Episode 16: Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women in Finance - Part 2

Engage fi Co-Founder and CEO, Jenn Addabbo is joined by Carrie Birkhofer, President & CEO at Bay Federal Credit Union, Kathy Courtney, COO at Greenstate Credit Union, and Julie Kleffel, EVP & COO at Seacoast Bank. In this episode we shine a light on some of the incredible women who are making waves in the world of finance. We dive into their inspiring journeys to leadership, highlighting the importance of mentorship and balancing work and life. We also discuss how technology is impacting traditional banking operations with a special focus on the role of AI.

Transcript

Jennifer Addabbo (00:01.206) 

Hello, welcome back to another episode of FinTech Unleashed. My name is Jen Adabo and I'm the co -founder and CEO at EngageFI. I am thrilled to be part of this episode today. I am joined by Carrie Burkhoffer, President and CEO at Bayfed Credit Union, Kathy Courtney, COO at Green State Credit Union, and Julie Kleffel, EVP and COO at Seacoast Bank. In today's episode, we're gonna shine a light on these incredible women who are making waves in the world of financial services. 

We're going to dive into their inspiring journeys to leadership, highlight the importance of mentorship, and trying to balance work and life. We're also going to discuss how technology is impacting traditional banking operations with a really special focus on the role of AI. We have a lot to cover. Let's get started. 

Jennifer Addabbo (00:51.062) 

First, thank you, Carrie, Kathy, and Julie for joining us. I've had the pleasure of knowing you guys for a number of years. And I know we've had the opportunity to collaborate and probably sometimes commiserate around some of the stuff that's happening in our industry and the challenges that we face day in and day out. So I'd like to start there. And I'm just excited for our viewers to hear from you and your real life experience in what's brought us here today. So I'm going to start with Kathy, if that's OK. 

Cathy, in your journey through leadership and the various roles that you've had in your career, industry challenges have been constant. As you sit in the role that you have today and really even reflect on previous roles, what do you think are the most impactful and pressing challenges in our current 

Kathy Courtney (01:40.791) 

Yeah, great question, Jen. So, and I'm going to focus kind of more on just the here and now and kind of thinking through this question, what comes to mind. There's really three things. So to me, it's really talent, technology, and relevancy are kind of the three things that come to mind is just most pressing. And I sleep usually very well at night and don't have problems with that. But if I did have anything that kept me up, it'd be these three things. So. 

breaking those down a little bit, talent, it's just the never ending struggle for each of us to be able to both attract and retain top talent in our institutions, especially just given the institutions that we are and who we're competing against and the various geographies in which we're located. And then the other piece is technology. 

you know, really financial services, it's always going through some sort of a transformational shift, but I think even more so now, you know, it's just this acceleration that is happening across everywhere. So you think about, you know, digital, the embracing of digital services, you think about embedded finance, you think about just, you know, AI and some of the new technologies that are out there, that's a really big thing, is just figuring out how to utilize those. 

and not fall behind at the same time. And then the last, the third point is really about relevancy. So we are all, you know, on this panel come from more of the community institutions, so community banks and credit unions. And we are competing against some very big banks that are out there. So, you you think about our world, they'll talk about credit unions, you know, specifically there's 4 ,600 credit unions, I think, now in the US and there was more than double that, you know, just a little less than, you know, 10 years ago. 

and that just keeps happening. So there's a ton of consolidation. Now that said, I feel like us as community institutions have a really unique advantage compared to those big banks. So we can be a lot more nimble than they can. I worked previously for much larger institutions and so I see that firsthand and the power of that. And I think we can be where they are not and really be more, you know, embed in those communities, understand our communities and be there to better serve. 

Kathy Courtney (03:58.777) 

people on the ground and be more local. 

Jennifer Addabbo (04:01.654) 

I think that's great. Sometimes I think, at least the clients we work with, sometimes forget that you can be nimble, right? Even in larger community financial institutions, you have that opportunity. You just have to that frame of mind in place. Carrie or Julie, do you have anything to add? Anything that's on the back of your mind or helping you sleep well, according to Kathy, but maybe the first thing you think about when you wake 

Carrie Birkhofer (04:26.968) 

Sure, I'll jump in. I think right now some of the biggest challenges that we're facing are definitely what Cathy outlined. Being in this crowded field of large banks definitely is challenging more than ever because digital services is kind of like the makes everything equal. When people go online, everyone has either a good experience or bad experience. It doesn't matter what kind of institution it is. 

But I think the biggest challenge I'm seeing right now is also just our bottom line. The pressure on our spread with higher rates on deposits and those legacy loans that are at lower rates, the pressure we're feeling on fee income as an industry from our regulators and others, as well as just higher operating expenses right now with inflation, it's been tricky. And so that's, I think, more challenging than I've seen in a long 

Julie Kleffel (05:22.305) 

Yeah, I think Cathy and Carrie did a nice job summarizing the collective challenges we all have. And I think that the other component that sort of complements what these ladies mentioned is that we have a lot of customers that are much more educated than they ever were. And so the demands for us to accelerate and keep pace with customer expectations and demands is higher than it's ever been. And the great thing is they're educated, 

the challenges are we continuing to outpace that education to continue to be trusted advisors to those clients. And I think that is an emerging concern that all financial institutions face as well in the same frame of talent and technology and really just how do we manage that profitably. So I agree with the ladies and just would add the component of we have very highly educated customers and 

consumption rate of information is at a much higher pace than it ever was in my 28 

Jennifer Addabbo (06:27.244) 

Right, and their willingness to go try a fintech as an example that's then dictating what their expectation is for their trusted financial institution that they may have had for 20 plus years and they're expecting you guys to keep up. agree. Julie, coming back to you, as you think through your career, is there a pivotal decision or a point in which you remember being kind of a game changer or impactful as to who you are today in the role that you play? 

Julie Kleffel (06:56.087) 

Yeah, there's several, it's hard to narrow it down to one, but when I really think about the question, I think it was the real big pivot point was when one of my greatest mentors challenged me around the notion that I was very singularly focused in the industry. And at the time in my career, I was hyper focused in the commercial banking space and understanding how to be an expert in all things commercial banking. And while that proved to be very instrumental, 

in the first half of my career, the mentor challenged me around the thinking that you really need to understand and jump into the areas that I'm not comfortable with, that I may not understand or may not even enjoy. Because in order to rise to the level that I sit at today, I would not have been able to do that had I not sort of taken a leap of faith to challenge myself and stretch and grow in areas that were not. 

you know, exciting and fun at the time. And in that same conversation and that pivot, it required me to be intentional about additional education and broadening that scope and being a continual learner in multiple disciplines versus one or two disciplines. And also really leaned in around 

staying what I call close to the water cooler, so to speak. And so when you think about women in finance, one of the challenges is how do we stay engaged and relevant so that our voices are heard? And I remember this mentor who happens to be a male saying to me, do you know where the water cooler is and are you visiting that often? At the time it was a physical space. In today's world of virtual spaces, it's do you know where the players are and are you in that close proximity? 

so that you don't miss the inside politics that are required to be successful at the C -suite of any organization, particularly as a female. And so I would say the pivotal moment was being willing to stretch and grow and leap beyond a singular or vertical focus. And then secondarily, being very intentionally aware of what was going on from a political landscape, from where the water cooler is and where it is 

Jennifer Addabbo (09:18.923) 

That's great. Carrie, how about you? 

Carrie Birkhofer (09:22.028) 

I think for me, a pivotal moment was early in my career. I was CFO at the credit union and the CEO left and the board asked me to step in as interim CEO. I didn't really have plans to be a CEO at that point in my career. I was pretty new at being a CFO and they really believed in me, encouraged me to apply after doing the job for a few months. And I actually said no at first and I had a young baby. I wanted more kids. 

And they said, no, we really want you to step in. We like what you're doing and give it at least interview. And so I'm really glad it was like, you know, to have a board of directors believe in me before I was quite sure about my own self was really a pivotal moment for sure. And I think the second part to that was recognizing that I needed help. I got a really good coach in the beginning of my career 

helped me focus on building the culture that's still in place today. I've been here now 35 years, 29 as CEO, so a really long time. But during that journey, I built this culture that is still in place that I think separates us from others and it's a place people are really attracted to. And then I used coaching again later in my life, not that long ago, kind of as a midlife point when I kind of was going through that typical 

kids are out of the house, know, what's, is this really everything I'm gonna be about? Like, is this my life? And I got an executive coach that was phenomenal and really helped me be so much more confident in myself. Those voices in our head could be so critical and difficult to hear. And I think women really have challenges with that. I'm sure men do too, but I know a lot of my friends, like we can be really hard on ourselves and the media feeds into that. And so, 

Having this coach really helped me and it was so much that I actually, started a business together and I'm so excited about what we can do to help others because it made such a phenomenal difference in my life just to have that person to help me understand that I'm okay. 

Jennifer Addabbo (11:32.096) 

Yeah, I think for us at EngageFI, just quickly, one of 

key values is continuous improvement. And I look at that in two ways. One is personal continuous improvement and challenging yourself. And Julie, you mentioned it around education. Carrie, you mentioned around coaching. You know, there's the personal side of it and then there's the professional side of it. And for you to get coaching at a stage in your career where people probably think she's got it all figured out, she's been doing it for so long and she's been so successful. think that's just indicative of who you are and that you just 

to continue to be better for the team that you surround yourself with. think that's great. Kathy, how about you? 

Kathy Courtney (12:12.161) 

Yeah, I love the examples, Julie and Carrie, you you guys gave. so probably the theme, you know, the two that kind of come to mind to me, the theme is similar. It's that, you know, you've got to push yourself and and really be uncomfortable to grow and not be afraid to do that. Like embrace that, hey, this is really uncomfortable and I'm scared of this and that means I should do it, you know. And then and then in turn, kind of like you were saying, Carrie, have the confidence that, know, you can figure it 

And so the couple kind of pivotal moments, I guess, for me that come most to mind, one is so prior to working at credit union, I worked at a large bank and spent about eight years overseas. And so I lived and worked in both a couple of years in Europe and five years in the Asia Pacific. And so that just completely took me out of my comfort zone and having to kind of unlearn things that 

know, thought were the ways of working, you know, work with an incredibly diverse group of individuals and all kinds of nuances to figuring out not only how to live, but how to, you know, be an effective leader and work there. And so that really was a tremendous, just, think, personal and professional growing experience for me that I just feel so fortunate that I had the ability to do that. 

funnily enough, sitting here in Iowa, I still leverage a lot of that stuff today. So, you know, you think about banking and in Asia, they're way far ahead of us and in a lot of ways. And so that's kind of fun. And then the second thing is really finding credit union world for me. So again, I, you know, I came from working at Northern Trust, which is like 11 trillion. I worked for Charles Schwab for a while, like, you know, probably as as Coopers, just big institutions. 

And so I only discovered Credit Union World about six years ago when I moved back to my home state here in Iowa and joined Green State Credit Union. And I feel like I've just found my home. That is just, it just, it's the mix of head and heart for me. And I never want to leave it. And so I wish I would have found it earlier, but to me, that's a very, very powerful, you know, pivotal moment for me is, is finding the space where I really belong and feel like I can thrive and be myself. 

Jennifer Addabbo (14:27.764) 

And it's given you the opportunity to share all of those great experiences with other folks on your team. So that's fantastic. So shifting gears a little bit, hot topic in artificial intelligence, obviously strong in our industry. 

can sometimes be a challenge to define where do we focus our attention and not be distracted, but really implement use cases that are impactful and compelling. Carrie, I'm going ask you, have you guys implemented any advanced automation with your data strategy that you can point to where you've seen positive results, either in cost savings or time savings that you can share? 

Carrie Birkhofer (15:06.158) 

Sure, yeah. First, I'm so excited that I'm in the work environment when this is coming out. I love new technology. My career has been so long that I was here before there was PCs, and then we had the internet be born. And throughout all of that, I'm like, can't wait till I could do more. I feel that way with AI right now. I see the power of it, and I can't wait for it to be truly embedded where we can see the results from it. It's fun to see it in its infancy stages. 

I jumped right in immediately, started using Chat GPT. It's now like my assistant. mean, everything I do, I run through there and it helps me think clearly. It helps me be smarter. I don't use it as a sole resource, but it's just such an amazing time saver. And we're doing that internally too. We're just bringing it in behind the firewall and having it be, it's digesting right now all of our policies and procedures 

All the data our employees are always searching for in our knowledge database. And I think it's gonna be a game changer. We're just testing it right now. We're also rolling out the AI chat for members of member facing. A lot of people have already done that. And so we're just doing it ourselves. And I see a lot of power in that as well. And there's just so much more, like I said, that I'm excited to see what it can do. think I am, there's, 

being originally an accountant and a risk manager, I think having it scour the database and looking for fraud or anomalies, kind of like what we use Verifin now for, I think it could continue to grow. There's so many things that we'll see it continue to help. I've already seen people use it for loan approvals and different ways to do credit scoring. And so I think there's gonna be a huge advantage to 

And then I think what's most important is that we really foster our employees to focus on what they bring to the table because it will be really important that we continue to be relationship builders and complex strategy solvers and like look at things creatively. So I feel like that's gonna be an important feature is that we don't get scared of like it taking away jobs, but we look at how it can augment those day -to -day. 

Carrie Birkhofer (17:32.952) 

processes that we find a little boring and then how can we really enjoy what we do, like bringing that to our members and our customers of the relationship building and internally helping and supporting one another and creating a creative, fun place to work. So yeah, I'm looking forward to 

Jennifer Addabbo (17:51.382) 

Yeah, it touches on a little bit, Kathy, of what you were bringing up, which is the talent retention, right? If you can tech enable your team so that they feel like they have more bandwidth to do the true differentiating work that you probably hired them for, then hopefully they see the satisfaction in that and it helps with your retention strategy. So I don't know, Kathy or Julie, if you guys are implementing any AI strategies or process. 

Kathy Courtney (18:19.063) 

Yeah, I'm happy to go next. So similar to what Kerry mentioned, and Jen, just on that point you just commented on, I always talk about it again, it's that blending of human and technology to help make our people more superhuman. that power of, I do agree with Kerry, think AI is just gonna be, especially think about not just large language models, but generative AI is just gonna change our world. 

And I get excited about it too. And so it's gonna take care and automate a lot of the things that we do on a day to day, but it's gonna create these new jobs and the blending of kind of that technology with the power of our talent is a really incredible and exciting thing to think about. So in terms of use cases, lot of the ones Kerry mentioned are things we're doing. We're treading slowly on the... 

using AI for loan approvals, but I really love again, that idea of, more consistent decisioning and eliminating that unconscious bias, you know, that that's really meaningful. And then the only other place I would say that I don't think you mentioned, Carrie, is really, you know, thinking about more from our, you know, member satisfaction, member surveys and sentiment analysis and really digging into more of that data and helping us truly make sure that we are focusing on areas that 

most top of mind for members because they can, you we found something interesting recently, just in kind of going through this is we had in our NPS scores, we had some members who had complained about wait times in our call center. But then when we dug deeper and really, you know, used again, some of this technology to, you know, dive in a little bit more, we found out they were actually still promoters. And so, so, you know, complaints about wait time, well, 85 to 90 % of those were still promoters of the credit union. 

you know, helps us make sure that we're again spending our limited resources in the right areas that are gonna make the difference. So, 

Jennifer Addabbo (20:17.857) 

surprising insights, right? mean, that's of the key to it. Julie, how about you? How about Seacrest? 

Kathy Courtney (20:20.127) 

It is. 

Julie Kleffel (20:23.213) 

Yeah, so similar to what the ladies are talking about, we established an internal steering committee around a cross -functional group of people to talk about use cases and ensure that all the enthusiasm was somewhat channeled and managed so that we didn't have 500 use cases trying to go on simultaneously. The great thing is just a lot of energy around it, both at the board level as well 

our associates, some of the other areas that we're looking at using it beyond what Carrie and Kathy discussed are use cases in our marketing division. We have a pretty robust data analytics modeling that we utilize internally in customer nurturing and deepening. And so some opportunities there within our marketing division to try and free up some time utilizing AI. Other places where you see us sort of drive broader technology, 

that sort of sits in that sort of pseudo AI space or things where we're beginning to deploy a number of bots across our deposit operations and loan operations functions in partnership with our core and main vendors in that space to try and reduce time and redundancies within those groups. And we have historically used things like RPA and other 

technology solutions in our M &A strategy, which we've really driven and sort of perfected over the last nine to 10 years, but really excited about how the work we've done there coupled with AI, particularly some of the new AI developments are going to impact that and how we marry and bring all those things together with a number of technology solutions. So it's an exciting time. 

We are also thinking about it in terms of how do we integrate it with existing tools that we have in the bank. We happen to be a Microsoft team shop. And so the benefit of having the co -pilot environment that's already sort of built inside of Microsoft and how do we drive that risk and control environment and safely be able to enable AI behind the firewall as Kerry discussed, utilizing that partnership within Microsoft to do 

Jennifer Addabbo (22:45.078) 

Yeah, was it's funny you say that because where my head went is unlike I think some other hot topics that have come up over the years. I think Zelle, think of RTP, you know, there isn't as much of a barrier to entry with AI as there has been in other key trends. And so I think that's been a huge benefit because you can try and you can fail quickly if you need to. You can not try 

the ocean and make little wins that get people excited about it and carry to your point, you know, not scared that their jobs are going to be in jeopardy because of it. And so I think that's been a huge difference from what I've been able to see leveraging tools that a lot of folks are already paying for, which is fantastic. 

Kathy Courtney (23:28.675) 

Yeah. Yeah. Can I add one thing, Jen? Just, yeah, like chat GPT is amazing. I think I use it on a daily basis. I just used it for a job description, but you brought up a comment, you you can get in the barrier to entry is low. You know, it's also a new technology. And so I think for all of us, it's like struggling with, how do you, how do you start to go there? But in a very safe way at the end of the day, we are great stewards of our members and customers, you know, money, and there's nothing more important than that. And so really, you know, Julie, I 

and Carrie, heard both of you say it. It's like treading slowly and just, you know, making sure we're being thoughtful about how we are, you know, getting into it and then, you know, prove some success and then, okay, think about the next use case. But yeah, it's that delicate balance that we're still trying to figure 

Jennifer Addabbo (24:14.696) 

And I guess we will wait to see some of the regulatory requirements that are going to surface around it. I think the more we can test it early and be comfortable, hopefully the better. Shifting a little bit, and I'm a big believer in sharing any information we can to make our lives easier, especially as very busy working moms. Julie, let me ask you. So we're trying to balance. 

work life, we call it work life integration at EngageFI because everyone is so busy, both personally and professionally. Do you have any life hacks or systems or tools or anything you want to share with folks, us included, that have made your life a little easier to get to that integration? 

Julie Kleffel (24:52.439) 

Sure. 

Absolutely. I'm going to just be transparent and say I don't have it all figured out. But I have a few things that I think would be relevant to all of you and to the listeners. One, would just say, you know, balance and work -life integration is different for everyone. So very much like we all have our own story and it's ours to write, how we approach this for each individual is different. I happen to be, 

a widowed mother of a special needs child. And so my thought process on how I approach this may be very different than some of the other listeners today. But some of the things I would just share that have been really helpful for me. Number one, I highly recommend for anybody in any leadership role, you have to build a village. Build a village at home, build a village at work. And that village needs to be collectively unique and customized to you and your situation. 

I'm a big believer in an ABCD team and you always have to have multiple plans because it's inevitable that one or two of them will fall out. so Build a Village, I would say number two, it's give yourself permission. Because I think as females, we struggle to give ourselves permission to pause and particularly to give ourselves permission not to pick up what I call the 

proverbial guilt bags that we carry around with us. Mom guilt, friend guilt, daughter guilt, spouse guilt, partner guilt, whatever. And I would say that I've had to really intentionally force myself not to pick up the guilt and give myself permission to pause. Now, how do I do that? One of the very simple ways I do that is I set a time when I turn work off and when I turn home on. 

Julie Kleffel (26:50.401) 

and I try to be extremely present when I'm in either mode. so try to as best I can turn off notifications for a period of time, turn my phone upside down and put it on quiet in a different room for a period of time. It doesn't mean I don't go back and check later in the evening or potentially early in the morning, but I do think that that's something I did not do early in my career. I did not give myself permission to do it. And as far as I know, every man in the country does it. 

And then the second thing I would tell you in that space is I'm in a position now where I uniquely utilize PTO, time off, differently than most people. And so I have intentionally scheduled with a goal of one day a month. It's not always the case, but at least every other month that I call a mental health day, I use sick time to do it sometimes. And it's a me day. It's during work hours. I still 

a child that has a lot of attention needs from a caregiving perspective. So the best time for me to do that is during a work day where I already have support and help and schooling to do it. And I make it a me day. And sometimes it's a day for me to, you know, refresh and recoup, but sometimes it's a day for me to educate myself or take time to read or have you. And I haven't done that well until this year, to be perfectly frank. And the way I do it is I have an accountability partner. I have an assistant that holds me to 

And then I have an outside person beyond my assistant, a friend that says, when's the last time you had a mental health day? What did you do during that mental health day? And what was involved in that to ensure that it was really focused on, you know, my sort of my internal need to sort of recharge and refire batteries. I think the other thing is just high level, don't be afraid to ask for help and raise your hand when you need to step away. And that help. 

is found in a myriad of different places because I think there's a lot more people out there that want to give you or support you in that, than we give the world credit for because we don't ever ask for the help because as women, we kind of feel like we have to be superheroes on a regular basis. And, I think that just being okay to ask for help to, to manage that balance and that integration, I think is a big part of it as 

Jennifer Addabbo (29:08.918) 

Great. Kathy, about you. 

Kathy Courtney (29:12.259) 

Julie, I want you to be my life coach after that. It sounds like you got a lot of good practices in place there. It's good. Yeah, same. We call it work -life integration. We talk about that a lot. And for me, I'm in a different stage. My kids are all grown and out of the house. But I recognize that each of us as leaders, we can set the tone for others. And 

Jennifer Addabbo (29:14.092) 

Her accountability part. 

Kathy Courtney (29:39.033) 

I have a lot of staff that aren't in that same situation and need to make sure that I set some boundaries and I that expectation accordingly. So a few practices I do is no emails, absolutely no emails before 7 a .m. or after 7 p .m. So those are like hard boundaries. To be really transparent, sometimes I do write the email, but I set up the time delay. make sure, right? Yeah, yeah. So I do use that quite a bit. 

I also do no meetings on Fridays. That's been really helpful. And that's just kind of a way to reset. And it's also a time where I can have a little more think time and have time to just informal interactions with others. And then on the weekends, back to that kind of boundaries on the weekends, I really try not to work much on the weekends at all. I will never send an email to any of my staff because of course if they get one, they feel. 

you know, this expectation, they have to respond. And so I really try to be deliberate on that. And I use my weekends, I kind of queue up all my, you know, articles and reading and all of that for the weekends, because that's the time I can sit there and just drink my coffee and really, you know, have that free space. You know, instead of feeling like I'm rushing from meeting to meeting. And just in general, one of the things, you know, at Green State that I'm proud of too, we have a flex time off. So we don't have allotted, you know, vacation times. 

And it's just providing that flexibility. Again, it's not about attendance. It's about outcomes at the end of the day. And so if someone needs to leave to go pick up a sick child, if someone needs to come in late because of an appointment, just great. Do it. So just giving people that freedom to really make that work -life integration work for them, I think, is really important. And each person's different. 

Jennifer Addabbo (31:27.84) 

Yeah, we've actually found on the flex time, you sometimes we have to look at people's flex time and say, you haven't taken time. Go take time because you know, the passion is there. The performance is there. They want to exceed in their roles. And it's that's the hardest thing I've found is reminding them it's okay. And that there are people around you that will pick up the slack for you while you go do your thing. So you come back stronger. Carrie, how about you? You've been in your role for long time. So I'm sure you've implemented some great acts. 

Carrie Birkhofer (31:53.836) 

Yeah, great. Well, it's, you know, Julia, take my hat off you for to you like what you've been through. And yeah, learning just here what some of the things that you're doing is great. I, I have figured out a little bit over the years. When the kids were young, I had I was a single mom for part of the time and I had someone like a parent coach and she would hold me accountable 

not beating myself up for not being there all the time for the kids. And she kind of associated it as a balloon and you push on one side one week where you're out of balance on the other side. So you have to always readjust. So if I was working a 60 hour work week, then the next week allowed myself to work 30 hours or 35 hours. And it wasn't ever like a routine thing. It was always in balance trying to get balance back. So that was helpful for me to kind of see that I, you know, didn't. 

feel bad when I completely messed up in one area, you one week, it's like, I have a chance to try again. But since then, like the kids, my youngest just graduated college. So I have all three college graduates. So I feel really excited about that. What I do for me is kind of like what I, you know, the old saying that on the airplane, put your oxygen mask on first. So I really try and take care of me. And I've developed habits that 

good every morning I get up and I walk and I exercise and I've just added more exercise to my routine because I've noticed that one couple of walks is not really helping. So I just signed up for Pilates. I just discovered it. I'm really enjoying it. So I'm really trying to get like my health strong because you know, I want to live a long time and have life after work. 

And then I noticed that by me saying, I've got to leave at 5 .30 or 5 .15 to go to my Pilates class, it gives permission to others like, hey, you take care of yourselves too, because I care about my employees and their health and want people to take care of themselves and not overwork. So one of the things that we also said is during the summertime, extend the project deadlines out a month or two so you can have time off in the summer and also at the holidays. Don't have any deadlines right around. 

Carrie Birkhofer (34:13.836) 

that in December. So we're trying like things like we're in this for the marathon and it's not, you know, just to get the project done and get to the race and the finish line. And, but it's not always easy. So that's for 

Jennifer Addabbo (34:26.816) 

Yeah, there were, I brought it up on our team meeting the other day. One of the great things about COVID was we were walking and talking on conference calls before everybody was comfortable with video. people were getting their steps in and getting fresh air. And I feel like we're so stuck on the screens and there's a lot of benefit to having FaceTime, especially for remote employees. But I had to remind our team the other day, it's okay to just take a call. 

Carrie Birkhofer (34:37.72) 

Mm -hmm. 

Jennifer Addabbo (34:52.266) 

and talk while you're getting outside to get some steps in. We actually implemented charity miles for our team. So every quarter we pay per mile and then that money goes to a charity. So this quarter we're doing Susan G. Komen in support of a couple of folks on our team who are battling breast cancer. It's those situations that remind you, you have to take care of yourself because you are the most important thing. You can't be impactful and mentor other people if you're not taking care of yourself. I fully believe in that. 

Let's talk a little bit about, a lot of you have brought up mentorship and even this concept of having the faith in yourself, maybe the other people see. 

things in you, you don't see. And so that to me is a big part of mentorship and what mentorship means. We've all had key mentors. We've probably also learned from folks that we want to be nothing like, right? So taking, taking all of that into consideration, you know, when you think about maybe Gen Z and how Gen Z approaches mentorship, I think it's very different than how maybe we did. I think we, I know I can speak for myself, stumbled into it where I just found a really great leader who took the 

that it wasn't really formalized. Julie, do you guys have a mentorship program, a formal mentorship program at the bank and how has that been adopted by your employees? 

Julie Kleffel (36:13.869) 

Yeah, so in a couple of different ways we do. probably the point that I'm most proud of is that we do have an executive leadership and mentoring program that we birthed last year and we're in year two of the program. It's a 12 month intensive and it includes executive mentorship at the C -suite of Seacoast. And it was really 

the brainchild of the CEO Chuck Schaefer, which I'm really, really proud of him for spearheading. And it really provides a framework for the broader organization and gives exposure and access to executive leadership within the company and kind of helps them see different aspects of what it means to operate it at that level. 

Additionally, we have associate resource groups, which I know a lot of organizations have, but the one that I'm most proud of is the one that started us off of what now is seven associate resource groups that drive mentorship. And this one's called Women Who Mean Business. And so it's women -based and it's the largest associate resource group we have in NCCOS. And it fosters mentorships and how to be an effective mentor and how to be an effective mentee. 

and how to ask for mentorship because what we found is a lot of people don't know how to ask for it, particularly when you talk about multiple generations. Certain generations are afraid to ask for it. They're afraid they're going to get a no or they don't understand the difference between mentorship, sponsorship, advocacy and those kinds of things. So two very big programmatic things we've done, but then ultimately we lead by example. so I'm extremely 

passion about mentorship and having a personal board of directors. And so I mentor not outside of our executive leadership mentor program. I mentor other individuals at Seacoast and outside the company that ask or want mentorship from me because I want to pay forward what all the mentors that I still have or had in the past have given to me. I do think, you know, the concept of millennials and Gen Z and how they think about mentorship is really unique because 

Julie Kleffel (38:31.173) 

What I've seen with those generations is they have really high demands for mentors. They want their mentors to be authentic and accessible and adaptable. They want them to provide timely, really direct feedback. They expect mentors to expose them to new opportunities and light the path for them and connect them with relevant people and resources. I think the great thing 

millennials in Gen Z is they aren't afraid to ask for mentorship. One, two, they challenge the old guard of mentors like me to be prepared as a mentor when I get into a conversation with them. I have had the kind of experience of sort of mentoring people that are in baby boomer generations all the way to Gen Z. And what I see is the learning styles of Gen Z and millennials is 

You have to have a very different tailored approach in how you talk to them. You have to drive a lot more curiosity and innovative sort of provocative sort of open ended questions. They expect you to do that. And when you crack the door, they're just a flurry of information. And I actually have gotten more probably mentoring Gen Z for myself than the other way around probably. And so I feel really strongly 

You cannot be an effective female or man in that regard at the C -suite of any organization without coaching, development, mentorship. Carrie talked about the power of an executive coach. I also have one, Carrie, when I got asked to be the COO, which was definitely not on the glide path, I was like, wow, this is like, I've run frontline people my whole life, my whole career, and now you want me 

play a hybrid role and run support areas and shared services. And what I had to do was just reach out and grab a coach that could help me with that. And I wasn't afraid to do it because I'm in an environment that fosters and allows me to do that. And so I encourage that. And then I really try and foster other people getting access to coaching outside of the company because I think it's super valuable. 

Jennifer Addabbo (40:50.504) 

I think you hit on something really key. And I'm interested, and Kiri, if you guys have formal programs. Because if you just hope that mentorship is going to work and you're not trained on how to embrace it and kind of think through, even as a mentee, feeling like you're overstepping your boundary in talking to a senior executive at your work, what's appropriate? have you guys, Cathy, have you implemented formal mentorship program? 

Kathy Courtney (41:18.071) 

Yeah, we have. And we are actually, going through a complete kind of revision of even just our leadership development. 

training and I'm really excited about what we're doing rebranding it leadership at all levels and really making customized ones not just for the level of leader they are but actually for the individuals because we found right you might have somebody who's a you know new manager but really good at one -on -ones but not so great at you know another leadership skill and same thing at all levels and so it's like really tailoring and again with like the tools and technology you know that's out there you can do 

even with, you know, a thousand employees. So I'm really excited. That's just kind of getting started and rolling out. but the other thing, you know, our culture, Jenny mentioned, you know, being able to, you know, walk into executives, you know, office, that's just the norm here at Green State. That's actually one of the things I love about here are unique culture. Everybody's, you human first and foremost. And so being relatable and, know, being in front of, individuals and having that open door policy and making 

feel really comfortable for them to come to us. That happens almost on a daily basis where there's individuals that are just randomly setting up time with each of us. Or we encourage a lot of shadowing. And one good thing is even if someone's in a different location, they can still shadow a person's work through Teams and other technology. But encourage that quite a bit. I personally mentor some individuals. 

and I get as much from them as, know, hopefully they get some stuff right from me. And so I feel like it kind of goes both ways and I purposely kind of try to find a diverse set of individuals as well that, that I work with on a regular basis. and so, yeah, we've, we've got a lot of good things, you know, at GreenState. The next thing we're also looking at and just really trying to influence, we went away from formal performance reviews a year ago. And so we're really trying to, 

Kathy Courtney (43:18.233) 

incorporate that feedback, right? Consistent feedback into just the regular rhythm of what we do. And so that's something I try to practice as well. come out of a meeting and I'll say, hey, John, do you want to, you you got a couple of minutes come to my office and I'll ask him, hey, what do you think went well? What do you think, you know, could have been better? And then I also ask him, what did I do well? And what do you think I could have done better? And so, you know, just building that into the routines of what we 

And Julie, your point on the Gen Z, that's kind of aligns with what others are looking for. And so we're making some good headway there and I get excited about 

Jennifer Addabbo (43:55.164) 

I think Carrie that leads into even your passion project that you've started and you do so much I think what's great about our industry is your there's a lot of collaboration and conversation among peers and even though there might be some competition I know you've just been so involved in your peer network and supporting others Do you want to talk about sort of passion projects that you have that gets you excited? I think I've kind of alluded to 

Carrie Birkhofer (44:21.432) 

Sure. Yeah, I've definitely just loved this industry. And I've been in the credit union industry my whole career. Started out as an auditor of credit unions. So I was exposed to many credit unions and then I had a chance to work at my own. so what I think my passion project, when I get excited about every single day is just continuing to create that culture of employees who come together, who want to work together. 

We're very particular on who we hire. We look for people who have the passion in them, because once you have a team of passionate people like that, amazing things can happen. And I've been doing it for a number of years now. one of the things I do that's part of the passion is I greet the new employees on their first day. We have them start together in a training program. And I'm there at 8 .30 in the morning when they start and welcome them. And I tell the story of 

the culture of the credit union and why I'm so excited that they're here and how they were chosen over other people because we see that light inside of them. And I just see them light up to have the CEO share that with them the first morning and kind of take it from there. And one of the things I mentioned to them is that culture is very purposeful. mean, very planned. It's not something, I guess, 

purposeful is the right word too, but it's not something that it can just happen. I think in some companies it does just happen, but it might not be the culture that you want. And so it takes a lot of focus and effort and a lot of things that you guys talked about. I love the mentor programs. I definitely took ideas away from that. It always is evolving. And what I'm really excited about is what the foundations that we set in place 20 years ago. 

They're now owned by the institution, like people carrying them forward. It's just part of who we are. It's our DNA. And so we're always kind of looking to tweak and stuff, but there's a lot of foundational pieces there. And it just makes me excited. What I think separates us in the community from the large banks is that people notice it. They come up to me in the community and they say, your employees are so happy. Like I come in and they're so engaging. 

Carrie Birkhofer (46:39.202) 

that I love coming into the credit, and the word love is used a lot. And I don't think people use love with banking very often. So when I get that, like we actually create t -shirts, I love Bayfed, and members ask if they can have them, you know, it's like, makes me just so happy. So I just have made this my passion project, and I still get excited about it every single day. 

Jennifer Addabbo (46:45.226) 

Hahaha 

Jennifer Addabbo (47:01.152) 

Yeah, it's funny, Kathy, you mentioned the importance of culture. Julie, probably last question, I know we could talk for days, I think. You all have been so active in an acquisition strategy. Culture is very difficult to maintain through that strategy. Have you guys implemented any insights that you could share as far as making sure that the culture that you are so proud of, sometimes those other organizations that you may be acquiring, you're acquiring them for a reason and 

want to sort of infiltrate with your culture. you guys done anything around that? 

Julie Kleffel (47:33.997) 

Yeah, it's a really good question. And in the beginning, I would say it was an intentional and purposeful. And we learned a lot from that about 10 years ago. And I'm an adopted child of the company by way of acquisition in 2014. And so as I experienced that journey myself, one of the things that I really encouraged our organization to do was a couple of things. Number 

we need to be doing as much due diligence on the individuals, the people that are running the banks we're acquiring as we do on the financial performance of that institution. And so it's an intentional part of the due diligence process. And what we know is the acquisitions that are working are the ones where the cultures were similarly aligned and those organizations just needed to scale. The ones we've acquired that were more challenging was where cultures were mismatched or 

may not have been as similar. And so we to work a little harder at that. A couple of things we've done that I'm really, really proud of. Number one is something that I sort of championed back in kind of 2018, 2019 when the company was kind of going through one of its awkward teenager stages. We're at another one now as every company grows. But we really were, as we were trying to scale, trying to figure out how do we effectively serve customers and think from the customer 

out instead of from the banker into the customer. And in that case, we established a mantra that I really believe in and it's one team, one mission customers. And so when we hear people or see behaviors that are not demonstrated on one team environment, we sort of empower everyone to bop it on the head, you kind of like a game of whack -a -mole. I'm like, if you see a silo emerging, it on the head, remind everybody this is our customer, this is our community. 

and we should be serving the customer collectively as a team. And that seems really simple, but it's very difficult to implement and challenge if you don't make it intentional and purposeful. The other thing that we did is we established a culture team at Seco's as a cross -functional team of about 30 associates from front of house, back of house, and executive management is not allowed. And that culture team drives employee engagement, 

Julie Kleffel (49:56.289) 

They're responsible for calling out management, including executive management, when we're not holding to the principles, the core values, the mission, the principles, and how we operate from a leadership engagement perspective. We're not using the right language. We're not using the right tenor. We're not using the right tone. We don't have the self -awareness or emotional intelligence that we need to have because we're in the people business. And so they hold us accountable to that. They actually restructured. 

What are the core competencies of the executive team related to culture? And culture is a standard part of our strategic planning process. And we talk as much about culture and the pulse of the company and executive management leadership meetings as we do about financials and financial performance. And as a publicly traded institution, that was a change management exercise for all of us. But we really took kind of the Disney principle. And since I'm from Orlando, I can say 

which is, you know, it's all about the experience, the client or the member or the customer experience first. And in Disney, it's the guest experience first. And if that's right, then the financial performance will follow. And so it's a number of things, Jen, and what we've done is when we see cultural mismatches and Carrie nailed it, we hire people with the right DNA and teach them how to do the rest. When we find people that aren't a fit, then we just help them find a place that's a better fit. 

or we immerse them further into our culture to make sure that the melting pot of banks that we've sort of assembled over the last 10 years become one cohesive group of people serving the communities for almost 100 years with almost 1500 employees. That's hard to do, but it has to be intentional and purposeful, which Carrie and Kathy talked about quite a bit today. And so it's a number of things, but I'm really proud of who we've become and who we're continuing to become. 

because it is an evolution that needs to continue. can't stop. It's not one and done. It has to be continual accountability to 

Jennifer Addabbo (51:52.662) 

That's great. I I can't thank you guys enough. I mean, it's clear the success you've had individually and the growth of each of your organizations that you said it, Julie, we're in the people business. If we take care of our people, and that also means take care of ourselves, right? To Carrie's point. 

then the rest will come. The growth will come. We'll attract the right individuals. And ultimately, our customers and members are going to be better off because of it. So I want to thank you guys so much for taking the time today. I want to thank our listeners for tuning in. And to stay informed on when we are dropping the next episode of Engage FI's FinTech Unleashed, check us out on LinkedIn. We look forward to seeing you guys soon. Thanks again, everybody. Appreciate it. 

Kathy Courtney (52:35.853) 

Thank you. 

Carrie Birkhofer (52:35.992) 

Thank you. Bye.