ACUMA ONpoint
ACUMA ONpoint
Serve People, Not Profit: Rethinking Real Estate Lending
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Leadership that earns trust, mortgages ready in 7–10 days, and a mission that puts people before profit, this conversation with Joe Rosado, SVP of Real Estate Lending and Business Services at Grow Financial Federal Credit Union, is a masterclass in how credit unions can win with speed, empathy, and purpose. We pull back the curtain on Joe’s journey from Series 7 and banking rotations to a multidiscipline executive role, revealing how a broad foundation helps him coach teams, simplify processes, and navigate market volatility with clarity.
We dig into what changed after COVID and why today’s leaders must be clear communicators, patient teachers, and relentless advocates for their teams. Joe shares how he builds a culture where people work hard not to let each other down, then translates that mindset into execution: faster closings, better use of member data, and targeted digital touchpoints that raise mortgage penetration. He makes a strong case for relationship pricing and ethical, insight-led outreach that helps members act at the right moment. “Serve people, not profit” isn’t a tagline, it's an operating system.
The conversation also leans into resilience. Drawing inspiration from Viktor Frankl, Joe frames leadership as a practice of hope and iteration: fail fast, adjust the sails, and move with honesty through headwinds like rates, valuations, and regional inventory gaps. We explore how local market “bubbles” demand tailored strategies, why speed-to-close is a competitive advantage, and how community service, over 10,000 volunteer hours, creates trust that marketing alone can’t buy.
If you care about building high-trust teams, accelerating mortgage pipelines, and growing impact in your community, you’ll find practical insights and a renewed sense of purpose here. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs a lift, and leave a review to tell us the one change you’ll make this week.
30 Second Intro
SPEAKER_00The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff, or its members. The podcast discussion presented is conversational in nature and for general information only.
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SPEAKER_02This is Acuma's Off Boy Podcast. On today's episode, we sit down with one of my favorite people in the industry. You know, I've gotten to know him throughout the course of the past several years. He's very active in the Southeast and in Florida. And I think it's about time we share his story. I'm your host, Peter Benjamin. Today I am joined by Joe Rosotto, SVP real estate lending and business solutions with Grow Financial. Joe from Grow, how are you doing today? I'm doing spectacular. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Hey man, look again, one of my favorite people. You know, not only do you are you doing great things down in Florida, you have excellent taste in food, excellent taste in wine, excellent uh taste in uh hotel selections. Um, I mean, you just know things, which I'm I'm happy to share with with the group. Hey, but before we get to it, uh, as always, gotta pull the hawk in. Justin, how's it going? And please tell us what is the latest and greatest happening over at Acuma?
SPEAKER_01Good, Peter. How are you? Living the dream, man. I love it. All right. Uh well, next week we are heading to Dallas, Texas for our first viewpoint regional summit of the year. Yeehaw. Yee Yeehaw. See, I knew you were gonna say that. Not not giddy up. Peter's transition from giddy up to yeehaws. Uh we'll have to bring out all of our y'all's. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I've only done that a few. I've only done it on the last footnotes where I changed my giddy up to Yeehaw. Hey, you know, if it happens for the you know, more than once, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01It's it's it's not gonna be a permanent thing. Okay, gosh. All right, man, good deal. All right. Um, so that's gonna be happening March 24th and 25th. If you haven't registered, there's still time. So there's no time like the present. What are you waiting on? That's only a week away. Hint hint. All right. After that, we're gonna be heading to St. Louis, Missouri for our next Viewpoint Regional Summit. That's gonna be happening April 14th to the 15th, and then we'll be in Baltimore, Maryland, April 28th and 29th, which will round out our summit series for 2026. Um, registration for our Folk Point workshops is already open. We'll be heading to the beautiful San Diego, California, and that's gonna be happening May 12th and 13th. So, again, plenty of time to still get registered. Come out, see us. We want to see you take in the educational events. Peter and team have been working tirelessly on these agendas, they are amazing. You do not want to be the person standing on the outside going, oh shucks, I missed out again, right? Oh, shucks, oh shucks. All right, and uh stay tuned for additional network meetings coming up in Q2. Uh um we'll hope you're able to join some of those. And then for all these great events and more, head over to the Acima website for more information and to get registered.
SPEAKER_02Love it. Thank you very much. Of course, uh all right, Joe from Grow. Um let's obviously have this conversation. It's all about getting to know you and really sharing your story. Uh, but as always, starting off with the first question, and that first question is ultimately, who is Joe? Like, what is what is one thing that you think is important for everyone to know about you?
SPEAKER_04First and foremost, in Florida, we hang loose, we don't yeehaw. That being said, um on a on a serious note, um, you know, genuine, thought-provoking, and uh energetic. You know, I'm here to uh take grow to the next level, take real estate lending, commercial lending, investments, all those things to the next level, but by genuine, thought-provoking, people-proven leadership.
SPEAKER_02Uh I love that. Love that. You know, and you know leadership is near and dear to my heart. Um, I love, you know, that's the one rabbit hole I really enjoy going down with our guests, you know, the the idea of thought leadership and only that. It's how do we lead in this new era of mortgage lending, you know, the need to support our communities. And and why do I say new era? It's everything's really changed in how we lead ever since you know, COVID, really, if you think about it, right? People are remote, uh, or or or hybrid, you're not seeing them day to day. And so strategies before are completely different than strategies now. So love the conversation of leadership. And you know, maybe throughout this conversation, we we can dive into it. And I think that's probably pretty prudent for us because you and I have had conversations about what what we as creditians need to do to lead. But you know, it I think that's a bigger conversation that we most certainly can can dive into a little bit today. So thank you for sharing that. Now, you know, first and foremost, you know, I I I I I have to know, you know, do me a favor, if you could summarize, you know, for for the for the class, you know, your your background, your journey, how you got to where you are. You know, I I think that's you know one of the things that I think you we are are want to focus on. So kind of walk us through that journey.
SPEAKER_04So uh I started a long time ago at the good old University of Florida, go Gators.
SPEAKER_02Uh and for those who didn't see that, yeah, he did the uh what is it a uh The Gator Tom? The Gator Tom Get Italy Gator Tom.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh, we're having some problems right now. I we don't do that in my house. Uh I I will say it is a pretty, pretty orange.
SPEAKER_04Orange and blue. Don't hate the player, hate the game. But remembering that uh started out with a good old orange and blue a long time ago, got my series seven, uh, got all kinds of investments licenses, and uh started out with American Express and um really started to learn the nuts and bolts of finance and financial advising and how you can help people grow. Um went through a few different changes and ended up at Wilkovia, if you guys remember that name. Wilkovia is a big brand in the early 2000s, and uh I was lucky enough to do one of those traditional uh junior executive programs where they kind of take you through different aspects of the bank and teach you how it goes. And I spent about eight years there, very happy, not looking for a change. And by random luck, the previous EVP that's now retired was looking to raise the bar at McDill Federal Credit Union that had just changed their name to Grow uh to uh open their membership and raise the level of accountability and awareness. And after a few months of back and forth, uh 17 years later, I'm over at Grow and I've I've I've worn operations hats, IT hats, uh real estate and business lending hats and and investment hats. So I'm happy to say uh I'm very eclectic. I've uh learned many different trades and uh you know real estate's where my heart is.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome. And you know, I I'm often called eclectic, but probably not for the a good reason like you are. Um that's series seven, that that's no joke, man. Uh I didn't know that. That's that's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's like the bar for uh for investments and the calls and puts and all that fun. And uh um it came full circle a couple years ago when I started overseeing our investment team. But uh um yeah, it was uh a daunting challenge a long time ago. But when I was just a kid and fresh out of school, I had a couple friends that said, Hey, if you can pass that series seven, you can get a signing bonus and the door is open. And uh a blind squirrel found a nut and I passed that test, and you know it worked out.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome. That is awesome. So, all right, so thank you for walking us through that. You know, the next question really is I I I think this could the next two questions really could take us down, you know, that leadership rabbit hole. You know, the question number one is you know, what motivates you and and really shapes how you think? You know, so you take feel free to take this in any direction you so choose. Obviously, the goal of this is not to get political, but you know, this can be personal, this can be professional, you know, but really, you know, what motivates you, you know, day in, day out? And this is very similar to the last question I have, but it's slightly different. What motivates you and really what shapes how you think? And I'm gonna add an ending to that about our industry. Okay. Sure.
SPEAKER_04Please. So, first and foremost, I have two wonderful kids, uh uh a sophomore at the University of Florida and a junior in high school that's uh really great at football, and a wonderful wife and two dogs. So they drive the focus of my happiness. While I love work in real estate and all those things that it does, I prefer to be with them, uh living the good life. Um, but when you think about a couple things, I'll say, first and foremost, when I think about production, we're in a very production-based world. The best leaders, their teams don't work hard to hit a production goal. They work hard to not let you down. And why do they not let you down? Because you've led them through uh genuine, thought-provoking leadership and shown them that not only do you believe in them through their uh, as you know in our real estate world, the ebbs and flows of production and interest rates, but that that you that you won't stop trying to make them great. And that could be um uh through a business accelerator, that could be through a leadership class, that could be through um uh even though it's weird, going out on a sales call with them because why? It's it shouldn't be weird. It should be part of everything that we do is to help them be more successful. So when I think about all those things, family first, and then when you look at work, you know what? If I were to do a math equation, I'd say 70% people, 30% work. Because you know what? You've got to understand what you're doing, and you've got to understand how to lead, motivate, and drive through different markets. Because you know what? It's hard. We've gone through some hard times in the last couple of years in real estate from job cuts to uh valuations. Uh the the sky's limit. But as I think through all of that, those would be the core things that really drive me to try to be better and push me to learn consistently and use all the new tools we have to try to be successful.
SPEAKER_02No, that I mean, that's great. I mean, it it's I love that you brought up that you started that with family, because you know, family I think makes us better leaders, you know, and if you if if that family dynamic is first, right, and you said 70% family, 30% work. I I actually personally f found that having kids ended up making me a better leader. You know, I I I I'd like to think I was a good leader before kids, but uh I felt like I became a better leader once I I I had had kids. It taught me what definitely more patience, right? Definitely more patience. Um I also learned to understand mistakes better. It also helped me to communicate better, right? You know, the running saying if you can't explain it to a you know five-year-old, you don't understand it at all. So it it's I love that you started with family, uh, because it it is such a driving force behind leadership.
SPEAKER_01I would agree with that. Like having kids definitely makes uh I don't know, it's taught me more empathy for sure. Like and you kind of hidden. I don't understand what that le word is. I know. Well, it's totally more empathy. Like, I mean, like over the uh over the time, like I think back to my Navy days when I had no kids and uh being a little bit more of a hard ass about stuff and like now having kids like being able to understand where they're coming from in a different perspective.
SPEAKER_04So well awesome. Thank you very much for going explicit for us. That's about saying what's what's funny is that you know, I like to think of myself as cool hand Luke in in crucial conversations, but for some reason my kids have found a way to uh crack the coat and they can get my goat a lot better than anybody else can. So as much as work is good, the kids can get you to crack really fast.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's it's it's zero to sixty sometimes with uh you know, zero to sixty and two point five seconds with the kids, you know, but it's like you know, you know, case in point, right? It's you know, just having us, you know, I I have a son and two daughters, but I'll focus on my son because I can relate to him the most. You know, as you continue to grow, and you know, you you kind of and and he is shaping his uh his own identity, and this is not I'm uh look at us having a parroting conversation. Um you know, he's trying to discover who he is, right? And you know, the all the emotions that go along with with growing up and it's the emotions of growing up, but it's understanding what these emotions mean, right? And you relate it to the growth of a team, right? Every single team is gonna have those initial days or those initial months or years where it's that trial and error period, you they can't figure out how to work together, but then one day it just clicks, right? And you know, taking that idea, right? Taking that idea of you grow and you you don't know how to deal with you know certain situations that as a team, you know, having a leader and be able to provide that guidance through that that E-word that Justin mentioned, but even patience, I I it's I think it's it's so it's so rewarding at the end, right? It's it's rewarding to see your kids, be successful, uh, you know, and really under start growing into something great. But it's also when you sit down as a leader of a team, you know, you know, going from, you know, I'll I'll put it in number stamp when I'll relate it to originations, right? Going from, you know, easy math, 10 million a month, right? But because they're now working together at uh 20, 30 million a month, I mean that is that's that's a that is as a leader, that is awesome to watch because you know you had nothing to do with it outside of providing guidance, they did it all, right?
SPEAKER_04So that's just yeah, I'll tell you I'll tell you two things. Um, if if if you and any of your listeners out there like reading, there's a book out there, an old, old book by Victor Frankel called A Man's Search for Meaning. And what it talks about, it talks about hope. It's my favorite book in the world. And what it does is it's you is is you you never give up on hope, and you can be successful no matter how trying times are, no matter what you go through, through the ups and downs of originations, interest rates, or people problems. And you just gotta realize that there's always something more. And so that ties into everything that you're saying, Peter.
SPEAKER_02I love that you brought up that book because I feel I read I I I read that book and listened to it, gosh, years and years and years ago. And that's when I first listened to it. Now I find myself every so often just going back to that. I mean, it is such a compelling story that it it's almost you have to take a step back and one question how he got through all of that, right? Yeah. Um, but two, you it it most certainly puts your life and your leadership and everything, all the troubles that you face into to sound perspective. Um it's somewhere on my my bookcase of randomness that I have in my my office, my corner off my office right here. But I was it's definitely at the top of my my audible playlist. So love that you mentioned that. Love. Not a lot of people know about that book, man. Not a lot.
SPEAKER_03Again, man's social media. Fantastic book.
SPEAKER_02So I I I guess the next question really comes, you know, as as as leaders, uh, as as as human beings, you know, we we always approach, we always have challenges in our life, right? No one's about failure, everyone fails, everyone has has challenges. But you know, thinking about it, you know, for you personally, but also as a leader, maybe this is a two-part question, answer it personally and answer it professionally, or maybe they're the same. How do you approach challenges in your personal life? The second part of that question is how do you approach challenges in our industry?
SPEAKER_04Sure. Um, you know, it's it's it's kind of interesting. And, you know, um I'm we're into art in my household, and you can see this crazy picture behind me, but it's love and chaos. All right. So how do you approach things? It depends on the scenario, but what you really have to understand is that every scenario is completely different. And when I think about um in the workforce and in the home, you know, we all think psychologically that we know what's right and what's best. But a lot of times the older we get, the more we sleep on things, the more they realize we have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of things to improve. And it's okay to say sorry. It's okay to fail. But you know what? In the work world, if you translate that, you might want to fail fast. So that way you can recognize these issues and uh in Florida terms, change your sails, right? You can pivot that sail to go into the wind and recognize the headwind versus a tailwind. Uh, you can tack and jive, but what you can't do is act like you're perfect because there's no perfect way to sail a sailboat. There's no perfect way to drive a team. But what you do is be vulnerable. You recognize you're trying to leverage AI, you're trying to leverage uh what is happening in the political world. You're trying to leverage valuations, you're trying to leverage interest rates, but you're also trying to leverage your family, your kids, your growth, and all that. So if you couple that all together, it is chaos. You know what? All you can try to do is love, drive through it, and uh remember, we only the ones we love. So you know what? You keep moving and you keep driving and it came over you. And see where it takes you in clip.
SPEAKER_03I love that. I love that.
SPEAKER_02Um so I mean so let's so let's dive into you know obviously the challenges in our industry right you know when when you think about our industry and we'll say 2026 the remaining portion of 2026 and 2027 you know I think there's gonna be a fair share I think it I think it's gonna be better times but I think there's still gonna be a fair share of challenges we face.
SPEAKER_04What do you think some of those challenges are going to be and really have you started scheming or or planning to to to overcome them yeah so that's a great question Peter because I think that when you think about the challenges they're really specific to the bubbles across the nation and depending on where you are you're gonna have different types of challenges and um what I see is you know what we got to get to go or get to finish faster than we've ever gotten before because you know what why do I have to take 30 days to close alone? Why can't I have it ready to go in seven to 10 days and just wait for that that couple or that family to move out of their home and move forward. Why can't I use the data within my organization to find ways to use relationship pricing to retain uh explore and and capitalize on serving people not profit. My rates are better than a bank why are they better than a bank? Because we believe in giving back to our communities and our members and how do I get that message out well you know what? By using what I have in front of me. In my example we've got over 3000 members and we're just about to crest 4 billion but you know what we've got less than 2% that have a mortgage with us. How do I let them know that by purely sharing what we have the offer the right way through maybe a digital channel through maybe uh an interstitial page but how do I get to that point where our membership recognizes that value and can do that there's there's there's a ton of opportunity there that that's awesome that that's awesome um I think that's you know a fantastic answer and I can't I can't really ask for anything more than that and I I like that you pointed out that you know there are bubbles right and that you know for good and bad you know the the the challenges that you have today or I mean challenges that you have that you have today in da uh in in Florida might be different than the challenges someone else faces in Dallas right as as an example.
SPEAKER_02As long as you have that data and I felt like last year 2025 all we wanted to do was focus on data data data like that was our almost like the the theme for last year at Acima was understand your data. If you understand your data you can overcome any challenge I'd love that you mentioned that and because growth is actually a good example.
SPEAKER_04I mean you are correct me if I'm wrong you're in Florida you're in Georgia um so we're in seven states in Florida brick and mortar in South Carolina but we have we do business indirectly in all those other states Georgia Alabama Tennessee Virginia um and and we're growing across across the nation but as of right now we we have about a footprint of eight states but even without that grow without you wouldn't be able to grow unless you knew your data right because I guarantee you're looking at that data and saying okay well you know what what's the opportunity but also what's the challenges right you just have to do it.
SPEAKER_02So I I love that you mentioned that thank you very much.
SPEAKER_04All right last question and before we start pivoting to the second segment you know what are your passions that drive you beyond the title so you are the SUP of real estate lending and business solutions at grow financial what are the passions that drive you beyond that that LinkedIn profile page yeah so for me uh obviously we touched on the people but the passions for me is is um learning understanding um and and what we do in our industry to be a successful senior leader or senior executive you've got to go outside the box you know my passion is on the executive sponsor of growing the greater good and what that means is our organization I'm proud to say is executive sponsor did over 10,000 hours of community service last year. And that makes an impact in our communities. And why do we do that? Because we want to live and grow the dreams of the people in our communities. And we do that and that drives me you know uh work is work and it's important that we have work and we do those different things but you've got to give back and recognize and whatever that might be for you everybody's different. It doesn't have to be uh going to uh a specific St. Jude's walk it could be going to your church it could be volunteering at your high school it could be as simple as picking up trash in your neighborhood but making a point of doing something to make this place better than where we had it is what helps us move forward.
SPEAKER_02Fantastic fantastic well Joe thank you so much for sitting down with us but I'm kind of walking through who you are and you know and having the conversation on leadership but now it is time to transition to the second segment of the pod now this is where we sometimes do dad jokes jeopardy and we we started recently trying uh wrong answers only today we are doing the most highly requested fan favorite the number one segment in the whole entire industry dad jokes um Justin you may or may not notice that I tend to inflate how awesome the dad jokes section is a little bit more every single episode.
SPEAKER_01Yes I do it's because and for anybody who doesn't know it it's Peter's favorite segment. It is one it is one most highly requested segment.
SPEAKER_02All right Joe Peter here's what we're gonna do. Prior to our recording I should come prepare for two to three dad jokes you're gonna deliver two dad jokes if one bombs you have that third as a backup so you're gonna deliver your two Justin's gonna deliver his two and I will wrap up with mine and then we'll call it a day love it.
SPEAKER_04Easy peasy all right Joe whenever you're ready why was this Thanksgiving soup so expensive why was the Thanksgiving soup so expensive I don't know why I know because it had 24 carats that's a good one all right go why don't dinosaurs talk oh because they're dead oh you gotta all right give me that third one all right last but not least is how do you get a squirrel to like you give it a nut act like you're nuts act like you're nuts Justin you're on the right path but wrong I was all right all right man Justin go shoot what do Alexander the Great and Winnie the Pooh have in common Alexander the Great and Winnie Pooh what do they have?
SPEAKER_02Winnie the Pooh Conquering and honey uh they both like red balloons I don't know they're a middle name that was good that was good alright no throw up that all right um why did the man name his dog Rolex and Timex so I can watch them you're right there why because they were watchdogs all right all right there you go I I knew it's damn it Joe had it Joe had it all right I'll wrap up what vegetable is cool but not that cool cucumbers radish okay got it that's right that's right um I was gonna tell a sodium joke but then I was like nah you have to know the periodic table that's a periodic table for that one it's a good one all right you're gonna tell your son that aren't you yeah I am who he just built a periodic table puzzle that I had to modge podge and glue together and hang in his room all right well Joe thank you so much for sitting down with us truly enjoyed it you know again you know I I've gotten I I've really enjoyed getting to know you throughout over the course of the years and and we've had a few drinks down in Florida the Florida Kieran um and so I appreciate you covering some time out of your schedule to to sit with us and thank you so much for being such a great leader within our industry. My pleasure thanks for having me absolutely and Justin as always thank you very much of course it was my pleasure of course and all of you we know your time is valuable thank you for tuning in to the latest episode of Acuma's On Point Podcast we hope you enjoyed it until next time be well my friends.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening we'll see you next time at the Acuma on point podcast if not already be sure to subscribe and give us the five star rating for more great episodes and information be sure to visit us online at Acuma.org and to get the latest updates head over to our LinkedIn page
