Picture a grocery store in an Alabama town two days before the United States Thanksgiving holiday. The store is jam-packed and so are the shopping carts, with people loading up on turkeys, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie ingredients.
The checkout lines are long and the store’s festive music blaring throughout the aisles belies many shoppers’ anxiety, either about the day itself or how they are going to afford to pay for everything.
Some years ago, Joseph H Newberry, President and CEO of Redstone Federal Credit Union, walked into this kind of scene at a grocery store in Alabama’s largest city. He found a customer with a full cart of Thanksgiving foodstuffs and said, “Ma’am, do you mind? I’m Joe Newberry. I’m with Redstone Federal. We want you to live brighter. Can we pay for your groceries today?”
“I don’t think you ought to volunteer or work anywhere in your life unless your personal values line up.”
The woman burst into tears and dropped to her knees. Alarmed, Newberry worried that he had offended her.
But the woman reassured him, explaining through her tears that her younger brother had Stage 4 cancer and that her family was working overtime to make what was likely to be her brother’s last Thanksgiving a memorable one. Hearing this, he started crying, too.
The woman then told him she’d be grateful if the credit union bought her groceries. The moment sticks in Newberry’s memory as a reminder of the important work done by Redstone Federal Credit Union.
“I don’t think you ought to volunteer or work anywhere in your life unless your personal values line up. No matter what you’re doing,” he says.
Culture and values
For many companies, a moment like this would be extraordinary or likely found within the boundaries of a company-wide community service event. Under Newberry’s leadership, this kind of community outreach at Redstone Federal Credit Union is expected, supported and recognized with the same rigor as any other business initiative.
That’s because Newberry, appointed CEO in 2007, sees a demonstrated commitment to values as central to the financial institution’s success.
“If you get the culture right, and the employees feel like they are benefiting to a higher cause, the other things – income, profit, growth – will come,” he explains.
Early in Newberry’s tenure, he launched an effort to focus more on the ‘human side’ of the business and, with his board, developed a values statement that is summed up by the acronym RISE: respect, integrity, soundness, excellence.
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To make sure the culture is keeping pace with the values of the organization, Redstone Federal Credit Union conducts an employee climate review each year. In 2024, its employees gave the company a score of 91 percent.
“Are we satisfied with that? I would say no, we always have room for improvement,” Newberry acknowledges. “You’re not going to convince everyone on these surveys that they’re going to give you a top five on everything. But we’ve created a department of culture, a leadership department here.”
Unlike most banks, Redstone Federal Credit Union is a not-for-profit credit union that must, by law, reinvest its earnings in member benefits through lower loan rates, higher savings rates, reduced fees, enhanced services or improved branch and digital banking infrastructure.
Newberry says the financial institution’s not-for-profit mandate and values can create unique opportunities that benefit all stakeholders. For example, several years ago, its United States regulator (the National Credit Union Administration) created a way to launch a fund that can hold investments, which were otherwise impermissible, provided that 51 percent of any gains are donated to allowable not-for-profits.
As the stock market boomed, this new vehicle enabled the credit union to provide new benefits to its members and invest millions in local charities, libraries and other organizations.
“Our growth has just been astronomical because of that,” Newberry reveals. “And it goes along with this theme of people helping people.”
Member-focused, community-minded
Redstone Federal Credit Union’s not-for-profit operating model doesn’t mean a lack of ambition for the credit union.
“We don’t call things goals here – we call them desired results,” Newberry explains. “Goals are what you do on New Year’s Eve; desired results are what you’re trying to achieve.
“In 2023, we hit the maximum desired results on every desired goal the board had set for us, which we’re very proud of.”
In recent years, the credit union has capitalized on its in-depth knowledge of the local community by making targeted investments in commercial real estate at a time when many investors are withdrawing from the sector.
“Every day we strive to improve. To me, that is what excellence looks like.”
Redstone Federal Credit Union has significantly enhanced its fintech and data analytics capabilities by working with an ecosystem of technology partners, including Candescent. These efforts might have surprised the credit union’s founding members in 1951, who each put US$5 into a shoebox to establish the credit union.
Still, while it has grown to serve over 700,000 people, its commitment to its members remains the same.
“Every day we strive to improve. To me, that is what excellence looks like,” Newberry insists, recalling the RISE values.
Technological edge
Working with fintech partners, Redstone Federal Credit Union is leveraging technology, not only for the institution’s benefit, but also for the benefit of its members. Interactive statements, for example, help members keep track of their spending.
“Gen X and Gen Z, they are looking to that because their whole life is spent on social media and other things. That’s how they learn,” Newberry points out.
“That’s why we are always exploring other options. And I think it’ll help us in the long run.”
