Ready for a lighthearted break from business as usual? In this episode of Credit Union Conversations, host Mark Ritter sits down with MBFS COO Jeff Lyons for a fun and casual chat about summer vacations, Lisbon and the Netherlands, favorite conference destinations, the pros and cons of swag giveaways, and how their childhood summers compare to today’s parenting. Whether you’re into golf, beach days, or just need a few laughs, this episode has something for everyone.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• (00:00) Intro: Meet MBFS COO Jeff Lyons
• (00:57) Mark recaps his Lisbon and the Netherlands vacation 
• (02:38) Conference season wrap-up in Orlando and reflection on their favorite destinations 
• (05:12) Discussion of the swag giveaways, determining they are ineffective marketing tools 
• (07:03) Discussion of summer plans, wildlife sightings, and childhood summer memories
• (11:14) Modern parenting, grandparenting, and past parenting norms

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

• Mark and Jeff reflect on their favorite (and least favorite) conference destinations, highlighting cities like New Orleans and Charleston for their food and culture, while expressing fatigue with places like Las Vegas and Destin in peak summer.
• Mark shares his distaste for promotional conference swag, calling it ineffective marketing, while Jeff admits he still enjoys collecting tchotchkes, though even he hasn’t seen anything new or innovative lately.
• The conversation shifts to summer plans, from golfing and beach weekends to hiking and fishing. The two also reminisce about their vastly different childhood experiences, especially the freedom kids once had to roam unsupervised—something nearly unimaginable today.

RESOURCE LINKS

Mark Ritter - Website

Mark Ritter - LinkedIn

Jeff Lyons - LinkedIn

BIOGRAPHY:

MBFS provides credit unions with all aspects of business lending services.

[00:00:27] Talk about business. Talk a little fun. Current events and joining me today is Jeff Lyons, our COO. Jeff, how you doing today? I'm good, mark. How are you? I am doing great. It is summertime. We have officially into nice weather season. I just got back from vacation and my bo from Europe and my body is completely back to normal, thankfully.

[00:01:22] Why I felt like. I would walk up a hill and then there was no downhill. All I did was walk up hills. Wow. It was brutal. Brutal.

[00:01:41] Mark Ritter - Host: There is not a single flat piece of flat land in Lisbon and you are constantly walking uphill. Wow. How long were you there?

[00:02:16] Jeff Lyons: Yeah, there's always that aspect, right? You're not talking at, at when you get off and getting your luggage at the airport on the way home, you're not talking to each other. So, yes. Well, that's good that it worked out.

[00:02:32] I'm excited about that. I'm Exci. I'm more excited to wrap up conference season for this half of the year.

[00:02:51] A

[00:03:13] Jeff Lyons: Well, I would've to say New Orleans just because of the, the diversity and the, the, the food and, and just the atmosphere and the architecture.

[00:03:31] Mark Ritter - Host: I would say for me, if there was an auditing conference in Charleston, I would go to it. I would try to go to just about any conference in Charleston. It's my favorite city. And, and food.

[00:03:44] Jeff Lyons: there, right? You, you think they have the

[00:03:53] Jeff Lyons: Yeah. You know, I went, it's one of those places for me. I went there once. I, I'm not a gambler. I have no interest in it. 'cause I feel like [00:04:00] everything's stacked against me anyway.

[00:04:22] And, and Huntington Beach is a great little town, so I did like that one. It's just that it's on the other side of the country for us, so that's a long travel too.

[00:04:49] Jeff Lyons: Yeah. At like six 30 in the morning. It was a hundred degrees. It was brutal. Yeah. That was a tough one.

[00:05:03] Jeff Lyons: Yeah, I don't think you've gone outside. I mean, we went out once for breakfast and it was brutal.

[00:05:11] Mark Ritter - Host: one. So as I was thinking about conferences, I always give you crap because of the giveaways, and I was look watching the news, and I figured out that I wish Trump. Would put a 5000% tariff on giveaways so people had to stop. It would make it so ineffective to give for giveaways at your booth just 'cause I think it is the least effective marketing there is.

[00:06:03] So a lot of these places giveaway those, by the way, we were talking about this, the power chargers, and now with the airlines, you've got this whole rigamarole, no more power

[00:06:13] Jeff Lyons: power charges. I'm also not allowed to bring anything home from these conferences anymore. So

[00:06:23] And then I realized it was just absolute trash. Yeah. And just became, now I did pick up one recently. I'm holding it up for people who are listening on audio that this was a, it was a level and it's a screwdriver and also a light. Yep. Which seems practical. And I've realized I'll never use this either.

[00:06:47] Jeff Lyons: them. The same exact ones. And I do use it a lot. 'cause you know, all my tools are in the garage, so if I need something real quick, it's in the junk drawer. And that's a pretty good one. 'cause that has all four, you know, two different [00:07:00] Phillips head, two different flatheads on it. So that's a decent one.

[00:07:04] Mark Ritter - Host: So after next week in our conference that we're going to, we have two solid months of no conferences and I have minimal travel in my schedule. So we are deep into summer. What does summer keep you busy with these days? So for

[00:07:29] During the week after work, we like to get out and play five or nine holes. Real simple. I've been working on my mechanics, so it seems like I've gotten a little better in the last three times I was out so. It's more enjoyable for me. I don't get as frustrated. So I like the golfing. And then on the weekends, you know, as a guy from New Jersey, I like to go down the beach.

[00:08:03] Mark Ritter - Host: So now for me, I'm at the opposite end of the world where I check off the golf box too. But I'll still spend my summertime fishing up here up in the mountains.

[00:08:41] So I think that kind of fills my box where I'm just like, oh, well, I've gone for a walk on around my lake a couple times, but I need to do some different paths.

[00:08:55] Mark Ritter - Host: You know, I have not seen a bear all year. We [00:09:00] do get, what I see is tons of bald eagles, tons of porcupines.

[00:09:28] And I usually see the bears up here more when I'm driving around. Gotcha than then walking.

[00:09:48] So that was interesting to me because usually we see couple

[00:09:55] Jeff Lyons: I did because the place that I now own was my uncle's, [00:10:00] so he would let us use it for a couple weeks every year I. So it, you know, it's second nature. I've been going since I was a kid.

[00:10:18] Yeah. Um, I spent most of my summers just basically riding my bike and doing outdoor mountain stuff up here.

[00:10:37] It didn't matter.

[00:10:59] Jeff Lyons: Yeah. I [00:11:00] mean, you know, you found lunch at someone's house, or you went to the pizza Parl. If you had a dollar or two, you did what you had to do. Right? And who knows what you were doing. You were all over the place. You were in the woods, you were here. Nobody ever got kidnapped.

[00:11:19] And I know no matter what I do, my daughter or son will never have that level of freedom to their kids. So Nope. It's just never different world. Right. And if they did, they probably, a neighbor would call the police on him.

[00:11:40] Who knew where you were half the time and, and where, how you wound up there. Like I said, as long as you were home for dinner, it's all that mattered.

[00:11:56] Jeff Lyons: Yeah, they really do. They did. Right. It's too [00:12:00] funny.

[00:12:19] Yeah. Alright. Great to see you, Jeff. Thanks for joining me. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for having me, mark. Talk to you soon.