Robyn Swanson
Senior Vice President
Ellafi Federal Credit Union
Years of experience: 29
Age: 52
Ellafi Federal Credit Union, formerly Seasons Federal Credit Union, is investing in serving women, a population that has historically been underserved in the financial sector. Ellafi offers banking solutions, financial resources and a supportive community built on inclusion and empowerment. Beyond the name change, the credit union has a commitment to closing financial gaps and helping members thrive at every stage of their financial journey.
While Ellafi is designed to better serve women, it remains fully inclusive. The name Ellafi reflects the credit union’s mission to create economic resilience and help empower women, and their allies, achieve financial independence. Inspired by this vision, “Ella” represents femininity across cultures, while “FI” stands for financial institution.
Q: What is your history with the credit union? What is the history of the credit union prior to its name change?
A: I started at this credit union back in 1996. At the time, it was Middlesex Schools Federal Credit Union. We were very small at the time. We were just about $30 million in assets. We were serving school teachers in Middlesex County and their families.
I spent the first 10 years of my career at the credit union in a marketing and membership development position. By the time I left in 2006, I was vice president of marketing. I decided at that time to head out and try something different, so I took a job in business-to-business finance. Then the economic world blew up and the financial services company I was working for dissolved. So I lost my job, and I called Keith Wiemert [president and CEO of the credit union at that time] and asked if he would be a reference for me. He asked me if I would consider coming back, so I came back to the credit union at that point in time.
Before I departed in 2006 we rebranded to Seasons Federal Credit Union. Throughout my first 10 years, we had some major growth, some charter expansion. We went from just serving teachers to serving all of the community of Middlesex County, we expanded into parts of New Haven County through a merger. I came back in January of 2009 as a senior vice president in charge of member experience, and I have been back ever since.
Q: I’d love to get into the decision to rebrand the credit union and focus on uplifting women. Why was it important for the credit union to be vocal about uplifting women and their allies?
A: It’s been probably close to two years that we’ve been talking about what separates our credit union from any other small to medium-sized credit union or financial institution. We have a lot of consumer expectation when it comes to being able to meet our members where they are, to be able to deliver digitally. There’s a lot of regulation, there’s a lot of growing pains for a credit union of our size. We kept landing at the fact that there wasn’t a lot that really differentiated the experience that you could get at Seasons Federal Credit Union versus another similarly sized bank or credit union. It’s hard to compete in that arena, so we wanted to carve out a niche that had a demonstrated need.
The core of credit unions is very mission driven, very purposeful fields of membership in the people that you serve, and we felt that that was something missing from the evolution over the last 90 years of the credit union. It started very, very purposeful, very mission driven to provide a cooperative for teachers, and then as time grew and time changed, it morphed. So we went through the exercise of, “what is our why? Okay, one doesn’t exist, so what is a compelling reason that this credit union can exist?”
We started looking at different segments and parsing it out as to what is the impact here in our current field of membership, and then projecting growth and expansion what would be meaningful. We had an idea about, “well, what if it was women” and started to really dig into the statistics and the research done about financial equity when it came to women and financial services. You’ve heard plenty about the pay gap when it comes to men and women, but not a lot about what gap exists in financial services. We did a lot of research and found out that 70 percent of women are actively involved in day-to-day money decisions, but only 37 percent feel comfortable with it.
So we gathered all of this information and then [did a lot of surveys and market research]. We continued down the path and decided that in order for us to be as successful as possible, we would need to come to market with a new brand, a new mission that was all in, or it wasn’t going to be as effective as it needed to be.
Q: What makes the credit union and its mission different from other programs that banks and credit unions offer? What does the credit union do that might go above and beyond in that sense?
A: A lot of financial institutions have women empowerment programs that you hear about during February or March, depending on when the National Day of Women is. A lot of things come out in October, when it’s Breast Cancer Awareness. But in our research, we found that very few – none in Connecticut – banks or credit unions lean all the way in, where it’s what they do 24/7.
So we have this litmus test. We have our mission statement about empowering and leading women and lifting their economic resilience and helping them achieve financial independence. So therefore, all of the decisions that we make about how we’re going to move forward, the products and services that we offer, the education that we offer, the community partnerships we get involved with, are run through that filter of our mission of empowering, leading and lifting women forward and their allies. Does that decision move that mission forward? If it does, then we’ll move forward with it. If it does not, then we’ll have to rethink it – is there a way that it can meet our mission and move forward? So for us, it’s not just a marketing thing during Breast Cancer Awareness Month or Women’s Month. This is how we’re going to live our life 24/7.
Swanson’s Five Favorite Candies
- 100 Grand Bar
- Rolos
- Peppermint Patty
- Nestle Crunch Bar
- Three Musketeers Bar