Bell, 50, who is based in Madison, Wis., said CUNA is analyzing the results of a recent survey of credit union members to find some answers that can be used to develop a strategy for the national organization's new member engagement initiative. According to Bell, an initial look at the survey results showed credit union members want more face-to-face engagement with CUNA.

In a recent interview with CU Times, Bell discussed her new role, the purpose of the team that will include CUNA Deputy Chief Engagement Officer Greg Michlig and others who have yet to be named, and how she sees this new project developing.

CU Times: What is the primary purpose of the CUNA engagement team?

Bell: CUNA is here to support, protect, unify and advance the credit union movement, and our success at CUNA truly is the success of the credit union movement. And we want to operate in an environment for credit unions that's favorable to the point where every American can choose a credit union as their best financial partner. So the engagement team in part is kind of bringing that strategy to life in the marketplace, and it's really the heart of everything we do. I describe engagement as a two-way street, [where we] build long lasting, impactful and meaningful relationships with our member credit unions, and at the same time, continue our collaborative engagement with our league partners, and continue to unify our system partners and vendors as well through our engagement strategy.

CU Times: Why is the work of the CUNA engagement team important at this time?

Bell: As you know, our bylaws were recently passed overwhelmingly by our member credit unions. We want to be able to deliver all those promises and implement the membership options that our bylaws give us the flexibility to do. What that means is we want to engage individuals and engage our system partners to advocate for credit unions. We also want to continue to build on that CUNA-league interdependence strategy that you've heard so much about. We want to continue to emphasize the fact that the CUNA-league system is truly the best advocacy system for credit unions. In addition, in order to do that, we really need to engage with credit unions to help them see that strategy and value playing out.

CU Times: Can you give your initial thoughts on how you expect the engagement team will build on the CUNA-league interdependence strategy? And do you have any examples?

Bell: What we know in our hearts is that there's absolutely no question that the CUNA-league system is the best advocate for credit unions. And we're committed to continually looking at how we enable that. We have a national association with, as you know, 40 independent leagues. We represent every state in the country including working with D.C. So with all of that activity, we are best suited to help protect credit unions on the state level and national level. How do we go about that? I'm going to say we're still evolving that strategy, looking at that strategy and understanding how we can bring that to life. But I can tell you that we are committed to working with our league partners to do so.

We've reached out to our credit union members, not just CEOs but multiple folks in credit unions, to more deeply understand where they seek value, where they're getting value and how we can better respond to credit unions. And, we are at the very early stages of understanding that and using that information to shape our strategy and [decide] how we go about it. It's critical that we evolve in understanding our members' needs and being responsive to those needs.

CU Times: What types of direct, proactive outreach and follow-up initiatives will the CUNA engagement team leverage to improve its relationship with credit unions and leagues?

Bell: We're evolving and changing the way we communicate and do outreach with our members. Our primary KPIs, if you want to call them that, include the growth of the credit union movement. So it's really looking at how we can get more people engaged with what we do today. The more we can activate our credit union members and get them truly engaged in that advocacy, the more impactful it is. We have to leverage things that we've always done and do that in a broader way, while helping to remove barriers for credit unions. We'll continue to work with our league partners in setting those priorities across all 50 states and D.C., and looking at how we execute that advocacy together with the credit unions at the center of that.

CU Times: How do you expect to invigorate the way CUNA listens and learns from its members and acts on what it hears?

Bell: I have worked at other organizations and worked on efforts to do just that – to execute a strategy, to invigorate how we not only listen to the folks who are engaged with us, but the folks who can potentially engage with us and how we act on it. As I dive in deeper into the role and work with the engagement team that will certainly be one of the early stage imperatives. That survey will serve as a baseline from which we can work. From a strategic perspective, I think understanding who you ask, how often and when is all part of building out on this notion of invigorating how we act on what we hear from our members. There are multiple channels in which to do that. We need to build that out.

CU Times: Will your strategy also focus in part on credit unions that decide not to renew their CUNA membership in 2017?

Bell: I think our strategy will focus on engaging every credit union. Every credit union is a potential member of CUNA and we are actively engaged with listening to our members. We have a 24-member board that we listen to. We have thousands of people who are engaged with us through the CUNA councils. We have an extensive network of different advisory boards and things like that. We will continue to focus on all of those types of outreaches. And I think as our credit unions change we'll adjust our engagement strategy based on their changing needs and expectations of us.