Circuit (formerly Members Development Company) and 10 of its owner credit unions have launched AI Studio, a new credit union service organization aimed at closing gaps in AI readiness, integration and execution across the industry. The CUSO seeks to help credit unions adopt AI safely, effectively and affordably. Kathy Courtney, former COO and chief experience officer for the $11.1 billion, North Liberty, Iowa-based GreenState Credit Union, has been named president of AI Studio.
Founding credit unions of AI Studio include Altra Federal Credit Union ($3 billion, Onalaska, Wis.), Coastal Credit Union ($6 billion, Raleigh, N.C.), Desert Financial Credit Union ($9.5 billion, Phoenix) and its CUSO SwitchThink, Georgia's Own Credit Union ($4.3 billion, Atlanta), Idaho Central Credit Union ($14.7 billion, Chubbuck, Idaho), MSUFCU ($8.3 billion, East Lansing, Mich.) and its CUSO Reseda Group, Royal Credit Union ($5.8 billion, Eau Claire, Wis.), Suncoast Credit Union ($19.6 billion, Tampa, Fla.), Peak Credit Union ($4.3 billion, Lacey, Wash.) and PenAir Credit Union ($2.7 billion, Pensacola, Fla.). Services will be open to all credit unions nationally.
The Jack Henry FinXTech 2025 Credit Union Survey highlighted the importance of this type of CUSO. It found that AI is now the highest-priority emerging technology in the credit union industry, with 72% of leadership teams and boards discussing dedicated AI budgets and resources. Yet integration remains a top barrier, with 58% of credit unions citing challenges in connecting new technology to existing systems, it said. The survey also found that when technology initiatives fall short, insufficient vendor support or performance is the leading cause, noted by 53% of respondents.
AI Studio estimated that a single credit union pursuing AI on its own could face annual costs of roughly $1.16 million, covering executive leadership, advisory services, integration support, sandbox infrastructure and evaluation resources. AI Studio aims to give credit unions of all asset sizes access to enterprise-grade AI capabilities at a fraction of that cost, Courtney said.
"As chief operating officer at a leading credit union, I experienced firsthand the complexity of navigating AI adoption with limited internal resources," she said. "I found myself looking for structured guidance on what was working across the industry, where the risks were, and how to evaluate an increasingly crowded vendor and evolving technology landscape. That shared intelligence did not exist. We are building a collective intelligence platform that delivers the strategic counsel, technical infrastructure, and governance safeguards credit unions need to adopt AI with confidence. No institution should have to solve this alone."
Courtney said credit unions are uniquely positioned to capitalize on the potential of AI.
"They are more nimble than larger institutions, and the value proposition to the membership is unparalleled," she said. "With AI as a new horizontal enabling layer, we can accelerate their market competitiveness, drive growth and efficiency, and deliver measurable value to members at an entirely new scale."
AI Studio said it plans to deliver three coordinated service lines designed for regulated financial institutions. First, advisory services will include AI readiness assessments, use case identification and prioritization, roadmap planning, governance practices and access to a fractional chief AI officer. Innovation platform services will feature a marketplace of pre-integrated AI and fintech vendors, along with synthetic data generation aligned with credit union core systems. And, co-creation engagements will join credit unions, fintech partners and AI Studio's technical team to develop custom AI solutions tailored to credit union operations and regulatory requirements. This model is expected to enable credit unions to address gaps in the marketplace and build solutions they need most.
Courtney spent almost a decade at GreenState, which has approximately 400,000 members and $11 billion in assets. She has more than 25 years of experience in financial services, also having held global leadership positions at Northern Trust and Charles Schwab. She began her career at PwC and also served as vice chair of the Curql board. She earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
"The strength of AI Studio starts with the people leading it," Ami Iceman Haueter, AI Studio's board chair and chief experience officer at MSUFCU, said. "Kathy brings the operational depth, breadth and credit union perspective that our investor institutions were looking for, and she has a remarkable network and reputation across the credit union and fintech industries."
Joyce Moed can be reached at joyce.moed@arc-network.com.
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