke 2:51
Okay, so, yeah, I interviewed them yesterday. It just reminded me they’re a CUSO and they offer domestic violence assistance, and they’re actually help. I think he called it technology and empathy to be tempathy.
Tansley Stearns 3:03
Yeah.
Sarah Cooke 3:04
And so yeah, getting instead of having somebody repeatedly call and call and call the house that used to be at and then end up talking to the abusive spouse. So…
Tansley Stearns 3:04
A lot to be done there. So we’re thrilled to be a part of that solution. And what I love is that our insights area has worked with survivors to seek to understand what their needs are. And we have now 50 people that we know have been able to leave situations through a one that we developed. And you know that that’s true impact that credit unions were intended to make.
Sarah Cooke 3:34
And it also tells a story.
Tansley Stearns 3:36
It sure does Yes.
Sarah Cooke 3:39
Now I’ve been coming. I’ve been to 25 to 26 GACs. I was pregnant in 2002, or actually just had my son. But I think every year we talk about storytellers, there’s a speaker today, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow is going to open up. I think talking about storytelling. And after 100 years of being in business, plus cranes still are reaching, reaching for that. I’ll say, because there is a, there is a brand awareness issue, and I sat in on the don’t tax my credit union thing and session yesterday. And it’s just, it’s scary, what they came back with, some of the data that they came back with. So I know you talked at the Underground, yes, Sunday. Gosh, it’s going fast. Time flies. So talk a little bit about like, give us the bullet pointed version of that, of what you talked about, it at the Underground.
Tansley Stearns 4:35
We have to be restless and impatient with progress. I’m thrilled about all that credit unions do. We should celebrate that, and we need to really push ourselves to be relevant. If you look at our growth as a movement, it only is with the largest credit unions. And if we’re not growing, we aren’t relevant, right? And I am. A huge believer in us telling credit union stories. I also know that the very best brands have human beings telling their story on their behalf every single day, and we have those opportunities, and yet we haven’t created the platform and the consistent drum beat to make sure that that’s happening. And I often think that we think of marketers and those of us that are really committed to storytelling and kind of pat us on the hands and say, you know, that’s cute, that’s cute. And story sounds like something you do with your kiddos, and it is. And if you think about stories, they are the thread that ties human beings together. They are the things that motivate human beings, engage human beings, and cause them to be curious about taking action, and it’s our responsibility to do that well. And you know, I’ve had people say to me, because we’ve built a coalition of folks under something we’re calling backbone, to come together to share those stories. And I’ve had some people say, Well, isn’t that the league’s job, or isn’t that America’s credit unions job? It’s all of our job, absolutely, and more is more. When it comes to sharing our story, all of us need to do it, and the more each of us does it, and the more we do it together, the more people will be shouting that from the rooftops. We got to do that.
Sarah Cooke 6:17
You create that cacophony of credit unions are awesome, especially on the hill. They’re looking at some bills that may not be favorable, and some executive orders, millions of executive orders. But so I’m going to go with I’d love to answer this question. I know they answer this question. I don’t know your answer to this question. Okay, why? Why is storytelling?
Tansley Stearns 6:43
One, I think it is the thing that connects human beings, you know, and in this world that we’re living in right now, it’s so interesting because we feel more connected with these devices that we have. And the data would tell you we are less connected than we ever have been, and the human toll that’s taking is dangerous. It’s creating loneliness and anger. And when you also listen to what happened, no matter your political beliefs, during the last election, what became very, very clear, the American people are feeling economic pain. Yeah, credit unions are the answer to that 100% and we won’t be that answer if people don’t know we exist, I can’t tell you how many times I share with people what we do, and they scratch their heads, and if they’re brave and I’ll say, what are your credit unions? Again, we have to stop saying that. I don’t want to be the best kept secret, and we have to be hard on ourselves until we’re not.
Sarah Cooke 7:43
Exactly. Love it. yes, and I think too it works inside the credit union as well. Training your employees to know all those things, I imagine, create better engagement, better loyalty, along with some other stuff too. But yeah, everybody wants to have meaning in their life, and you spend a lot of that time at work. So…
Tansley Stearns 8:03
You do. Well, and we have the same employer brand issue. You know, if you talk to anybody here at this conference and you ask them about their origin story at a credit union, it will sound very similar to mine, which is, I stumbled into it exactly. Let’s not stumble into it anymore. We should be the very best choice for people that are graduating from high school and graduating from college to dream about working in a credit union. This is purpose driven work, which is what the next generation wants. The employer brand and the consumer brand are closely tied.
Sarah Cooke 8:31
Absolutely, and that’ll count toward how the employees treat your members so and that is story telling, because you’re not only talking. I mean, it sounds like you’re telling somebody something, but it’s showing it every single day. Yeah.
Tansley Stearns 8:47
Well, and I would say storytelling is an art, as you know, better than most this. Again, I think we simplify it, and again, think of it as being cutesy. It’s not cutesy. What it takes to tell a really good story is craftsmanship. And you know, we have tons of great data that data is helpful. The data’s got to be connected to human impact. And what does that actually mean in somebody’s life? We talk about somebody who had a loved one pass away, and instead of having to sift through the Google and seek to understand what you do to make sure that you can handle that well, when what you’re really dealing with is grief, that’s a story. You know, when you’ve got somebody who wishes to leave a very dangerous situation, and the credit union enabled that, that’s a story.
Sarah Cooke 9:35
Yeah. 100%. If we get all of those going millions and millions, because I know they happen every day, and I think part of the problem too is kind of operationalizing it like so the loan officers and the front line people know to somehow document it, and then it moves up the chain and then gets out in the world. So, yeah, I want to get to that kind of too. How are you operationalizing it?
Tansley Stearns 9:58
We’re working really hard at that, because it’s. Hard work. When you first say to someone, tell me a story. You know, people’s palms sweat and they’re like a story I’m just trying to get through the day. Chance and when you can say, Well, what we really want to tell credit union stories about understanding the impact we had on somebody’s life. How did alone ensure that somebody could afford their life more effectively. How did we relieve stress for somebody, when you help people to categorize what you’re looking for, that then connects to their work and to your point, it not only allows us to bring that story to life, I think for the team member, it helps to emphasize why this work matters, what a difference the people in our organizations make every single day.
Sarah Cooke 10:43
Screens are out there saving marriages and saving homes and all this kind of stuff, and they never want to. They don’t see it that way. It’s like, we make clothes.
Tansley Stearns 10:51
Yeah, well, and that’s, that’s we’ve actually started a Community Financial talking about ourselves as a movement, rather than a financial institution. We have financial tools, and ultimately, that is the structure we have. The tools are not what’s important. They enable exactly dreams to come true and solving really big fundamental challenges.
Sarah Cooke 11:15
So wha’ts the next step in your Backbone PR effort?
Tansley Stearns 11:18
We really need more people to engage with us, the more credit unions that are part of this, the better, because each of us are doing different things, and the different stories from around the country, and voices from around the country really matter. And we want people to see, oh, okay, in South Carolina and Michigan, in Alaska, in New York, there’s a credit union for me, and the more of us that are there, the better the storytelling will be.
Sarah Cooke 11:45
Absolutely, totally agree, and I always give my guests final thought, close up the show. What would you like to leave our credit union audience with?
Tansley Stearns 11:56
Please do something I love. It a bias to action matters in this moment. Human beings need us right now more than ever, and it’s time for us to nudge towards action every single day. You know that matters deeply, and when we do that, the movement will be better, and human beings lives will be better.
Sarah Cooke 12:18
Awesome. Thank you so much for being here Tansley.
Tansley Stearns 12:19
Thank you for having me. I’m so grateful.