And how he’s setting up Regional Federal Credit Union for the future
Replacing a 39-year CEO is a huge lift. Michael Peters is doing it anyway. He’s bringing 32 years of credit union experience and a clear plan for the future to the job.
Michael had recently taken over as CEO at REGIONAL Federal Credit Union in Northwest Indiana, stepping into the shoes left by his predecessor, Jill Banning, when he joined Sarah Snell Cooke on The Credit Union Connection podcast. He served as an EVP under her for 13 years. He spent three decades working across lending, branch operations, loan processing, ALCO committees and system implementations at various credit unions.
More importantly, he knows what it took to get there.
The Path to the Top
Michael learned from everyone everywhere he worked. He volunteered for projects. Early in his career at DuPage Credit Union, he noticed that branch staff needed better training on loan applications. He volunteered to do it. That 18-month assignment launched him into a branch manager role, which led to a loan manager role, and eventually to where he is today.
“Not being afraid to jump out there and take a chance really allowed me” to advance, Michael said. Combined with mentors who invested in his development, this laid the foundation for his success.
Now he’s applying that philosophy to leadership. Michael is committed to developing the next generation with clear career paths, mentorship and promoting from within.
The Challenges Ahead
As CEO, Michael faces the challenges every credit union leader is grappling with: staying relevant to younger members, attracting talented staff in a competitive market and leveraging technology wisely.
His priorities include understanding what millennials and Gen Z expect from financial institutions, staying informed about emerging technologies such as AI and stablecoins, improving compensation to compete with banks and tech companies, and leveraging community involvement as a recruitment tool.
Michael is realistic about credit union challenges and optimistic about the industry’s collaborative advantage and future.
Listen to Michael’s full conversation to hear how Regional FCU is approaching succession planning, why credit unions need better PR, and what first-time CEOs should prioritize.
NOTE: This transcript may contain minor imperfections courtesy of our AI overlords-in-training. We’re not complaining. We’re definitely not complaining.
Sarah Snell Cooke: Hello and welcome. I’m Sarah Snell Cooke, your host here at the Credit Union Connection. I was recently joined by Michael Peters, who’s the CEO at Regional Federal Credit Union. This is his first CEO job. We talked about that as well as his journey on his way to the top, what he’s doing to help keep Regional Federal Credit Union on top of the next leadership generation, and what he’s doing to keep the credit union relevant for his younger members. Let’s connect with Michael.
Sarah Snell Cooke: Hello, welcome everyone. I am Sarah Snell Cooke, your host here at the Credit Union Connection. I am joined today by Michael Peters. Welcome.
Michael Peters: Thank you for having me.
Sarah Snell Cooke: Absolutely. Michael is the CEO at Regional Federal Credit Union. Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your credit union?
Michael Peters: Sure. First about me, I’ve been with Regional for 14 years, and I’ve been in the credit union industry since I started in 1994. So 32 years ago, my first credit union was Corporate America Family Credit Union in Elgin, Illinois, and I worked my way through various other ones to here.
I’m a credit union lifer. I can’t imagine doing anything different. Of course, I started in a bank, saw the light, came over, and I’ve been here ever since. Coming back to Regional, 14 years here has been great. Our previous CEO, Jill Banning, retired, so I was fortunate enough to take over for her last month after her 39 years here at the credit union.
So really what we’re trying to do at Regional is build on that success and continue to grow. We have a very stable leadership team, which is fantastic. They’re very experienced, great people, so we have an excellent team to continue that tradition that we have. Personally, I’m here in Northwest Indiana.
I relocated from Illinois about nine years ago, just jumped across the border into Crown Point. Our new office here where I’m at today was built two years ago, and that’s 20 minutes away from my house, so that’s an added bonus. We have four branches. We started as a teacher credit union, and like many, evolved and got our community charter for the two counties, Lake and Porter, here in Northwest Indiana, and serve everyone around.
There’s been a lot of growth, so we have tons of opportunity here as more people have come over from Illinois. Just the building here has been fantastic, the business environment is good, and it’s created a lot of opportunities for us to grow as an organization, which we’ve done over the last 10 years or so.
We just have tons of potential with our team and the region to really grow and achieve those goals that we have set for ourselves and the organization.
Sarah Snell Cooke: Yeah. And you were in what position before you became a CEO?
Michael Peters: I was Executive Vice President, so my little thing on the top still says that. I’m still changing some of that stuff around, but I was EVP since 2013 when I assumed that, so the last 11 or 13 years.
Sarah Snell Cooke: Okay. And so what do you think about that position, and how all your previous experience prepped you to become a CEO?
Michael Peters: I was very fortunate that over those 30 years, I’ve had experience in many different areas of credit union operations.
I’m a lender. That’s where I started, that’s where I grew up. So doing collections and loans has been my bread and butter the whole time. However, being able to work at all those different credit unions and seeing branch operations—I was a branch manager for a short period of time—seeing the retail side, moving into operations on that front-end member-facing portion, as well as being involved on the lending side in the back office from loan processing, and then serving on ALCO committees over the years, tied it all back together.
I’ve been through two conversions and system enhancements, so I’ve seen some of the IT side as well on projects. I learned a lot about software, vendors, and vendor management through all of those things. That whole experience has really tied it all together for me personally, so I’m very fortunate.
Being in the right places at the right time, getting exposure, and soaking up as much of it as I could to learn as much as I could helped me do a better job in whatever my role was at that point. I think it was a key instrument in allowing me to be where I’m at today and to be fortunate enough to get this position.
Sarah Snell Cooke: Yeah, for sure. I always wanted to be a credit union CEO back in the day. Now it looks too hard. As a first-time CEO, what do you think really put you over the edge? I know you talked about your experience, but what really put you over the edge as far as any type of leadership development things like that you might advise a next first-time CEO to do?
Michael Peters: A couple of things. I’ve always been involved, so when things came up at the credit union, I wasn’t afraid to put an idea out there. I always tell the story internally: back when I was at DuPage Credit Union many years ago, I had an idea that our branches weren’t being very well-trained.
I thought they could be trained better in loan applications, is the best way to say it. Because I suggested it and said, “I’m willing to go out and do that,” they gave me the opportunity to do that training, and from there, it launched into a whole lot of opportunities for me personally.
I became a branch manager after completing that—I think it was about 18 months I was out in the branches training. It then moved me into a loan manager position, so that kind of set me on the path to build into this position right now. Really not being afraid to get involved in projects, ask questions, offer ideas, and put yourself out there a little bit was a big part of getting me on that path.
I’ve always been one to step up and say, “Okay, I’ll do that,” and get involved with it, and that’s also helped me become a leader in those different things. A lot of times as we’re in it, I would be fortunate enough to coordinate, facilitate, administer everything that we’re doing, and lead the project.
Having that experience and not being afraid to jump out there and take a chance really allowed me to run with it. You’re gonna do things and you’re gonna fail. Learn, move on, stay positive with it, and look for that bigger picture. I like looking at things globally, so I think that helps as well, trying to tie all the pieces together to see how it fits, helps that wheel turn, and how all those spokes come together to make it happen.
All those things, I think, really allowed me to be in a good position to be where I’m at today.
Sarah Snell Cooke: Yeah. That’s perfect. Sounds like very sage advice. Thank you. You, like probably many others, are replacing a CEO who served for decades and is now retired. What are the things you learned from them, and what are the things you might take a different path with?
Michael Peters: Most recently with Jill, how she interacted with the team and how she kept tabs as our team members grew and as we got bigger really stood out to me. Having a real focus on the team and how they felt was key. She always had a concern for what was best for the team and took that into a lot of things when we were talking about compensation, time, or just doing thank-you cards and things like that.
Having a real team focus and doing things to make them feel appreciated is one of the things that really jumped out to me from her that I learned, because she did an outstanding job of that. From managing the credit union daily, now that I’m a month into this, seeing the different things that she was touching as it now comes to me gives me an appreciation for what she was managing there—tying it all back together, keeping us as a leadership team focused and moving forward, and the need to do that. Those are things that she really taught.
Previous CEOs did the same thing, having an interest in me and trying to develop and coach me. Duane Nelson at United, when I first came in for my first VP position, really took an interest in helping, coaching, and developing me. Having that focus on me really helped build me.
With previous CEOs before that, just seeing how they ran operations, helped the credit union grow, and still had that people-helping-people focus—that dedication to the credit union movement and incorporating that into everything they did as a leader—really stuck with me.
Sarah Snell Cooke: Mm-hmm. And what are some of your objectives for the credit union as you’re taking the reins here?
Michael Peters: I think as we move forward, one of the things that we have to be cognizant of is what our members are looking for as our demographics shift into those younger millennials and Gen Zs.
What are they gonna expect from a credit union or a financial institution? Understanding what the competition is is vital. Big talk today is around all the crypto legislation and stablecoins, and how that is gonna impact operations on the credit union side. I think it’s something we need to stay focused on.
For me, it’s making sure our technology is ready. We can’t do everything all at once, but making sure we have a plan to meet those technology needs of those new members, borrowing members, and depositing members as we move forward is key. We are trying to make sure we stay relevant to them so they look to us as an option.
However any of this new way—whether it’s AI or crypto—shapes our world moving forward, we need to make sure that at Regional we are aware of it, looking at it, and understanding how we can incorporate the best practices into our operations to keep us strong, keep our members, and grow as well.
Sarah Snell Cooke: And now as the head cheese, and you’ve been a leader in the past too in your various positions, how do you look at mentorship since you have gone through a lot of it over your career?
Michael Peters: I think it’s very important. One of the things I do is keep an open door, so I’m not a big closed-door person. I never have been for that very reason. I want people to be able to walk in and ask me questions.
As I move forward with our leadership team and even our team members who are looking to move up, I want to communicate as the president and CEO that we want to promote from within. That’s gonna be our preferred source if at all possible, and we will help them down that path just like I got helped down that path. Whether it’s outlining a career path, we have those frameworks in place now.
Continuing to do that, touching base with our team, and making sure I as the leader can get in front of them is important. We have team trainings and things like that throughout the year, but I want to make sure I communicate that desire to develop the team and mentor them. From our executive leadership, they need to make sure they have that same approach, and they do.
We’re pretty well in lockstep with looking for those opportunities, identifying those folks that want that challenge and that opportunity, and working with them to develop so they can grow. We all know we’re not gonna be here forever. We’re gonna retire, people are gonna move on, so we gotta have that pipeline going of folks coming in. We need to identify those who are looking to make this a career, do everything we can to retain them here as long as possible, develop them, and hopefully, they’re our next generation of leaders for Regional.
Sarah Snell Cooke: That’s great because one of the reasons we started the Credit Union Connection was to ensure we can help provide educational opportunities for next-step, next-generation credit union leaders. One of the things I’ve been on my soapbox about for probably at least 20 years is that credit unions should be an employer of choice. I feel like that’s one of the biggest issues for credit unions going forward. What do you see as the top issues and top challenges for credit unions in the future?
Michael Peters: It’s tough. We’re not alone. I talk with other credit unions, and we’re all looking for folks and trying to fill positions that we have.
Getting our opportunities out there so people recognize there’s a place right down the street or a town over that might be a good fit for them is key. One of the things we’ve done here at Regional, really since the pandemic, is spend more earnest time constantly looking at our compensation structure. We want to make sure it’s in line with not only what other credit unions are paying—nowadays you can’t just do that—you gotta look at what everybody’s paying.
That could be from Amazon down the street, to the banks, to another credit union, to just some other business in the region, but they’re competing for your person as well. We are trying to make sure that we have a good understanding of what the compensation is in our region here. Being right next to Chicago, it’s tough because that has some influence on those things, but that’s number one: making sure we have a good package.
I think getting our message out on what a credit union does helps, because a lot of the younger folks say, “I want somebody that has a community presence.” We have a very strong, active business development team, and that’s a key strategy of ours—to be involved in our communities and make sure they understand that’s what we do. Trying to get our message out there on social media and all the different platforms is necessary nowadays. You have to toot your own horn quite a bit on what you’re doing out there so people see it, get as many people to share that as you can, and hopefully bring those people in.
One of the things we’ve done is really partner from an internship standpoint with some local schools and colleges to try and get the word out there. Even for those folks that come in, if we can make that experience a positive one for them, even if they don’t stay with us, there’s someone out there saying, “Hey, check out Regional. They’ve done a good job with some other students.” We are trying to get the word out in as many ways as we can, making sure that our benefits are competitive, and really trying to share the message of what our credit union is about.
Especially with a lot of new people entering the workforce, they’re looking for something like that. We’ve been here all along in the credit union industry doing a lot of those things, and we just need to do a better job of promoting ourselves and our movement out there to folks so they understand that this is a good place to come and make a career.
Sarah Snell Cooke: And what other opportunities do you think credit unions have to grow and keep relevant for members in the future? As you mentioned, with younger people, you basically gotta reach them any way you can.
Michael Peters: Yeah, and we all know society today is an instant-gratification type of thing, so we have to have products and services that meet their demands.
As a credit union industry, we know we have a lot of small credit unions, and mergers and acquisitions are a part of that. That’s the reality of what we have today. If there’s ways that we can partner in order to provide those services to existing credit union members so they don’t go somewhere else, I think it is an important thing that everybody’s gotta consider.
How can we continue to hold onto those members and attract new members? We have to realize what they’re looking for and then look for the best ways to meet their needs. Sometimes that means mergers and acquisitions. Other times it can mean we can partner together and do things, whether it’s in the local credit union chapters of the states to try and come together and put a unified message out there to use credit unions.
We are starting shared branch week here, so if we can put that message out there on how we’re working together to provide access across the country, it is a big part of what we need to do to try and continue to meet the needs of our membership and attract new ones. They’re gonna be looking at what you can do and how you are involved. If you don’t have an answer for them, they will look elsewhere.
Technology is a big part of that too; we have to consider technology and continue to evolve. That mobile phone is the key, and we gotta keep developing that and use it as best as we can to attract those members and retain them. If we don’t have it, they’re gonna go somewhere else. The surveys all show that more and more, they’re more likely to move on if we don’t have something than ever before. So being aware of what obstacles and challenges we have, and then trying to work together to meet them, will save those members.
Sarah Snell Cooke: One of the things you just touched on was collaboration. How important is collaboration for credit unions?
Michael Peters: I think it’s very important. It’s one of the things we do best. If someone outside the credit union world comes in, they might ask, “What are you doing? You’re talking with a credit union down the road.” Yep, we are. We share stuff all the time and we work together, whether it’s coming together and doing participation loans together or, like I said, in our credit union chapters as part of each state’s league, putting a unified message out there in the regions that we serve, or looking for projects and being involved in community service projects together and inviting everyone out.
Just looking for any way that we can work together to promote that is key, because that’s something that’s super unique to the credit union world. You don’t see that to that same scale on the bank side. With shared branching, I can go into another credit union and transact on my account in over 5,000 locations across the country. That’s pretty crazy when you think about collaboration like that, and really promoting that is huge for us.
Sarah Snell Cooke: I’m gonna ask you then, as all my guests get the final thoughts: what would you like to leave our credit union audience with today?
Michael Peters: I would just say that I think our future is super bright. Don’t be afraid to look at those technologies, and even if there are cost constraints on those things, understand what’s out there. Educate yourself, your boards, and your team as much as possible about what the members are looking for, and put a strategy in place.
I mentioned earlier I like looking at the big picture, and I think our opportunities are really strong for us to continue to grow and meet member needs. It’s fun to look out there at all the stablecoin or AI stuff and say, “Embrace it, look at what we can do.” Of course, you wanna be diligent and you wanna be smart with it, not necessarily jumping in with both feet. Do your research, stay educated on it, and put a plan in place to meet those demands because it’s here no matter what.
What are we gonna do to roll that into the existing credit union culture and make that something that is attractive to our members and makes new members want to come to us? I think the opportunities are tremendous out there. I’m pretty excited about it, and I think everyone should be. We have a lot of opportunity to grow and make a difference in people’s lives. If we can do that, that’s really what our mission is about.
Sarah Snell Cooke: Love it. Thank you so much for your time today, appreciate it.
Michael Peters: Thank you very much. Thank you.
1 thought on “First-time CEO Michael Peters shares his journey to the top”
Great interview, Sarah! Thanks for choosing an Indiana credit union to feature. 🙂