Rather than trying to fight the competition or outperform them, I believe that when you are as local, specialized and so specific in what you do and offer, you don't have competition because no one does what you do," said Brent Dixon, young adult adviser at Filene Research Institute.

It was that thinking that has helped Dixon carve his own career path to help the credit union industry to reimagine its future.

"Like most people I got involved with credit unions by accident," said Dixon. "I worked for a Web design company with a friend and was looking around for a niche, so I tried a bunch of things, music, churches, nonprofits and then happened upon a credit union opportunity and found that credit unions were a good fit philosophically."