Jim Nussle, CUNA president/CEO, spoke with CUBroadcast during the 2022 CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) to give insight on this year’s theme, extend solidarity to Ukraine citizens, and give an update on technology advancements.

“That’s out secret,” Nussle said when talking about advocacy on Capitol Hill. “We do it with real people. We have grassroots, relationship building connection between real credit union people who serve in the district of representatives.”

Ryan Donovan, CUNA executive vice president/chief advocacy officer, discussed Financial Well-Being for All's role in the 2022 advocacy agenda. 

“Credit unions are sitting on advocacy gold,” said Donovan, adding steps credit unions can take, including pushing staff to "collect stories and understand the impact that the credit union is having on their community.”

Greg Michlig, CUNA executive vice president/chief engagement officer, provided an update on the work of the Credit Union System Digitization Working Group.

“For the first few months, it was trying to get a handle on the scope,” Michlig said. “We’re not talking about which fintechs we’re going to invest in. We’re talking about how do we collaborate together and find ways for the whole movement to get better around digital.”

Todd Spiczenski, CUNA chief products and services officer, praised the return of CUNA GAC in person.

“We actually ran out of space,” said Spiczenski. “We head to secure another meeting room off the convention center for additional vendors so they can engage with our credit unions.”