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The fintech organization Glia announced the creation of a new CUSO with several partner-credit unions on Thursday. The CUSO, named Glia Technologies, Inc., offers credit union clients the opportunity to invest in the reinvention of "how they serve members."
In an email to CU Times, a spokesperson for Glia explained the reason for creating the new CUSO. "This CUSO was created to offer an opportunity for Glia's CU clients to invest in the growth trajectory of Glia and join a community of CUs that are reinventing how they serve members in an 'OnScreen World.'" Glia decided to establish this CUSO because of inbound inquiries from clients seeking to partner more closely with Glia. The focus was not raising capital for operations (Glia has a strong balance sheet and recently raised a Series D) but rather creating a community around the next generation of member experience."
Glia listed five of its credit union clients as some of the initial investors in the CUSO. The credit unions, which also sit on the CUSO's advisory board, include:
- Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union of Washington, D.C. ($6.4 billion in assets)
- First Technology Federal Credit Union of San Jose, Calif. ($16.4 billion)
- Harvard University Employees Credit Union of Cambridge, Mass. ($1.1 billion)
- SkyOne Federal Credit Union of Hawthorne, Calif. ($794 million)
- Unitus Community Credit Union of Portland, Ore. ($1.7 billion)
"Advisory board members will be able to collaborate with Glia leadership more directly on how to continually evolve Digital Customer Service for an increasingly digital-first world," a spokesperson said. "They'll be able to join a community of like-minded institutions and discuss their credit unions' unique member experiences and broader industry perspectives. These insights have the potential to help inform future direction and strategy."
First Tech Chief Digital Officer Mike Upton said, "Glia is helping us closely align to the digital-first lifestyle of our members while driving new efficiencies for our credit union. The partnership has been highly successful and we were pleased to extend our commitment further by investing in Glia's future."
Unitus Community Credit Union EVP David Fehrer explained why his credit union joined the CUSO: "We've been impressed with Glia's innovative digital-first solutions and its deep understanding of the credit union industry. That has accelerated the successful delivery of on-screen solutions for our members. We believe strongly in Glia's CU-focused approach and are happy to partner closer through our investment."
"As a Credit Union Service Organization, we firmly believe in the value of credit unions and are proud to strengthen our collaboration within the community to provide technology that enables smooth, personalized member support across the digital domain," Dan Michaeli, CEO and co-founder of Glia, said. "This investment is an added vote of confidence from our clients, and we look forward to deepening relationships with these credit unions as well as others down the line."
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
