Transforming Culture at United States Senate Federal Credit Union

Announcer: Welcome to the Recruiting Community Podcast, the go-to channel for talent acquisition leaders and practitioners. This show is brought to you by CXR, a trusted community of thousands connecting the best minds in the industry to explore topics like attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent. Hosted by Chris Hoyt and Jerry Crispin. We are thrilled to have you join the conversation.

Chris Hoyt: All right, everybody. Welcome to the Recruiting Community Podcast. We’re excited to be back. Every week, we interview talent leaders from all over the world. Typically, we pull those leaders and practitioners from the CXR community.

I’m especially excited today because we’ve got a couple of folks who aren’t necessarily in the community. They’re in Las Vegas for the USA Today Top Workplaces Awards—and you are award winners! So congratulations before anything else.

Tim Anderson: Thank you.

Heather Mansour: Yeah, thank you!

Chris Hoyt: Well earned. I think we should jump right into this. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourselves, and then we’ll get into the organization you work at and how you came to be a winner today.

Tim Anderson: Excellent. My name is Timothy Anderson. I’m the President and CEO at the United States Senate Federal Credit Union. Excited to be here and excited to be a winner. This is our second year in a row being recognized by USA Today as one of the best workplaces, so thank you for having us—we really appreciate it.

Chris Hoyt: Second year in a row. Not too shabby.

Tim Anderson: Not too shabby.

Chris Hoyt: How about yourself?

Heather Mansour: I’m Heather Mansour. I’m the Chief HR Officer. I work side by side with Tim and the team. I’ve been with the credit union for over five years and have more than 15 years of leadership experience. I really focus on people.

Chris Hoyt: Okay, give us an idea of scale. How many employees does the credit union have?

Tim Anderson: Right now—and Heather, correct me if I’m wrong—I think it’s just north of 155.

Heather Mansour: That’s correct.

Tim Anderson: We’ve budgeted for just under 170 employees in 2025, so Heather’s got her work cut out for her and the recruiting team as they bring more people on.

Chris Hoyt: Nice. What we’re hearing—and loving—is that this award process is different from other “Best Places to Work” types. What we love about the USA Today piece is that it’s based entirely on employee feedback. This isn’t a boardroom decision or a popularity contest. It really comes from the people.

When you got the results back, was there anything in the data that was truly telling? Any “aha” moments about what to double down on or pull back?

Tim Anderson: I’ll go first and then pass it to Heather. What’s really exciting, as you just said, is that the feedback comes from our employees. That’s rewarding. As a CEO—I’ve been with the credit union in various capacities for 25 years—when I came back in 2019 as CEO, we had a very toxic culture. So I couldn’t be more excited that we’re now at a point where our employees are saying, “Hey, we have a good culture. We’re a people-centric organization.” That’s what we’ve worked toward.

Heather Mansour: When I started five years ago, I actually reached out to Tim because we shared a passion for people. I wanted to work with leadership that truly believed in that. As we grew the culture, it really was about our people. Credit unions are known for being like a family, and when you take care of your people, they take care of you. We truly believe that.

We focus on retaining talent, understanding what people want, ensuring they’re happy and challenged, and offering professional development. Appreciation and recognition go a long way, especially when you train your managers well. That’s what we’ve continued to do, and I think it makes a big difference.

Tim Anderson: Just to piggyback on that—this became a strategic focus back in 2019. Just like we track net income and return on average assets, culture became a measurable priority. When Heather reached out and I looked at her background in credit unions and banking, I knew she was the kind of people person I needed to help rebuild our culture.

If your people don’t buy into what you’re doing, then it’s all for nothing. So we made it a strategic initiative to redefine our culture.

Chris Hoyt: Nice. And I imagine that trickles down through all levels of leadership?

Tim Anderson: Absolutely.

Chris Hoyt: That’s a testament to your leadership, I suppose.

Tim Anderson: Thank you. But really, it’s all of us. I tell our people all the time—whether it’s during a CEO town hall or any time I’m in front of them—that it’s all about them. The buy-in has to come from them. We may not get everything right, but we’ll keep working until we do. Our people have really rallied around that, and yes, it absolutely trickles down throughout our organization.

Chris Hoyt: I love it. It’s kind of funny how some organizations going through a rough patch avoid initiatives like this because they fear exposing weak spots. But leaning in—that’s how you identify where the work needs to be done. If you approach it with transparency, which it seems you’ve done, the results can be transformative.

Tim Anderson: Absolutely.

Chris Hoyt: That’s good stuff. Well, we’re wrapping up all these quick interviews with the same question. If you were writing the headline for USA Today, what would it be? What would you put on the front page?

Tim Anderson: Heather and I agree—it would be: “United States Senate Federal Credit Union Fosters a People-Centric Culture.”

Heather Mansour: Yeah. You said it all. We agree on that one.

Chris Hoyt: I love it. Congratulations again. I’m really excited for you both—and for all your employees. Two years in a row is a fantastic achievement. I imagine this gives you even more insight and helps shape your roadmap as a leadership team.

Tim Anderson: Absolutely.

Chris Hoyt: Great stuff. All right—if you want to see more podcasts, we do this weekly at cxr.org/podcast. You can check out what’s coming up and browse through more than 400 past episodes and interviews with talent leaders.

If you’re interested in just the USA Today podcasts and interviews, head to cxr.works/usatoday. We try to keep it simple.

Announcer: Thanks for listening to the Recruiting Community Podcast, where talent acquisition leaders connect, learn, and grow together. Be sure to visit cxr.works/podcast to explore past episodes, see what’s coming up next, and find out how you can join the conversation. Whether you’ve got insights to share or want to be a guest on the show, we’d love to hear from you.

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