After nearly a quarter century of service as CEO of Truliant Federal Credit Union, Marc Schaefer plans to retire at the end of 2019. President Todd Hall is poised to take the helm of Truliant next year. As Truliant continues to grow in the Charlotte area and beyond, we asked Hall to share his thoughts on challenges facing the finance industry, how Truliant is impacting financial literacy and more.

Credit unions like Truliant are financial cooperatives owned by their members. With a full suite of banking and financial services, Truliant serves more than 240,000 member-owners both online or at one of their 32 Member Financial Centers. According to Hall: “We want to improve the lives of our members through personal-finance guidance and the work we do to find solutions that are the best fit for their financial health.”

One of Truliant’s bedrock values is making sure that their members can make informed decisions about managing their money. Financial literacy is a top priority for the NC Chamber as well—we know that preparing the competitive workforce of tomorrow must start with giving today’s students the tools they need to succeed. That’s why Truliant created their Truliant at Work program. Hall tells us:

“Truliant at Work is a financial education/literacy service offered to Business Partners as an extension of their human resources and wellness programs. We know businesses are very interested in providing information to their employees to help them stay financially well.  Financially healthy employees are productive employees. (Companies can become a Truliant At Work Business Partner by completing our application here.)

But we’re not all born super savers and savvy shoppers. That’s one reason we started our Financial Education Grants program in 2016 on behalf of our members to help students learn the financial skills that can help them stay out of financial trouble. Our goal is to have students start thinking early about the financial decisions that they make with their money. We firmly believe that financial education and skills will serve them for a lifetime.

When you think about the role that our schools play in nurturing and reinforcing basic life skills – smart-money management is a skill that students will need their entire lives. Our goal is to help students in our communities develop those skills that will help them succeed financially and begin to build strong financial foundations. We hope this investment will help students develop good saving and spending habits.”

As the financial industry continues to grow and change, Truliant is committed to providing the best service to their member-owners. We’re excited to work with Todd Hall in his new role as CEO and look forward to seeing what Truliant does next.

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