Mark Huizenga: Hey everybody, this is another Conversations with Mark. Today I'm excited to have with us the Lake Michigan Credit Union CEO, Leonard. Julie, you've been here in West Michigan for a relatively short amount of time. I have. But you've been in the industry for a long time. You're kind of a veteran, I would say. Yes. Can you talk a little bit about what credit unions mean in general and maybe how they've morphed over time? Yeah, I would love to. It's one of my favorite topics, actually. And first of all, thank you for having me here today. But credit unions are really unique. We are not-for-profit cooperatives, which means that we don't make profit for investors. We return all of our profits back to our members. So when you're a member of a credit union, you get better rates on deposits, better rates on loans, low or no fees, and that's how we return back. And we don't just return back to our members, we also return back to the communities that we all live in. Can you tell me a little bit about some of the programs and partnerships that you have here? I think especially right now about what financial literacy means. Everything's expensive now. It feels like the consumer can't get a break, whether it's gas prices going up, food prices going up, seeing mortgage rates stick a little bit higher than we'd really like them to be. or even just the general inflation and the cost of your homeowner's taxes. Everything's expensive. so financial literacy is something that we've worked really hard on in the legislature to help people understand this better. But I think you guys do an awful lot with that as well. We do. Yeah. And it is a challenge for all consumers right now and not just consumers, but small businesses. So we really try to focus on educating our members and the community on options available. And two of the things that we're really proud of right now is that we're focused on how can we create affordable pathways to homeownership and then how can we also help small businesses grow. So I don't think it's any secret that the housing affordability is a challenge here in West Michigan and not just in West Michigan, really across the state. And at LMCU, believe homeownership is one of the most important ways people can build a stronger financial future. And owning a home is a pathway to stability, opportunity, and building generational wealth. And that's why our board of directors have supported us by creating a down payment assistance program. And they've committed $12 million to this program to help more people achieve that dream. In 2025 alone, we awarded $4.6 million in down payment assistance. And many of these homeowners are not just first time home buyers, but also first generation home buyers. And that makes the impact even greater because we know we're not just making a difference today, but truly changing the trajectory of a family for generations to come. And then on the small business side, we know that that's the backbone of our local economy. And at LMCU, we have the capability to assist businesses at every stage. And we recognize the strong entrepreneurial spirit here in West Michigan and want to embrace and nurture that. To that end, we've created a micro business loan where we make the smallest loans to help businesses scale. We're helping entrepreneurs and job creators secure needed funding across our communities. Our goal is not just to make a loan and send them out of their way, but to walk with them. and provide connections to assist in building their businesses through organizations like the Urban League, who offer training on how to build a business plan and how to create a budget, and working with community partners to access grant programs. A recent example I'll share with you is we helped to secure $10,000 for a local painting company to expand and grow. So our goal is to create a pipeline of small businesses that we can help grow into larger businesses. and then reach back and help the next entrepreneur grow their business. And that's how we really make a difference. You mentioned generational wealth. And that's one of the things that I talk about often is what makes a state in a community really successful. It's the people that have jobs that they're entrepreneurs and they can create great organizations. We think of them in West Michigan, especially great families like the Meyer family, the DeVos, the Venandels. Those are the organizations and people that give back. Constantly to our communities and LMCU is that way too, even though you're a co-op credit union you do an awful lot when we think about The impact and people see the signs in every neighborhood. There's an LMCU, of course But you're also strong supporters of things like the ballpark LMCU ballpark and and stepping up Can you talk a little bit about what it means to be a community-minded organization and how else you give back? probably through not only you, your organization, your staff, but what it means for the organizations that you guys help. Yeah, it really does go back to being a credit union and being a cooperative and wanting to give back and giving back to our members and the communities we all live in. I mean, that's just who we are and what we're about and how we're structured. And I have to say, I'm incredibly proud of the team. Just this past year, our credit union alone donated more than $4 million to help community organizations. Our team volunteered nearly 15,000 hours to help these organizations and in our community, and we supported over 400 nonprofits. One of the areas that is especially close to our hearts is education, and you said it. We started back in 1933 as Grand Rapids Teachers Credit Union, and we're still really proud of those roots. And so we... reach back and we help both the educators and also the next generation. And a couple of the programs that we do, one of the ones we've been doing for many years is a sponsorship program or a grant program for our teachers. And we award 25 educators each year with $1,000 grants for their classrooms. And it's based on nominations from students or parents and community members. And through our Annual essay competition we helped 20 high school students take the next step in their education By providing two thousand dollar scholarship grants. So we're helping both the teachers in their classroom, but then also potentially future teachers You know, that's pretty amazing because you know, my my father was a teacher. My mom was a teacher's aide Two of my sisters are educators and that's why my first bank account not bank. What was the credit union was? Grand Rapids Teachers Credit Union, and I think that they gave like five bucks or something like that when you had a kid or somebody gave a starter account. And that's where I started off. And I remember putting money away from the different jobs I had and learning about savings, the value of compounding interest as a young kid, and really seeing like if you save money, that's how you can really generate wealth. It's so true. And to see that early on when we had to do those financial literacy courses, And a couple of the cool ones we're doing now are the life ones where we're showing like the high school students, you know, they have a salary and a situation where, okay, now you've got to pay rent, now you've got to buy a car. And when they start seeing all of those things add up and how they have to budget, you really see the lights coming on like, gosh, I had no idea. These things all cost money. And there's those real life scenarios that we put them in. And that really gets them thinking about it. So you're the CEO, you're the captain of the ship. Can you talk a little bit about two things? Like how many branches you guys have? And we talk a lot of times on this podcast about demystifying organization. Everybody knows LMCU, but you guys have branches in Michigan and Florida. We do. Can you talk a little bit about that? And then maybe talk a little bit about the growth in the industry and where you see credit unions moving in the future. Yeah, I would love to. We currently have 75 branches. We have 52 in Michigan and 23 across Florida. And we're continuing to grow in both states. And I get the question a lot about, why Florida? You started in Michigan, you've got Michigan roots. Well, everybody knows when you travel down 75, you go straight down and you get to Florida. That's where all the Michiganders are. They're right up and down the West Coast of Florida. And that's where our branches are. So we go down as far as Naples, and then we go up to the Tampa Bay area. And we're recognized there by so many Michiganders, but then so many Floridians just found us as well and found the value. So we continue to see growth down there. And actually today, we opened the doors on the 23rd branch that's in the Tampa Bay area. But it's been fun to see the growth. Three weeks ago, we opened up our latest branch in Michigan in downtown Detroit. So while we started on the west side of Michigan, we know there's value for credit union benefits across Michigan and especially on the east side as well. So we're continuing to put focus on both the east and west Michigan and excited to bring those benefits. I really see the value of credit unions really growing. And people are going to really see that, especially when there's challenges. So we talked about affordability, not just with homes, but with everything, gas prices and groceries and all of those things. And that's when a credit union shines. That's when our mission comes to life, because we're here to help people. We're here to help people through every stage of their life cycle, no matter what's going on in the economy. And truly, credit unions are local. We know what's going on with our people. We're in the neighborhoods. We can see what's going on. And when people are challenged, they come to us and we find solutions. whether it's trying to restructure things to get their payments down, or sometimes it's just they need something for the short term, that's what credit unions are. They're here to help people through every stage. And I like the fact that you talked a little bit about the down payment assistance. I think it's probably the number one question I hear from people. What are we going to do about the housing crisis in Grand Rapids? But I think a lot of times people don't recognize that this is a Michigan and a national thing. We just haven't built enough houses in this country. So for you guys to step up and help with those down payments, that means a lot. And when we grow a community, that's when the community thrives. And if we use it with good principles like financial literacy, families will be successful and you really create a generation, a community that's really teed up to be really really successful. And what I love about that is we don't have to do this alone and so by being a part of the community and banding together with others, we've been able to band together with the Federal Home Loan Bank, with MSHDA, from different other agencies that we've been able to come and bring some down payment assistance ourselves, but then get others. And I've known some situations where we've helped somebody come into a home with $50,000 down payment. all from grants, all that they don't have to repay. And you know, we work closely with the MISTA, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. It's an independent authority, but it's part of the government. funded by the state and they do great work all over the state helping us to grow. And especially in pockets like West Michigan, where there is such demand for growth, it's not an insignificant project that they have all the time around here. No doubt, but truly making a difference. So you've been here for how many months now? Like, Two years. years. Just celebrated my two year anniversary. Glad to be back to Michigan. So a little bit about my background. I am a true Michigander, born and raised in Flint, Michigan. I left and went down to Tampa, Florida for 26 years. And I'm happy to be back in Michigan. It's two years. We moved back to East Grand Rapids. So loving the west side of Michigan. Love the people, love the community over here and everything we're about. Tell me about what you've seen in Michigan and maybe our community here that surprised you or that if you had a question from somebody who was in Florida, I'm sure you had friends you had to leave and they said, Julie, what are you thinking? You're going back to Michigan. You've been down here in Florida for all these years. What makes West Michigan special to you? And do you have any particular stories that make it more special? I do, I do. But I will say I always get the question about you're going the wrong way in terms of the weather. And I always say, you know what, I have the best of both worlds because we have branches in Florida, I can bounce back and forth. But there is no better place in summertime to be in West Michigan. And I will tell you a story. So one of the very first events that I had when I got here to West Michigan was the Economic Club was holding their annual conference downtown. Oprah Winfrey was speaking and I walked into that room and there were over 3,000 people that showed up and when I walked in that room I said that's the kind of community I want to be a part of I want to be a part of a community where people show up and they come together and they band together and that's exactly what I felt in that room and when people in Florida asked me about West Michigan I share that and it is a different feel you know there's a lot of great things going on in Florida yes, but I just feel the West Michigan, how people come together and truly wrap their arms around this community and lift everybody up is just something special. And the Econ Club is just one example of so many organizations that pull people together. The immense amount of volunteerism that happens, not just by your people, of course, but so many organizations have great volunteering efforts to help others, to make this a better community, and to make West Michigan a really special place. So it just shows that it's working. Julie Leonard, thank you so much for taking time with us today. Appreciate all you do for your leadership here at Lake Michigan Credit Union. Thanks to your staff for all the volunteer work that they do. And thanks especially for your work on financial literacy. Thank you for having me. This was fun. Appreciate it, Senator. Thank you.