Hiring For Good Ep. 24 – Ali Migaki

About Ali Migaki: Ali Migaki is the Chief Experience Officer at iQ Credit Union. She oversees retail services with more than $1.7 billion in deposits, member and lending center, 15 branches, and 180 employees serving 90 thousand members.

Ali has deep experience across iQ’s retail banking services. In many ways, she helped shape iQ into the company it is today. Her career and leadership started 25 years ago, and she has experienced the credit union’s growth from $200M to $1.7B. She is a member of iQ’s executive team and contributes to the short and long-term strategic objectives to maximize the member’s experience. Her strong relationships with other department leaders serve the common goal of providing a positive experience for members.

Ali Migaki’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alimigaki

Podcast on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-for-good-podcast/id1725208602

Tanis Morris: Director of Business Development at Acumen Executive Search Email: tanis@acumenexecutivesearch.com

Suzanne Hanifin: President at Acumen Executive Search Email: suzanne@acumenexecutivesearch.com

Acumen Executive Search Website: https://www.acumenexecutivesearch.com

Hiring for Good Transcript

0:00 good morning and thanks for being at the Hiring for Good podcast. I am Tanis Morris and with me as usual

0:08 is my lovely co-host Suzanne Hanifin. good morning Tanis good morning and we

0:13 are here to discuss leadership and learnings and all the

0:18 good stuff with our esteemed guest today Ali Migaki. Hiring for Good is one of

0:24 the outreach programs for Acumen Executive Search and uh we love to learn

0:29 about about leadership from people doing doing the work in the field so before I

0:35 get going with Ali I’m just going to give a brief introduction. so Ali is a seasoned executive leader at IQ Credit

0:42 Union where she currently holds the role of SVP CEO Chief Experience Officer

0:49 known for her strategic vision and commitment to driving growth in the financial services industry where she’s

0:54 approaching three decades of service based on a foundation of dedication and excellence provided to her clients

1:01 Ali’s held various leadership roles where she’s showed exceptional ability to foster team collaboration, improve

1:07 operational efficiencies and enhance member experiences under her leadership IQ Credit Union has seen significant

1:13 advancements in membership engagement and Innovative Financial Solutions. Ali is widely recognized for her dedication

1:19 to community focused Financial Services as well as her passion for empowering others in the industry through

1:25 mentorship and advocacy for financial literacy I will also mention that I had a front row seat to Ali’s early

1:31 emergence as a leader she was the team captain of my high school soccer team which I was a member of and I have run

1:39 many drills under her tutelage we’ve known each other for almost 40 years so this is a real treat

1:45 uh Ali thank you so much for being here today good morning thank you both for having me um this opportunity is going

1:50 to be fantastic being able to share my journey so excited to be here well we’re so excited to have you actually I’m glad

1:56 you already mentioned it we would love to start by just having you tell tell us a little bit about your journey and you

2:02 can I mean we know that the road to where you are now is nuanced and you

2:08 know so go ahead and just take that could almost take like the whole hour T so I always like to start like my path

2:15 to where I am today is not your traditional path um like Tannis mentioned um I am an athlete and so that

2:22 was my main um goal after High School was to play soccer at the next level and

2:28 so hit some barriers some um roadblocks and ended up going to college and having

2:34 to come back and so really trying to figure out when you escape your family

2:41 after being underneath the roof for 18 years and experiencing freedom and coming back it’s really difficult and so

2:49 um like any family if you’re going to live under the roof you need to be in school so still continued education at

2:55 Clark and found a part-time job and so worked in various different areas I worked at REI I’ve worked at Fred Meyers

3:02 and then found my way into Banking and so we call like to call it the dark side so I actually worked at a bank um US

3:09 Bank and First Independent for about two years between the two of them and in

3:15 this time really wanted to move out at the same time because of the independence the freedom and really

3:20 wanting to be on my own so in that meantime I got married super young um

3:28 and found my home at Clark County School Employees Credit Union in the meantime

3:33 and so the reason why I chose Clark County School Employees was because my dad was a teacher and that was like our

3:41 second home kind of um that was where I was part of the Johnny Appley club we would get tokens for depositing money um

3:49 so my first account was there my first Visa was there my first auto loan was there and when you walk into a branch

3:56 you feel like you’re part of that organization um it was very warm it was very welcoming um and so once I started

4:05 that route um I have held about 13 various jobs and in the meantime have

4:12 had two fabulous children um been through a unhealthy marriage um and so

4:19 really um you fast forward to like 2015 uh divorce was Final um at that

4:26 time I was the retail district manager and so I was being uh able to lead our

4:33 our credit union now iQ Credit Union through a merger and so that was a

4:38 fabulous time really trying to figure out what do I want to do at the credit union um and it’s never like I grew up

4:45 and I was like I want to be the cxo right I want to be the chief experience officer I think things just naturally

4:51 tend to happen so in 2015 I got divorced

4:57 um I was turning 40 my kids were 10 five and really made it about family and

5:05 decided to really have them involved right because any decision that I was

5:10 going to make about my career was going to impact them as a single mom my abilities to be with them um and to make

5:18 sure I was showing up for them and my profession so through that um we

5:25 overcame lots of obstacles so Survivor of domestic violence

5:30 um they got to see things probably that they shouldn’t have seen um but I think it builds resilience um and shows a lot of

5:39 um probably like powerment right that you can choose to take a situation and

5:45 become a victim or you can take a situation and grow from it so a blessing

5:51 in disguise and then from there I became the VP of um retail branches and that’s

5:57 when we um brought to our organizations together so lus Credit Union and iQ

6:02 Credit Union became one and we had about 13

6:08 branches and about 12 branch managers and various other leaders that I was

6:14 able to get in front of and create a cohesive team because whenever you’re

6:19 bringing two different organizations together no matter if you’re both credit unions are not the cultures are

6:25 different um memberships are different the demographics are different and so really um it was a lot about educating

6:32 our community about who we are and what we’re about yeah and I would love to kind of dive a little deeper on that

6:39 merger because as you said it’s bringing two cultures together and here you are

6:46 responsible for those two cultures give us a little lessons and what you would

6:52 have done differently and so many things right um it’s it’s a challenge I would

6:59 say you look at um things whether it’s compassion whether it’s listening skills

7:05 whether it’s um empathy I would say grit because you you have to be able to

7:12 listen it’s important to listen to the membership listen to the staff um because feelings are real perceptions

7:18 are real and I think whenever you are in any type of merger not promising things

7:24 that actually aren’t going to happen right and so being really transparent um

7:30 about about how things are happening what they can expect in the future is really important so the things that I

7:37 would do different I think when we went into the merger and the role that I was in

7:42 um we were told every the credit unions are the same and things were so different job descriptions job families

7:49 were different the roles were different even though you were called the same thing the rules were still different and

7:55 so I think being way more transparent um during that process and um

8:03 overcommunication yeah absolutely and you again it’s so funny we’ve been doing this now a year

8:11 and so few people’s career paths have been a straight line in fact I’m not

8:16 even I don’t even know if we’ve talked with anybody whose career path is a straight line and so you’ve really again

8:24 it may have been the same industry yes but the the T and turns of Life yeah

8:32 share with us some more of the lessons learned and you know experiences that

8:38 really helped to shape who you are as a leader so growing up at the credit union

8:44 I held obviously a several other positions and so before management um I mean I started off as a

8:51 teller there and have worked my way up and so when I look at the other positions before leading into management

8:58 I was very black and white and I was very selfish um because you look at

9:03 those roles and it was all about you were basically kind of like an entrepreneur right you came in you did

9:10 your work you worked with your members and then you left for the day right you weren’t overseeing a whole um a whole

9:17 branch of of employees and so kind of like when Tannis was saying I

9:24 was the team captain it was just very just and I think it’s the way that I was raised too it was very Catholic strict

9:30 military and so I think you can take some of those traits and adapt them into

9:37 more like um empathy asking questions compassion I was definitely a doer and

9:45 so it was just like get the job done get it done fast don’t think about anything else and like what are the consequences

9:51 of doing that so I think there’s perks of being a doer but there’s also when you’re in those roles how can you show

9:57 up for other people and so um I think I still am the same person

10:02 but I’ve grown through experiences of the importance of empathy

10:08 compassion um and just having people feel valued I think that’s what’s that’s

10:14 what’s super important absolutely and you talk about these values and how leaders bring

10:22 values into the organization and operationalize that so kind of expand on

10:28 that and what’s important to you and how have you operationalized your values I

10:34 love our so we have operating um principles and values at the credit union and so they’re joyful

10:42 approachable um and you you take a look at the credit

10:48 union space and we’re all about people helping people right that’s our movement yes we are a financial institution yes

10:55 we handle your finances but it’s more than just transac it’s way more relationship and so when

11:01 you think about what people’s values are if you are here and you want to help

11:07 people our organization is a great organization to be there for because you

11:12 think about the I don’t know the top three stressors in people’s lives right Health money family right and so we get

11:19 to be a part of that journey for the members no matter where they’re at in their lives and so we always when we

11:25 talk to people yeah there’s regulations there’s compliance there’s all the complexities of banking but at the end

11:31 of the day it’s about the relationships and just helping people achieve the dreams that they want to achieve and as

11:38 Chief Experience Officer for the organization how have you been able to

11:44 you know like take your own personal values or your beliefs about this work that you have such a great amount of

11:50 experience in and kind of like create Solutions or programs that that

11:57 operationalize those you know have have you can you give us some examples or have you had the opportunity so um a lot

12:04 of it is when we go into a community we never just put a brick-and mortar branch

12:10 in that community and say here we are right it’s a lot of planning going up front like where do we want to be where

12:16 can we have the biggest impact so we’re boots on the ground first and so our community impact team um I get to

12:22 partner with them and so really identifying key stakeholders what events should we be at how can we partner with

12:28 you and it’s always fascinating to get our feedback back from them because they’re like well what do you want out

12:34 of this and we’re like we don’t want anything out of it we just really want to make a difference in the communities so when I was able to manage our

12:41 Richfield Branch it was brand new um it’s not how Richfield is today thriving

12:46 city um so very small town nobody knew about us and so thinking outside the

12:51 boxes how do you get families um to know IQ and so one of the events that I

12:56 created there that is um still going is an Easter egg hunt we literally did it

13:02 in our parking lot but it brings families together and that’s really like our demographic that we want to serve

13:08 right so you have the the young children that you can influence and teach financial literacy to and then you have

13:14 the parents that you’re helping them achieve their goals as well but it’s just always thinking outside the box of

13:20 what community events can we be at so that people see us in a different light

13:27 other than just their financial institution MH yeah and then you know again here you’ve you’ve survived this

13:34 huge growth that the organizations’s had em merger

13:39 economic challenges and politics and everything else but you said it earlier

13:46 about building teams and bringing people together so expand on how your approach

13:53 is on building that team and getting everybody aligned on the right vision

13:59 mission values yes and so we um I get to partner

14:05 with with so many great teams at the credit union and I think a lot of it is

14:10 what I look for in my leaders is do they have the ability to have a vision that

14:16 is beyond what we’re doing today because it’s so easy to just take a look and like this is working today but really

14:23 like what is the future of banking in three years what channels are members going to be able to need to access their

14:29 funds and so I think Visionary one is huge um adaptability um like you said

14:36 we’ve grown from a $200 million Credit Union to a $2 billion Credit Union and

14:41 so we can’t operate the same so are people able to adapt and be flexible um

14:47 pivot right um we went from a lending environment to a deposit environment to

14:53 a balanced growth environment and so are the leaders able to

14:59 again back to compassion because they have to be able to listen to the staff

15:05 because we’re asking them to completely change like mindsets right and so um the

15:11 ability to listen the ability to still drive results because at the end of the day even though we’re not for profit you

15:18 still need results right so that you can give back um and make a difference so I

15:24 think it’s hard just to nail down one attribute but I would say as we are in

15:30 strategic planning for our next phase a lot of it is that strategic Visionary um

15:36 thought process but it’s but what I love about our group is we do it together and so I have seven direct reports and so

15:43 just because one’s overseas community impact it doesn’t mean the contact center people uh and leaders can’t help

15:50 that vision as well so it’s a lot of collaboration yeah that’s that’s it’s

15:55 really amazing to hear about this honestly I if you don’t mind I’d like to go back really quick to the point in

16:02 time when you were helping oversee this merger I’m curious if you had to kind of

16:08 figure out some of these things on the fly or if you had a mentor or support or

16:14 like how did you navigate that process so mentorship has been an interesting

16:19 path for me I would say today I have an amazing executive coach um that um we

16:26 talk on a monthly or more frequent basis but I look back at my career and just

16:31 even growing up so I’m a woman I’m a minority there’s few that look like me

16:37 um and so trying to find mentors that you trust um whenever you get feedback

16:44 from a job I’ve had lots of um disappointments as well throughout my

16:50 career denials for jobs overcoming objections things like that and

16:56 so feedback I believe like Pre-merger was like keep doing what

17:01 you’re doing Ali and I was like okay well this is like the third time and so whatever I’m doing probably isn’t enough

17:07 so I had to find a mentor that was actually going to tell me things that I probably didn’t want to hear um that

17:13 kind of like stings at first and you want to crawl in a hole right but then you have to like okay how bad do I want

17:18 this perceptions real how do I change those those perceptions about me um so I

17:24 did I found a mentor that um was able to provide me the those things but it was

17:30 rare um to have to have that support and did you actually go out like

17:36 intentionally saying I need a mentor I need some personal growth and some

17:42 development and how did you find that person so I was able I grew up with him

17:50 at the credit union he’s no longer with us today he has moved on um and really

17:57 our friendships I think made a difference because I trusted him outside of the professional space as well and so

18:04 I think that helped but really I think it was up to me I needed to go find somebody and tell them exactly like I

18:10 need the feedback that no one’s willing to give me that I need if I want to progress in my career absolutely yeah

18:19 and it’s funny because again we kind of as I’m also a doer you know and you’re

18:25 you’re you get bogged down into those nuances and every day dramas and

18:30 crisises and you know all of that but to actually take that step backwards and

18:36 really start looking at things and examining things from a almost

18:42 existential perspective yeah that’s a very hard challenge especially being a

18:48 mom being you know trying to do all of that piece of life so what advice would

18:56 you give either your 20 self or another person coming up oh so a lot of it is we

19:06 we as women especially talk about impostor syndrome right we’re our worst critic and so we always have those

19:12 voices um of negativity and so surrounding yourself by people that you

19:19 admire early on um I always tell people to the advice that I give we always have

19:25 mentors in our life right and sometimes you have the mentors where where you go to and you’re like I know this person is

19:31 going to tell me I’m right they’re wrong and everything that I want to hear but

19:37 then I need a mentor that’s actually going to tell me what I need to hear and those are the harder conversations so if

19:42 I look back 20 years ago I think the power of your voice is huge and

19:47 embracing and taking up more space um I think sometimes like the impostor syndrome gets in you

19:54 like my what I’m going to say isn’t worth the value or what everybody else is bringing and comparing it and so

20:01 taking those risks and using your voice um I think that’s powerful and do you support that within

20:09 your team and have ask your team members to go find those

20:15 external mentors and people that can really help them yeah and so that’s one

20:20 of the things that I feel like I pride myself in is because of my experience I

20:25 want their experiences to be different right just like kids we’ve been through it we know what it’s like sometimes you

20:31 have to go through it on your own to actually experience those feelings but there’s so many spaces that we provide

20:39 and that are provided within our communities to get mentorship but a lot of it too is being vulnerable right in

20:45 like telling your story and so when they see um and hear your story of your path

20:51 it opens up more conversations um and more opportunities for them to to find

20:57 their to find their way um so I think it’s always It’s always important to

21:03 create a safe space to have those conversations no matter what your role is so I always like to take title out um

21:10 because we’re all here for the greater good you know I’m going to go off grid just because I’ve known you and it’s

21:16 really interesting to hear um hear you describe some of these experiences I

21:22 think maybe I’m most struck by um the fact that I think as you’ve softened and

21:31 opened to other like you’ve experienced success and um it’s like I’m very

21:38 impacted by this right now I’ll just tell you I me like I’m I’m really like having this whole thing in my mind about

21:44 like wow how how powerful I mean um I

21:50 think anybody who knows you at all would say you are a tremendously powerful person and always someone that commands

21:57 a great deal of respect but what I’m hearing you speak to is kind of these uh

22:04 the softer qualities that um I think seem to have really paved the way to like where you are

22:10 now how did you transition or how how did you cultivate I’m just curious you

22:16 know do you mind before we close up so I think too I think the experiences I had through my first marriage obviously um I

22:23 think uh probably impacted me the most right

22:28 you really have to sit back and be like who Am I who do I want to be how do I want to show up for your for my kids so

22:35 I think kids are a huge thing they teach you a lot of patience I still don’t have a lot but I have more than I did and

22:41 realizing that it’s just not about me um I would say my upbringing and

22:50 um my first I would say 15 years of my

22:55 career it was it was centered around me and what can I accomplish what can I control how can I be the best and what

23:03 you learn through life is you’re way stronger with numbers and the people

23:09 that are around you and so surrounding yourself by smarter people by more

23:15 intelligent and visionary strategic um

23:21 humans is priceless and so I just think that I I always tell my team I’m like I

23:28 still learn from them every day um and they challenge me and so and that’s what

23:33 I appreciate from them I I never want a team where they’re like you’re right yep we’re going to do this it’s just like okay this is my feelings or my thoughts

23:41 but let me hear what you have or sometimes I don’t even go to my feelings and my thoughts because what they have

23:48 is is right on par so but I think those are those skill sets right when you take

23:53 like personality tests and things like that are you red blue green and so I

23:59 would say in um previous it was definitely like red type all and I still

24:04 think that I’m more definitely type but I think in I know how to adapt and um

24:12 when you think of like the people Factor the psychology of just human behavior

24:17 there’s the soft skills go so far yeah well and it’s interesting and I’m going to say this I’m we bit older than both

24:25 of you too but I remember after college and especially in grad

24:31 school a woman had to kind of emulate male traits and it’s and it’s and then

24:38 we also talk about this impostor syndrome that women go through as we

24:43 progress in our career paths and just that transition of of embracing I use

24:51 the word vulnerability yes which a lot of which I think is a huge strength as a

24:58 leader and is getting more valuable today than it was valued 20 30 years

25:05 ago H how do you is it self-taught is it

25:11 you know what what happened that really kind of made you switch of saying I need to embrace

25:21 me and and I and I’m going to say it kind of the feminine power that women

25:27 have I would say that probably in the last

25:32 like 5 years really embracing that um again I have to give a shout out to my

25:39 executive coach Tracy um I think that she has been a huge piece of that um

25:45 obviously um when you have a great support system in your home life and so

25:50 I have a amazing blended family an amazing partner and then kids that support me and so when you have people

25:58 surrounding you that believe in you the confidence is there right and so um when

26:05 you know what that feels like and you have that story because you’ve been through things I think it’s easy to

26:12 transfer that whether it’s in your personal life or your professional life right because I think as an executive

26:17 too we get these personas that Ali’s life is perfect nothing happens like

26:23 that’s bad there’s no trauma um we still have the same struggles we still have the same pains we’re still human um and

26:32 so I think learning throughout the credit union and being exposed to different executives um

26:39 different um professionals in that space learning that the power of stories is

26:45 huge and so I think I learned from me telling my stories about my personal

26:52 life made me more human and people were more willing to to open up to me and to

26:58 have conversations um I get the the amazing opportunity to do they’re called chats

27:04 with Ali um and so I do them with my entire downlines and so we meet between

27:10 two to four times a year and we just talk like what’s going well what’s not going well how can we make a difference

27:17 what do you think I think I shouldn’t know that I should know um and I that’s

27:24 where I get my feedback because if they weren’t open with me then not creating an environment where they can where they

27:31 feel like they can trust and say maybe things that aren’t positive that I need

27:36 to hear that this is wonderful thank you I I’m really inspired and I love that um

27:44 you know I love hearing your story and I also just love that you know at a certain point it became about other

27:52 people and you helping them and and like kind of releasing um

28:00 whatever was pushing you for the in the in the beginning of your of your time and in the professional World um so

28:07 thank you our last question that we ask our guests every time is what hiring for

28:12 good means to you I think I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I was like it’s simple just because I work at a

28:20 credit union and especially IQ um we’re people helping people and so hiring for

28:27 good is if you enjoy and have a passion for

28:32 making a difference in the communities that you live then you’re a perfect fit because that’s what we’re doing we’re

28:38 just we’re the financial well-being that we’re providing our members and our community is priceless and so we really

28:46 want people that want to make a difference and it’s it’s really that simple

28:53 um because we can teach people our systems and all the transactional and

28:58 the compliance but to really have a heart for the community that’s something

29:03 that um that’s in you yeah yep that’s beautiful oh absolutely no I can’t thank

29:11 you enough Ali for sharing your story and and just like Tannis a lot has hit

29:17 you because you do think oh they’re an executive everything is fine and to

29:22 bring that human perspective into it which I would add is hiring for good

29:27 because we are whole people yes yeah so thank you very much thank you for having

29:33 me oh so fun thank you thank you a treat thanks for joining us today at hiring

29:38 for good if you inspired by our conversation don’t forget to like follow And subscribe wherever you get your

29:43 podcast and if you want to learn more about our executive Search Services check us out at www.hiringforgood.net

29:51 or our company website Acumen Executive Search thanks so much and

29:57 don’t forget to join us next time for another in-depth conversation about transformational leadership until then

30:02 have fun