BRANDON MCADAMS
Explore and Enjoy
BIO
Transformative executive, strategist and growth architect with experience at discovering and integrating member, corporate and employee needs at an enterprise level to rapidly scale giveback to members, employees and efficiently grow assets at a nearly $5 billion credit union that stays consistently around 100% Loan to Share and .95 ROA. Vertical experience in marketing, product development, management and oversight of consumer loan and deposit portfolios, credit card portfolios and analytics. I've been recognized as a CUNA CU Rock Star, won the NCUF’s Cooperative Spirit Award, finished top 15 in CUES Next Top Credit Union Executive and a finalist for Triangle Business Journal’s 40 under 40. I've been featured most recently in CU Magazine, a Filene Panel, and on CUBroadcast.
HIGHLIGHTS
STRATEGIC LEADER
I am a strategic leader who transforms outcomes by inspiring how teams think, work, and define success. I have a proven track record of leading teams to achieve ambitious goals, such as redefining my organization's total market offer, brand awareness on par with super regional banks, and growth outside of peer benchmarks.
DESIGN THINKING
I excel at navigating at a high level, connecting disparate threads, and making visions reality. My experience in nearly every corner of a financial institution and my hunger to learn have been essential to my success; from redefining our mission, vision, values to how we engage staff and members through events and messaging.
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES
I believe that leadership is about building trust, collaboration, and accountability. I am skilled at finding a place where everyone can succeed, and I believe in the power of storytelling to motivate, which allowed me to start a regional credit union networking group, lead over a 1/3 of our current VPs, and continually do more with less.
GROWTH ARCHITECT
I've transformed what role Marketing plays at Coastal from a passive recipient to a leader of change. We have brand awareness on par with two super regional banks, content and quality that punch above our weight class, and every metric tied to Marketing is above industry or channel standards. I'm excited to now be working on leading edge technology, analytics, and insights that will push any organization into overdrive.
MY EXPERIENCE
Roles & Responsibilities
The following is an outline of my current and past work experience. Each role has provided an opportunity to learn, grow, and continue developing both as a person and a professional.
VP MARKETING AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, COASTAL CREDIT UNION
2016 - Present
Modernized our marketing strategy with a cohesive integrated approach that included some Coastal firsts: a $1 million brand campaign to announce our voice in contrast to bank negligence, sponsorships with the biggest names in the Triangle, including an NIT sponsorship with the largest amphitheater in North Carolina, “prime time” TV commercials, Family Day events that grew to almost 5000 members, crafted and launch MVV, and redefined our patronage dividend program and internal referral program to focus on saving members money. This delivered a doubling of Coastal’s Assets with an ROA routinely above 1%.
Starting in Jan 2022, I retained my roles and responsibilities as VP of Marketing and gained a new charge in redefining Coastal’s strategy to thrive, summed up with the strategy statement of “Innovate to provide an exceptional, personalized journey for members to achieve financial well-being for all.” This included adding new disciplines to Coastal, as described early, as well as establishing new external partnerships with experts outside of the industry and developing the plan to bring internal leadership and employees along.
I was also in charge of both the Analytics and Reporting Department and Consumer Lending as an interim role, redefining how we do both departments including the introduction of SADL, PowerBI, and increasing yield on a $120M/month indirect origination engine.
MGR CARD PRODUCTS, MGR CONSUMER LENDING, DIRECTOR LENDING PRODUCTS, COASTAL CREDIT UNION
2009 - 2016
In these three positions spanning seven years, I was able to help establish the direction of direct consumer lending at Coastal. I did this through huge initiatives like introducing centralized lending and Coastal's first LOS SAIL, to launching Coastal's hero products of 100% HE, Auto Refi Guarantee and all the imitations of our credit cards, and to leading RFPs, Contract Negotiations and Conversions of many of the services and systems we use today. I also managed underwriting and analytics for lending and am very familiar with this with regards to growing the credit card portfolio. I built off of the success in Loan Servicing to create internal relationships that help us push consumer lending forward from maybe a 30-70 split between direct and indirect originations to one where we are 45-55. I also learned the importance of progress not perfection and helped launch over 150 products and services during this time. I learned how to manage a portfolio and genuinely enjoy watching it grow. I also placed my mark on the industry during this time, from seeing my blog featured on The Financial Brand to winning a cooperative spirit award for co-founding CUaware. I proud to have given back to the industry that has given me my career.
MANAGER OF LOAN SERVICING, COASTAL CREDIT UNION
2007-2009
At 25 I was managing my first department after using what I learned in my Masters level courses to document processes and suggest efficiencies. In my time there, I initiated rapid change that changed a very reactive and pen/paper team of 14 to a proactive, digital friendly team of 11. For example, I programmed an MS Access database from scratch that allowed them to record all of their calls and, more importantly, what they did to resolve it. I then used this information to enforce accountability and provide updates to front line staff on what issues we were seeing and ways to head it off upstream. This became the first iteration of the QRA which is what CMC still uses today.
BANKRUPTCY SPECIALIST TO DATA ANALYST/QC, COASTAL CREDIT UNION
2005 - 2007
I have worked all over the credit union including these two roles in Collections and the Analytics Department. Starting off in Collections and Analytics gave me the foundation to have a very grounded view of controlling expenses, seeking good growth and the importance of sharpening my analytical ability. Reporting and analysis has been a part of every step I've made. Additionally, because of the unique leadership at the time, this recent grad had to sink or swim and leaned on partners internally and externally to make change. This experience gave me the courage to push at every stage of my career to see what things should be vs sticking to what always has been.
EDUCATION
Lifetime learner with proven track record of bringing what I learn back to Coastal
2000 - 2004
BA, UNC CHAPEL HILL
While my double major had little to do with finance, I learned how to think and make change.
2006 - 2008
MPS, NC STATE UNIVERSITY
I received my Masters in Public Administration, a non-profit or government focused MBA. Classes here laid the foundation for my own principles around information management systems, process flow and positive reinforcements.
2011
CUDE CERTIFICATION, NCUF
This experience led me to the wider world of the credit union movement and led me to know hundreds of amazing people all over the country. This network is a continual source of strength and inspiration to draw on.
2018 & 2019
FORESIGHT PRACTIONER TRAINING, INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE
I've always enjoyed seeing patterns and adjusting based on that and what we see in the future. This training was intense but thorough and I took back a number of tools.
2019
LEADERSHIP DECATHLON, GRINNELL LEADERSHIP
Learned a lot about myself and my relationship with work and peers. I believe the lessons learned have fueled my development since.
RECOGNITIONS & AWARDS
CUNA CU ROCK STAR AND
NCUF COOPERATIVE SPIRIT AWARD
2013 and 2014
PUBLISHED ON FINANCIAL BRAND, CUTIMES, CUINSIGHT AND CUNA WHITE PAPER
Various
FIRST CRASHER FROM NC, CO-FOUNDER OF CUAWARE, CO-CREATION COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE
Various
MARKETING AWARDS: FOUR YEARS RUNNING FOR CUNA AND A 2021 ADDY
2018 - 2021
