Women of Banking (formerly Women of Community Banking)

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome & Scaling to C-Suite | Megan Snyder, Unitus Credit Union

How do you fast-track your career from a 30-day temporary contract to Chief Impact Officer (CIO) at a leading credit union? In this episode of the Women of Banking Podcast, host Anurag Mukherjee sits down with Megan Snyder, Chief Impact Officer at Unitus Credit Union, to discuss leadership, career velocity, fintech partnerships, and AI innovation in financial services.Megan shares her inspiring "accidental" path into banking, moving from large financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Bank of America to tech giant IBM, before finding her true calling in the mission-driven credit union sector. Over her nine-year tenure at Unitus, Megan secured 6 to 7 promotions, navigating her way directly into the C-suite.👇 In this episode, we break down:- The corporate transition from big banks (Wells Fargo, B of A) to community financial institutions.- How curiosity, volunteering for projects, and vocalizing ideas drives rapid career advancement.- Defining the role of a Chief Impact Officer: Merging community mission with financial ROI.- Fintech vendor management: What differentiates a great fintech partner from an average vendor.- Proactive AI adoption in credit unions: Automating small business lending underwriting from hours to 30 minutes.- Real-world AI fraud prevention using behavioral monitoring.- Conquering imposter syndrome and managing the unique workloads faced by women in leadership.💡 Key Takeaway:"We built the impact division where we're able to look at how can we take community mission and innovation and move things forward... those are 'and' statements, they're not 'or' statements, and we were able to demonstrate that." — Megan Snyder---CHAPTERS:00:00 - Introduction & Megan Snyder’s Background01:20 - The Accidental Journey into Banking & Financial Services03:10 - Scaling the Corporate Ladder: 7 Promotions in 9 Years05:08 - What Does a Chief Impact Officer Actually Do?07:45 - Fintech Partnerships: Great Partners vs. Average Vendors10:32 - How Unitus Credit Union is Proactively Leveraging AI12:55 - Establishing an AI Center of Excellence (COE)14:20 - Mentoring Women in Banking: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome16:40 - Balancing Leadership, Family, and the "Secondary Workload"---CONNECT WITH US:Host: Anurag Mukherjee Guest: Megan Snyder (Chief Impact Officer, Unitus Credit Union)Unitus Credit Union: https://www.unitusccu.comSubscribe to Women of Community Banking for more executive insights!#WomenInBanking #CreditUnions #CommunityBanking #Fintech #WomenInLeadership #ArtificialIntelligence #ImposterSyndrome #BankingPodcast #UnitusCreditUnion #CareerGrowth

How a 35-Year Credit Union Veteran Defines "Financial Freedom" | Jill Sammons, BCU | Women of Banking Podcast

In this episode of the Women of Banking Podcast, host Anurag Mukherjee sits down with Jill Sammons, Senior Vice President of Strategic Growth and Engagement at BCU (Baxter Credit Union), who has spent more than 35 years in the credit union movement. Jill shares what kept her at one organization for three decades, how she navigated career barriers as a working mother, and why BCU deliberately chose the word "discover" in its purpose statement: empowering people to discover financial freedom. This conversation is for credit union professionals, bank marketers, women in financial services leadership, and anyone interested in member-owned, not-for-profit banking and community impact.What you'll learn in this episode: * Why purpose and people keep leaders in the credit union industry for decades * How to re-enter a career after stepping away to raise a family * Why "work-life balance" is better understood as "life integration" * How marketers should look outside banking to attract new members * Why financial freedom is something you discover, not achieve * How BCU measures community impact across SEG partners, associations, and the broader community * Why affordability and financial health affect every demographic — not just the underserved * Career advice on giving yourself grace and leaning on others Chapters / Timestamps: 00:00 – Welcome and introduction to Jill Sammons 01:18 – What keeps a leader in credit unions for 35 years 02:48 – Navigating barriers as a woman and working mother 05:10 – Work-life integration vs. work-life balance 06:02 – Marketing lessons from outside the banking industry 07:41 – BCU's purpose: "discover financial freedom" explained 10:19 – Measuring community impact across multiple segments 11:26 – Dispelling the myth that credit unions only serve the underserved 12:14 – Rapid fire: coffee or tea, early bird or night owl 13:34 – Book recommendations: Amp It Up and Hug Your Haters 14:25 – What's next on Jill's bucket list 15:07 – One piece of advice to her younger selfBooks mentioned: Amp It Up by Frank Slootman, Hug Your Haters by Jay BaerAbout BCU: BCU (Baxter Credit Union) is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative focused on partnerships with company partners and associations, with a growing community presence and the purpose of helping people discover financial freedom.🎧 Subscribe for more conversations with women leaders shaping community banking and credit unions.#CreditUnions #WomenInLeadership #CommunityBanking #FinancialFreedom #BCU #WomenOfCommunityBanking #FinancialServices #CreditUnionMovement

A Story of Resilience, Purpose, and Financial Empowerment | Cherry Dale

How does a kindergarten teacher become a financial education leader at one of Virginia's largest credit unions? In this episode of the Women of Community Banking podcast, host Anurag Mukherjee talks with Cherry Dale, Financial Education Director at Virginia Credit Union (VACU) in Richmond, Virginia, about her unconventional career path, the mentors who shaped her, and the community programs transforming financial literacy across the state.Cherry Dale taught kindergarten for eight years and earned a master's degree in curriculum and instruction before transitioning into the credit union world. She spent her first year taking finance classes and being mentored — turning a steep corporate learning curve into a career built on impact. Today she designs and leads financial wellness programs that reach students, members, and vulnerable populations throughout Virginia.What is financial education and why does it matter for young adults? Cherry explains that the most financially vulnerable population is people leaving high school for the workforce or college — often taking on student loan debt without understanding repayment. Formal education rarely teaches practical skills like filing taxes, building credit, or getting a first credit card. This episode explores how community-based financial education fills that gap and meets people where they are.Key programs and partnerships discussed in this episode:A fully funded $5 million endowment created with Virginia Commonwealth University's (VCU) School of Business, supporting a student financial success center led by Executive Director Amy Pridemore.A peer money-coaching model where 10 trained student money coaches help fellow students with personal finances — paid through work study. Cherry notes peer coaching is less intimidating than guidance from an outside professional, making students more likely to engage.A new $250,000 commitment over 10 years to launch a student financial success center at Radford University in western Virginia, targeting a 2026–2027 school year launch, supporting students from freshman through senior year.A $60,000 grant from the National Credit Union Foundation funding a program for young adults exiting the foster care system. More than 55 students statewide completed six weeks of personal finance education and received a $1,000 stipend for housing and essential needs.Why does trust matter more than rates or products in banking? Both Cherry and Anurag emphasize that trust — not interest rates or product features — is the true differentiator for financial institutions. In a "sea of sameness," the institutions that build genuine relationships and coach members through major financial decisions are the ones that create lasting impact. This reflects the core credit union philosophy of "people helping people."Career advice for women in finance and leadership: Cherry's advice to her younger self: take risks, overcome imposter syndrome, and show up as your authentic self. She encourages women in particular to challenge the instinct to stay quiet, to advocate for their ideas with well-prepared case scenarios, and to pursue ambitious goals without fear of rejection.A personal story of resilience: In a moving conclusion, Cherry shares that she was born in Korea, abandoned as an infant, adopted, and brought to America. Her journey "from nothing" to leading programs that give back to others represents a full-circle moment — and the legacy she hopes to leave: inspiring people of every background to pursue their dreams through education, mentorship, and hard work.

Katie Quilligan on Community Banking, Fintech VC & Women in Banking | BankTech Ventures

In this episode of the Women of Community Banking Podcast, host Anurag Mukherjee sits down with Katie Quilligan, Principal at BankTech Ventures, to unpack how community banks are adopting modern technology, what venture capital is doing to back them, and why women leaders in fintech and banking are reshaping the industry from the inside out.This is one of the most candid, insight-packed conversations you'll find on the intersection of community banking, fintech innovation, venture capital, and women's leadership in financial services.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📌 WHO IS KATIE QUILLIGAN?Katie Quilligan is a Principal at BankTech Ventures, a strategic venture capital fund backed by over 120 community banks across the United States. Before stepping into venture, Katie spent the early part of her career on the operator side at American Express and several high-growth startups, including helping launch a consumer ice cream brand. She holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and broke into venture capital under the mentorship of Petra Griffith of Wedbush Ventures.Katie's journey from brand operator to fintech investor is rooted in a mission: to channel capital toward founders solving real problems for community financial institutions, and to lift up women builders and bankers along the way.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🏦 WHAT IS BANKTECH VENTURES?BankTech Ventures is a strategic investment fund that functions as the R&D arm for community banks. With over 120 community bank LPs (limited partners), the fund:Sources and invests in best-in-class banking technology companiesProvides community banks with market intelligence and curated tech introductionsBridges the gap between traditional community banking and modern fintechHelps portfolio founders become "bank-ready" with warm introductions to ready buyersInvests across the stack — from front-office revenue tools like loan origination software to back-office cost-saving solutions like compliance and risk toolsUnlike traditional VCs that simply write checks and wait for exits, BankTech Ventures actively serves as the connective tissue between fintech founders and community banks.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🔹 Technology is becoming a commodity. With cloud infrastructure, AI coding tools, and modern dev stacks, building software is faster than ever. The real differentiator for fintech founders is now product-market fit, ideal customer profile (ICP) definition, and go-to-market execution — not the code itself.🔹 Selling to community banks is fundamentally different from selling to top 10 banks. Budgets are tighter, decisions are more deliberate, and founders must demonstrate real, repeated pain that the bank's team experiences regularly.🔹 The fastest path to a "yes" in community banking is finding an internal champion — a sponsor inside the bank who can shepherd the deal through. With fewer layers than at megabanks, a single champion can move mountains.🔹 Coachability matters more than pedigree. The best founders BankTech sees are the ones who deeply understand how a community bank actually operates and are willing to meet the bank more than halfway.🔹 Community is a strategic asset. Katie's TechXX initiative with Pam Kaur exists because so many networking events feel transactional. Building intentional, supportive communities of women in fintech creates compounding career value.🔹 Career advice for early-career women: Be intentional about the community you build. Champion others — you never know when paths will cross again. There is no perfect career path, so build with purpose.🔹 The future of community banking: Continued consolidation, but the banks that survive will be the ones that adopt technology aggressively, use automation to free up staff from back-office work, and spend more time delighting customers in ways they didn't see coming.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"We Can't Live in the Comfort Zone" — Angela Chan's CFO Playbook at Smart Financial Credit Union

What does it really take to rise from staff accountant to Chief Financial Officer of one of Houston's leading credit unions? In this episode of the Women of Community Banking Podcast, host Anurag Mukherjee sits down with Angela Chan, CFO of Smart Financial Credit Union, for a candid conversation on leadership, career evolution, fintech disruption, and the mindset shifts that define a true executive. Angela shares her 12+ year journey at Smart Financial Credit Union — from joining as Vice President to becoming CFO — and the lessons that shaped her along the way. She opens up about why finance leaders must eventually "leave the spreadsheets behind," how she balances technical depth with strategic storytelling at the board level, and why she believes the best CFOs master the triangle of persuasion, data, and human connection. The conversation dives deep into the credit union industry's biggest questions: Is fintech a competitor or a partner? How are AI, agentic services, and digital lending reshaping community banking? And what does Smart Financial Credit Union's upcoming merger mean for the future of member-focused finance? Angela also reflects on the mentor who shaped her career — her current CEO — and offers powerful advice for anyone climbing the finance ladder: stay true to your strengths, stop trying to be "like Mike," and become the best version of yourself. Whether you're a credit union executive, an aspiring CFO, a finance professional, or a leader looking for grounded, real-world wisdom, this episode delivers honest insights you won't hear in a boardroom. 🎧 In This Episode: * Angela's career journey to becoming CFO of Smart Financial Credit Union * Why finance leaders must evolve beyond spreadsheets * The art of executive communication: data + story + persuasion * Fintech vs credit unions — competition, partnership, or both? * How AI and agentic services are transforming community banking * Smart Financial Credit Union's upcoming merger and what it means * Lessons from Peter Drucker on leadership and human nature * Angela's proudest moments — personally and professionally * The mentor who shaped her CFO journey * Career advice she'd give her younger self 💬 Standout Quotes: "I cannot live in spreadsheets anymore. Spreadsheet is what built my foundation, but now presentation is what I live and breathe." "We can't live in the comfort zone of what makes us successful at the beginning of our career." "I don't want to be like Mike. I want to be like Angela — the best version of me." 👤 About Angela Chan: Angela Chan is the Chief Financial Officer of Smart Financial Credit Union, headquartered in Houston, Texas. With over 12 years at the credit union and a deep background in accounting, finance, and analytics, Angela leads financial strategy, planning, and execution. She is a recognized voice in credit union leadership, women in finance, and the evolving relationship between fintech and community banking.