Chrome Federal Credit Union CEO Bob Flanyak Jr. delivers a masterclass in authentic leadership and organizational culture. From collecting loans to building a 220 million dollar credit union recognized as Washington County's best overall business, Bob's journey reveals what truly matters in financial services. He shares powerful insights on succession planning, why employee relationships trump strategy, and how cooperative values create sustainable competitive advantages. Bob's candid discussion about credit union mergers, community impact, and talent development offers both inspiration and practical wisdom. His father's 29 years as a volunteer board member planted seeds that grew into a career philosophy centered on serving people over profits.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

✅ How to build and maintain a strong credit union culture through employee engagement, morning huddles, and living your organizational values rather than simply displaying them on walls.

✅ The essential elements of effective succession planning in credit union leadership including balancing internal candidates with external searches while protecting organizational culture and values.

✅ Practical strategies for credit union collaboration and financial literacy programs that allow small and medium-sized institutions to compete effectively without merging, including Financial Reality Fairs and student brand development.

✅ Why brand building and community impact matter more than traditional metrics, and how cooperative values and relationship-focused leadership create sustainable member loyalty and employee engagement.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro: Meet Bob Flanyak of Chrome Federal Credit Union

06:31 Career journey from CUNA Mutual to retail credit union leadership across multiple states

09:45 Chrome Federal Credit Union’s history and advice to advance your career in the credit union space

14:26 Succession planning strategy and protecting credit union culture during CEO transitions

17:36 Addressing credit union mergers and fostering collaboration among small institutions

20:54 Financial literacy programs and community impact through Financial Reality Fairs

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

💎 Credit union leadership success starts with self-awareness and relationship building. Know every employee's name, their families, and vacation plans because people need to know how much you care before they care about how much you know.

💎 Effective succession planning requires a systematic approach that protects organizational culture. Chrome Federal used both external recruiters and internal candidate development, ultimately selecting a "quasi-internal" leader who understood its cooperative values and brand-building philosophy.

💎 Credit union collaboration through financial literacy programs offers powerful alternatives to mergers for small institutions. Programs like Financial Reality Fairs allow multiple credit unions to serve communities together, amplifying community impact while preserving independence and local identity.

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Bob Flanyak - LinkedIn

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Mark Ritter - Website

Mark Ritter - LinkedIn

SEO KEYWORDS:

Credit Union Conversations, Mark Ritter, MBFS, Credit Unions, CUSO, Authentic Leadership, Organizational Culture, Succession Planning, Employee Relationships, Cooperative Values, Credit Union Mergers, Community Impact, Morning Huddles, Organizational Values, Internal Candidates, External Recruiters, Internal Candidate Development

[00:00:29] Make your business members happier and make those relationships stronger. Joining me today on the podcast is a soon to be retiring, CEO that we work with Bob Flanyak of Chrome Federal Credit Union, and Washington, Pennsylvania. So Bob, thank you for joining me today.

[00:00:56] Mark Ritter: Bob f Flak Jr. '

[00:01:04] Mark Ritter: So tell people the whole story, your family background, your career journey, and what you're up to these days.

[00:01:20] And die maker, the GM plant in West Mifflin. He did really well over there and was really smart, but didn't have the means to go to college. So what he wound up doing is volunteering at the credit union, and he was a volunteer at Auto Workers Credit Union for 29 years. And when you're a volunteer, you get to go to events, you get the training and all those types of things.

[00:02:07] If you don't have an agenda, you just keep talking and talking. And let's just say they had an agenda after that.

[00:02:15] Bob Flanyak: You know, it was interesting growing up in that kind of a household, in that kind of a neighborhood, and of course graduated from high school and all my friends' goal was to go work in the mill, whether it was urban works or national tube or.

[00:02:31] Mark Ritter: It had to be interesting growing up western Pennsylvania compared to Western Pennsylvania of today where I grew up in the coal region and every town had their steel mill factory and everybody had a factory town back then that you went to and outta high school and that was probably your expect.

[00:03:03] Bob Flanyak: I'll tell you what, the seventies were an amazing time to be a Steeler fan for sure. Our lives revolved around that. And when the steel mills start shutting down the Steelers is, that's what we had.

[00:03:28] Mark Ritter: What was your first entry into the credit union world? Did 18-year-old young Bob think I'm gonna be retiring from the credit union someday?

[00:04:04] That's where their training camp is. So I went there and I had pre-registered for accounting. My dad probably said it was a good idea. So I'm standing in line and pre ation in this huge gymnasium and all the accounting kids are just standing there in line. Looking down at their shoes, two tables over, there's a sociology table, and they're opening it up.

[00:04:52] Mark Ritter: Was it, what are you gonna do with that? Yes.

[00:05:18] Mark Ritter: loans.

[00:05:22] Bob Flanyak: Yep. I worked there for about a year. I would go out into the field and take the manager's car, the Chevy citation on Saturdays. And during the week when I would knock on doors trying to collect money and the last place I went, I knock on this door. 'cause I knew the kids were all gonna be there.

[00:05:58] And there was all these little [00:06:00] kids watching tv. I could see him in the background. He pulls up his shirt, he's got, he's got a handgun tucked in his pants and he goes, you wanna do what? I said, have a nice day. And that was the last collection call. And I always thought my manager would be like, call me after every call.

[00:06:41] That was in 1981 September.

[00:06:53] Bob Flanyak: Oh, it sure has. They gave me some training and to ship me up to Vermont and was there for 10 years. My role was [00:07:00] to work with those 74 credit unions.

[00:07:26] Mark Ritter: When did you shift and transition to a retail credit union?

[00:07:57] They asked me to come on board. I had [00:08:00] 17 good years with CUNA Mutual and still have great relationships there to this day.

[00:08:10] Bob Flanyak: I joined Chrome just about 10 years ago, so it was 2015. We were always trying to get back home to Pittsburgh, so I go from New Jersey.

[00:08:40] They were founded by a Civil War Vet General who happened to be Jimmy Stewart's grandfather. Jimmy Stewart was an actor

[00:08:51] Bob Flanyak: in the airport after, you know, working in the bank was quite an experience and it confirmed all of my opinions about the [00:09:00] difference between a bank and a credit union.

[00:09:24] Mark Ritter: I always say if I went back to a bank, I'd probably get fired in about a week.

[00:09:41] Mark Ritter: So tell people a little bit about Chrome in the markets that you serve.

[00:10:16] For-profit banks were not interested in serving people of modest means, took control of their destiny. Since that time, we've gone from those seven pioneers to almost 16,000 members and from $35 up to about 220 million in assets. So we're not big by any stretch of the imagination, but what we lack in size, we make up in commitment.

[00:11:12] It's not just a bunch of words up on the wall.

[00:11:38] What would be your advice for those who want to become a a C-level executive at a credit union and enjoy it? What would be your advice to them to make those next steps in their career or for that executive looking to become a CEO?

[00:12:12] We put our people through the StrengthFinder program through Gallup and allows every one of our employees to understand, you know, what are they good at, what do they like, what are their preferences, and so. That validates that we've got them in the right chair for somebody trying to make an impact in this industry, there are certain things that are table stakes that require zero talent.

[00:13:09] I had to self-educate, but I paid attention. Working with all those credit unions, I did not have a financial background, but I paid attention. I was current when there was an opportunity to do a little bit more, do a little bit more. Always give credit to others. So those are like the foundational things.

[00:13:44] Bob Flanyak: Being proactive, not waiting to be told. Those are all encompassed in our values when we find somebody that is.

[00:14:14] And the CEO's, what do you wanna do? Do you wanna just keep him here and not train them? And then they stay? Yeah, you gotta invest in your people and make them feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves.

[00:14:38] How did it, what was the execution behind it? At the credit union,

[00:15:04] And so they wound up hiring a recruiter and did a national search at the same time over the past year as we've been developing internal people. And so we had four people, four internals that applied for the role. All really good people. Really good at what they do. And the board then was surprised when we had this one candidate who had worked here 10 years ago.

[00:15:52] I mean, that is our number one strategic ance is employee engagement.

[00:16:21] Let me hire all the people that I've worked with in the past. It really just destroys a culture like you said. So if you were sitting down with a new credit union, CEO, what would you tell 'em to focus on and prioritize or do or not do?

[00:16:47] That's job one. They need to know everybody's name, some personal things they need to know about their kids. They need to know about their they vacation plans. They need to know what they think about their [00:17:00] job, the relationships. That's what's gonna make or break a new CEO. I know that that's worked for me.

[00:17:36] Mark Ritter: Now, I am sure in the last year or two, somebody somewhere has nudged you and said, instead of a new CEO, have you ever thought about merging with us? Or, why don't we talk about strategically how we can work together? Because you're in the golden merger size where people call you. [00:18:00] You know? One piece that I really think we have to focus on is an industry.

[00:18:35] Bob Flanyak: It's really unfortunate to witness the decline in the small and medium sized credit union. It's really a shame and really in my mind, preventable.

[00:18:47] Bob Flanyak: Yep. I think that there are things that trade associations can do to help to bring credit unions together. Credits like ours, try to foster cooperation [00:19:00] between other credit unions and.

[00:19:08] Mark Ritter: There has to be a desire there and a what?

[00:19:11] Mark Ritter: realize it's good for the community to continue

[00:19:25] We've done a couple, we're doing one right now. And for us, there really has to be a connection. There has to be something in it for both sides, whether it's emerging credit union, maybe they have some talent, maybe they've got a mortgage department or maybe a small business, or maybe they've got something that we don't have.

[00:20:16] I just wish more credit unions had that perspective. Maybe not mergers, but things we can do together, things we can help each other. Really exponentially grow our impact with our members and our community at large. So really it does come down to cooperation.

[00:20:39] When you think back into your time at Vermont, the collaboration at the credit unions where everybody helped each other succeed in, in that spirit, we, we gotta figure out something to rejuvenate that.

[00:21:10] Well, right now we've got, we've got so many school districts interested in working with us for financial education that. We only have so much bandwidth, so we need other credit unions to help us. We have a school district south of here, about 45 minutes, a little bit out of our trade area. We called another credit union and said, listen, they're closer than you to you, than they are us.

[00:22:04] We even have a student brand in that school district and, uh, six other school districts we're working with. So. That's a great opportunity to work together. 'cause Mark, you've been to Financial Reality Fair. You need a lot of people.

[00:22:19] Bob Flanyak: Yes. And what a great opportunity to have credit union people filling that room, working with these students.

[00:22:49] Are you trustworthy? Are you a contributor to the community or are you just a taker? We, a couple years ago, we got voted best overall business in Washington County, [00:23:00] and for those of you all over the world listening to this, there's 5,200 small businesses in our, in our county. The, the readers of the local people vote voted us Fest overall business couple times.

[00:23:32] Mark Ritter: Bob. I've appreciated our relationship over the years. I've appreciated working with you and your team and helping out the local community as we can. I'm looking forward to continuing to help out Washington County and the surrounding areas.

[00:24:00] For us to stand up a commercial lending department, impossible. But working with a good organization like, like your company, man, I mean, you got great people and you're really helping us to make a difference in the communities we serve. So I thank you for that. Thank you for the opportunity to share some words, some experiences.

[00:24:27] Mark Ritter: Tell people what you're gonna be up to for the next few months, years. What's gonna keep you busy?

[00:24:46] Elevation Army House. I'm gonna stay on their board and. Some church things that I'm involved with. I just want to grow that a little bit and get back to gardening. Gotta grow your own from time to time.

[00:25:06] CEO. Chrome Federal Credit Union out there in Western Pennsylvania. Thank you to Bob for his time as he winds down his tenure and wishing him his family, all the best success in the futures. So thank you, Bob. I'll, we will talk to you soon.

[00:25:24] Mark Ritter: Alright, listeners, please subscribe and we will talk to you.