TruStage's Terrance Williams: A Digital Vision for Credit Unions

Terrance Williams, TruStage’s new president/CEO, comes from decades of leadership positions at organizations like Nationwide and as former president of protection products and services group with Allstate. Williams took over TruStage’s leadership role after Bob Trunzo stepped down on Oct. 1. 

Beginning in June, Williams spent three months as CEO-elect while he and Trunzo worked in tandem to create a seamless transition. During that time, Williams traveled the country meeting with hundreds of credit union CEOs to listen and learn from them.

CU Times spoke with Williams late into his first month on the job. In this second part in a series of discussions to be published in the coming days, Williams talks about the important things he’s hearing from credit union CEOs.

The following discussion was lightly edited for style and punctuation.

CU Times: Can you talk about what you learned after meeting with numerous credit union CEOs over the past few months?

Williams: Absolutely. A couple things have surfaced. Number one, just the appreciation around the role that TruStage plays in the credit union system. That has come through loud and clear for me in all of my interactions. And while I had some understanding of that going into this role, it was really kind of reaffirming to really hear it loud and clear from the various leaders that I’ve been meeting with over the last couple months. Just really understanding the role that TruStage plays in the credit union system, the impacts that we have and the partnerships that exist. And it’s interesting, I use the word partner, not vendor, but partner, to really delineate the fact that we’re at the table together all for driving this cause of how do we ensure that what we’re creating is creating access to a brighter financial future for everyone.

So that’s been something that’s been impressive to see. The other thing that I’ve heard loud and clear is that everyone’s dealing with very similar challenges. When you think about the macroeconomic conditions that are underway right now, how do we find ways to meet member needs in new ways, and to engage with members the way they wish to engage? Everyone’s grappling and wrestling with, ‘How do I ensure I’ve got the right digital experience for my members? How do I ensure that I am able to tackle this liquidity issue that exists in the marketplace right now? How do I make sure that I’m attracting a new generation of members who clearly want to interact and engage a different way?’ So, I’m hearing the same thing from most credit unions, regardless of size, everyone’s focused on the same thing.

To me, that’s where we come in. What role can we play to provide resources and tools and assistance to help move the system, the credit union system, down a path from a maturity standpoint as it relates to digital, as an example? Similar to getting into what lies ahead, we’re going to continue to really zero in on and focus on enhancing our digital capabilities and continuing to bring tools to the system that allow credit unions to foster a greater digital environment to really meet member needs in different ways.

CU Times: So let’s get into what lies ahead and your vision for TruStage.

Williams: The credit unions are our largest customer base. I’ll go a step further and say that it’s our most important partner in our entire system. It’s our most important partner overall because I believe strongly in the strength of organizations who maintain commitments to their heritage. Obviously, you know our founding. We came to existence to help serve credit union members. And we’re still doing that, obviously. So, the vision work is still in progress, but I can give you some elements that will likely find their way into our vision. We’ve already talked about the importance of digital and innovation, but I can’t underscore the importance of that enough.

I often talk about the fact that leaders who push change for change’s sake are likely to meet with doom or demise. Because I guess change for change’s sake is not something that’s worthwhile. But change to ensure that you are evolving to maintain relevance, to ensure that you are continuing to adapt to the ever-changing needs of members is really what’s paramount for us … we have a lot of work ahead of us collectively to figure out how we ensure we create a level of relevance with the next generation of future members, and ensuring that we are designing processes and solutions and tools that align with their needs and how they wish to interact.

So that’s why you’ve heard me reference digital four or five times in this short conversation, because it’s all grounded in that. So we will continue to be a force to help move the system along as it relates to the evolution around how we think about digital customer journeys.

One of the overarching items that will be an opportunity for us that will weave its way into what one could call a ‘vision for TruStage’ is really a part two of the brand change. So the brand change that was announced in May, as you know, we retired all of our sub-brands, and now we go to market as TruStage and all various parts of the organization. And while the change on our business cards really helped to mitigate some confusion about who we are in the marketplace, in my view, more importantly, it allows us to begin to engage and think about our businesses in a different way.

CU Times will have more from our interview with Terrance Williams in the coming days, where we discuss the ongoing union negotiations, how he plans to navigate an evolving remote workforce and what his plans are for the very large TruStage campus in Madison, Wis.