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Artificial Intelligence (AI) does a lot of things for a lot of people and organizations. Credit unions are in the early stages of AI adoption and our guests on this episode of “Shared Accounts With CU Times” explores the on-the-ground journey executives with the Farmers Branch, Texas-based Southwest Financial Federal Credit Union are experiencing in launching a new AI solution for its members.
Southwest Financial FCU’s President/CEO Melanie Kennedy and VP of Sales and Service Luke Campbell join us to talk about their new AI-powered financial calculator solution to better serve its members and how they came to the decision to use AI in this particular way.
Of note, they came to their AI decision and executed the launch in six weeks - which is an incredible turnaround time. How did they accomplish all of this in such a short time? They get into those details with us on the show.
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The credit union, which now operates as a fully digital institution serving the Kroger community and hundreds of partner organizations, sees their new AI-powered calculator as a way to build member confidence and improve the lending process.
Also, we get to meet Luke’s dog Murphy who makes a surprise guest appearance. Dogs are fun! And so is AI.
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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.
