From “best kept secret” to behavior-led, partner-powered growth at First US Community Credit Union

For years, First US Community Credit Union (First US) described itself the way many community financial institutions do: great people, friendly service, deep roots in the community. But as Chief Executive Officer Shonna Shearson quickly realized, being the “best kept secret in Sacramento” is not a growth strategy. In an era defined by digital banking growth, being friendly is table stakes, members now expect seamless digital experiences, proactive guidance, and a brand that shows up where they are, every day.

On a recent FIsionaries™ episode recorded at Alkami Co:lab 2026, host Jim Marous sat down with Shonna and Diana La Point, Chief Growth Officer at First US, to unpack how a $500 million credit union is modernizing faster than many much larger institutions. Their story is about culture, clarity, and using partnerships to punch far above their weight.

What does digital banking growth look like for a modest-sized credit union?

Digital banking growth at First US starts with knowing exactly who they are, who they serve, and where they must modernize first, before spending a dollar on promotion.

When Shonna arrived, she found a financial institution that hadn’t been investing in itself. Awareness was low, and even team members proudly (but worryingly) called First US the “best kept secret in Sacramento.” Rather than rush into a big advertising push or open new branches, Shonna and her board made a counterintuitive choice: fix the experience before you amplify it.

That meant looking hard at the first impression a new member would have. At the time, “digital onboarding” was essentially a fillable PDF. Driving more applicants into that experience would only accelerate attrition. So the team prioritized transforming the digital banking and digital account opening journey first, moving beyond digitized paperwork to a truly digital experience.

Only once they felt confident that new members could join seamlessly through modern digital channels did they start actively raising the financial institution’s profile. Growth became the natural result of a redesigned journey.

How do you modernize the experience without losing your human differentiator?

You protect (and elevate) the human experience by using digital to remove friction and free people up for more meaningful conversations, not to replace them.

As Diana put it, it’s easy to “fall victim to chasing the next best tool” and assume technology alone will differentiate you. Tools matter and First US invested in a modern digital banking platform, a loan origination system, digital self-service, push‑provisioned cards, and marketing automation. But for her, the real work starts after go-live.

That work centers on three commitments:

• Authentic experience over shiny features. Every new capability is evaluated through a simple lens: does this make it easier for members to get what they need and for staff to show they genuinely care? Digitizing card replacement, for example, isn’t just about speed but about creating space for conversations about fraud protection and financial confidence.
• Teams as the brand, not the tools. Diana is explicit with staff: “You are the brand, not the tool.” Whether a member is in a branch, on the phone, or in a digital channel, the differentiator is the curiosity, care, and ownership employees bring to each interaction.
• Change as care, not threat. Both leaders know that many employees quietly worry digital will replace them. Instead of giving lip service to “don’t worry, we won’t,” First US leads with care by investing in training, over‑communicating the “why,” and showing how automation takes away mundane tasks so people can lean into higher‑value work.

By tying every digital initiative back to human outcomes, First US ensures that modernization amplifies their humanity instead of eroding it.

How can leaders turn culture into a digital transformation engine?

Leaders turn culture into a growth engine by setting a clear North Star, creating room for healthy debate, and modeling the behavioral change they expect.

Coming from larger financial institutions, both Shonna and Diana knew “what’s possible” with modern technology but they also recognized that in a smaller organization, how you bring people along can make or break execution. Their approach includes:

• Leading with observation, not mandates. Within months of joining, Shonna held a planning session where she shared what she’d observed, laid out a comprehensive vision, even “bringing the kitchen sink”, and then worked with the board and leaders to prioritize. That transparency created shared ownership, not top‑down orders.
• Normalizing healthy debate. Internally, the growth conversation is intentionally spirited. When cross‑functional teams look at journeys like auto loan applications, Diana expects disagreement: Do we need all these questions? Can we safely remove steps? Those debates are encouraged, not shut down, because they sharpen the eventual experience.
• Leaving a trail of breadcrumbs. For bigger, riskier changes, Shonna doesn’t drop a fully baked plan on the board or staff. She seeds ideas early, shares data over time, and lets people “try on” concepts. By the time a formal decision is required, people are often asking, “Why isn’t this done yet?”

Culture, in their hands, becomes a deliberate strategy: build trust, invite challenge, and show, through action, that digital transformation is something done with people, not to them.

How should credit unions prioritize partnerships, data, and execution?

They should start with the execution gaps that matter most to members, then find partners and data signals that help close those gaps, without overcomplicating the tech stack.

Jim describes today’s environment bluntly: “You can buy anything. The implementation is where the gap is.” The differentiator is no longer who has the shiniest tools, but who can align strategy, culture, and execution so that technology actually moves the needle. First US confronts this by:

• Treating vendors as partners, not third parties. When Shonna inherited a newly implemented digital banking platform that wasn’t being fully leveraged, she reframed the relationship: less “vendor management,” more “business partnership.” That shift unlocked new opportunities to co-design improvements and ask for what the credit union truly needed.
• Using size as an advantage. It’s tempting for smaller financial institutions to blame limited budgets or headcount, but Diana sees their size as a strength. Flatter structures mean they can get the right people in a room, debate, decide, and move, often faster than megabanks encumbered by layers of approvals.
• Building behavior-led journeys with data insights. A core focus now is using behavioral signals, online banking usage, app ratings, site behavior, to trigger more relevant outreach. The aspiration is that member engagement in digital banking feels timely and personal, not generic. But they’re candid: achieving a 360‑degree view is hard. It requires open, connectable tools and relentless attention to what members actually experience.

In short, partnerships and data are means to an end. The end is a simpler, more Anticipatory Banking experience that matches how members live and bank today.

How does clarity about your institution’s identity and mission shape digital banking growth?

Because when a credit union is crystal clear about who it is, who its members are, and how both are changing, decisions about where to invest become much easier.

Shonna’s closing advice to peers was simple but profound: “Know who you are as an organization, know who your members are and how they are evolving. Get crystal clear on where that alignment is, and that will guide the rest of your decision making moving forward.”

For First US, that clarity translated into a sequence:

1. Raise the internal bar for culture and care.
2. Modernize the most critical digital journeys so they match the promise of the people.
3. Use partnerships and data to keep simplifying, not just adding.
4. Then, and only then, turn up the volume on growth.

That’s the kind of digital banking growth story that isn’t about the size of your balance sheet, but the sharpness of your vision and the courage to prioritize.

Ready to see how First US Community Credit Union is turning culture, partnerships, and data into real‑world digital transformation? Watch the full FIsionaries™ conversation with CEO Shonna Shearson and Chief Growth Officer Diana La Point for the unfiltered details behind their journey.