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The CUInsight NetworkAuthor: CUInsight Credit Union
Welcome to The CUInsight Network. In each episode we have wide-ranging conversations with thought leaders who support the credit union community. We identify issues and challenges facing credit unions and identify best practices. The goal of The CUInsight Network is to take a deeper dive with people and find the gems we can all learn and grow our credit unions from. Thank you for tuning in. Enjoy! Language: en-us Genres: Business, Business News, Management, News Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Mergers - CUCollaborate
Episode 137
Friday, 17 April, 2026
“I can have significance in my life and my career in terms of helping credit unions and in some small way leave the world in a better place.” - Chris TissueThank you for tuning in to The CUInsight Network, with your host, Robbie Young, Vice President of Strategic Growth at CUInsight. In The CUInsight Network, we take a deeper dive with the thought leaders who support the credit union community. We discuss issues and challenges facing credit unions and identify best practices to learn and grow together.My guest on today’s show is Chris Tissue, Chief Operating Officer at CUCollaborate, and he joins me for this episode to discuss something that can really spark some strong opinions across the industry—mergers. Listen in as he shares how his career path (from growing up in Pittsburgh in a family of entrepreneurs to working at Callahan & Associates, Deloitte, and Grant Thornton) eventually led him back to the credit union movement and into a role where he helps institutions think strategically about growth.In our conversation, we start with Chris’s early career journey and how a liberal arts graduate who once dreamed of entrepreneurship found himself immersed in the credit union world. That experience ended up coming full circle when he joined a former colleague to build out the consulting practice at CUCollaborate.Along the way, he and I discuss what the organization does day-to-day, and we also, of course, spend a good portion of the conversation discussing mergers, with Chris explaining how the industry historically viewed mergers as emergency solutions for struggling institutions. Nowadays, however, more financially healthy credit unions are considering mergers as a strategy to compete effectively and invest in the future, and Chris shares how his team approaches this work with a clear principle in mind: if a merger doesn’t meaningfully benefit members, it just should not happen.As we wrap up the episode, we touch upon Chris’s craft beer passion, the leadership influence of his grandfather, why Chicago in the summer tops his travel list, and more! Enjoy my conversation with Chris Tissue!Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.Connect with Chris:Chris Tissue, Chief Operating Officer at CUCollaborativecucollaborate.com Chris: LinkedInCUCollaborate: LinkedInBook mentioned: Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim ScottBook series mentioned: The Witcher
