New Navy Federal CEO Shares Her Vision

In her first national media interview, Navy Federal Credit Union’s new president/CEO Mary McDuffie shared her thoughts about her career, executive leadership style and vision for the world’s largest credit union.

She succeeded Cutler Dawson, who retired in January. During his 14 years at Navy Federal’s helm, the retired vice admiral of the U.S. Navy navigated the Vienna, Va.-based financial cooperative’s growth from $24 billion in assets in 2005 to $96.9 billion in assets in 2018, while membership increased from 2.5 million to 8.2 million. If this growth continues – and there is every reason to believe it will under McDuffie’s leadership – Navy Federal will inevitably become the first credit union to reach more than $100 billion in assets.

McDuffie, who joined Navy Federal in 1999 as vice president of marketing and held other key senior positions in Dawson’s executive team over the last two decades, contributed to the success of Navy Federal’s full-steam-ahead projects. Some of those projects included launching a national television ad campaign and mobile phone app; introducing a variety of new lending products, credit cards and mortgage offerings; and stepping up to financially support government workers affected by the 2013 and 2018 to 2019 government shutdowns.

In this exclusive interview, McDuffie explained Navy Federal’s formula for success of keeping 16,846 employees focused on creating a great member experience. Right before McDuffie officially took over Navy Federal’s on Jan. 18, however, the credit union’s goal of providing a great member experience fell short temporarily during service outages in December and February.

McDuffie nevertheless stayed true to Navy Federal’s top values of doing the right thing and commitment to member service.

In a letter to members last month, she acknowledged the mobile and online glitches, wholeheartedly apologized for the temporary service interruptions, stated her commitment to employing the best possible technologies to meet members’ high expectations and pledged to prevent these problems from happening again.

“At Navy Federal, we talk a lot about doing the right thing,” McDuffie explained. “It’s part of one of our mottos. I think it behooves anyone in a leadership position to always be thinking about what’s the right thing. What’s the right thing for the employees? What’s the right thing for the members? I think that’s first and foremost, and having that focus and commitment to service.”

CU Times: So what attracted you to join Navy Federal Credit Union in 1999 and what was your first job?

Mary McDuffie: I had a lot of different private sector jobs, but I was always attracted by the opportunity to work for a mission-driven organization. I believe credit unions are very much that. I think we do very good things, not only for our members and consumers, but for the financial industry in general. My first job here was the head of marketing. From there, I went on to run lending, and then after that and before my two recent jobs, I was running what we call the delivery channels, which actually was all of the contact center, all of our digital channels, and marketing and market research. And then, last summer I was selected as COO, and then in the fall CEO. It’s been kind of a whirlwind the last six months or so, but it’s been very exciting.

CU Times: When did you decide that you wanted to become CEO of Navy Federal?

McDuffie: I don’t think there’s a moment when you decide. I think throughout my career I have always been open to opportunities, by being curious and looking for opportunities, and just following your own interests and intellectual curiosity, you just come into things. I think I have been driven all along by bigger and better ways to serve the credit union and our members. It is what gives me energy, and I can’t think of a better way to try to help our members than to bring my passion for member service to this position. I have a passion for the culture of our employees and what makes them tick, because at the end of the day, it is the strength of our employees that enables our success. They are really what drives our success.

CU Times: What’s it like being CEO of the nation’s – and the world’s – largest credit union?

McDuffie: Well, first of all, it is an incredible honor, and it certainly is an honor to follow in Cutler Dawson’s footsteps. He was a phenomenal, terrific CEO for Navy Federal, and he put a lot of things in place that have brought us to where we are today. I’ve never thought of us by our size. We actually always talk about ourselves as the world’s largest small credit union, because that feeling of small teamwork and intimacy I think is something you feel if you go and visit our branches. You can just make an immediate connection. We work very hard on our culture to make sure it’s consistent throughout all of our operations. We now have three campuses and our almost 330 branches around the world. But there’s an amazing consistency in our culture, and I think that’s because we stay focused on service.

CU Times: How would you describe your leadership style?

McDuffie: I would say that I’m open. I’m transparent. I’m collaborative. I think that the best ideas can come from anywhere, and the more you have open communication, the better your ideas will be at the end of the day.

CU Times: What is your vision for Navy Federal?

McDuffie: It’s all about service, what our members really want and focusing on the member experience. What is a great member experience? Keep it simple, show me that you know me and tell me what’s coming next. If you break things down into those three simple steps, it’s a blueprint for the things we need to do.

CU Times: Do you plan to keep expanding your branch network?

McDuffie: We’re going to continue to build branches. The kinds of branches we build may be a little bit different. They may be a little bit smaller. They may have more technology in them.

We believe in branches because at the end of the day, for our members, a personal interaction, whether it’s in a branch or on a phone, is really the most important step in the experience journey. You can get information from digital channels, but if you have a problem that needs to be solved and you want to feel like you’re making the right decision, thats where our people come in, and our people do a terrific job at that.

CU Times: As your organization becomes larger, doesn’t it become more difficult and challenging to manage?

McDuffie: Well, we have a great leadership team. We meet frequently. We just, as a matter of fact, finished up a two-day [meeting] off site just to talk about what’s coming in the next five years. I think having great communication at all levels of the company is keeping us focused. Now, will we morph and change our organization over time? I have no idea. But we will do that in response to the business. The financial services industry is changing a lot. I think there are lots of things happening in the fintech world that have captured our attention, where there is lots of innovation and digital innovation in financial services. These are things that I think we all need to pay attention to.

CU Times: Regarding the fintechs that have caught your attention, does that mean we can expect to see Navy Federal forming partnerships with fintechs that you think have some viable solutions?

McDuffie: We have no plans to do that right now. We like to talk to lots of people. This whole area is just unfolding very quickly, and lots of our partners that we do business with already are innovating. We’re just keeping our eye on things. It is a challenge. Everybody, regardless of their size, has a challenge of where to focus their resources.

CU Times: In February, the merger between BB&T and SunTrust banks was announced, and industry observers say we are likely to see consolidations of the super-regional banks. Do you think that puts more competitive pressures on Navy Federal, and could there be a time when we will see the credit union pursuing strategic mergers with other multi-billion-dollar credit unions?

McDuffie: We have nothing that we are looking at right now. But the primary driver of the BB&T/SunTrust merger was the need to invest in digital. That’s something that not only Navy Federal, but all credit unions need to pay attention to. Credit unions, at the end of the day, have an important advantage. We are not-for-profit. We are member-owned cooperatives and our members are our shareholders. That’s a value proposition that, if people understand it, is important and can mean good things for them. I think credit unions should always have a place, and a good place, in the financial services future.