CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 142 John Herrera The Immigrant Banking Journey
by Robert McGarvey
Before logging into this call, I studied up on who John Herrera is. He was born in Costa Rica, then came to the US to go to college at the University of Delaware and one thing led to another and instead of going back to Costa Rica to build a better society he stayed in the US and has worked on building a better society for all of us but with a special focus on Hispanic immigrants such as himself.
My first question to him, off mike, is how did he get from there to here. The podcast starts off with him telling that saga.
Today Herrera is a senior vice president at Self-Help in North Carolina, where his focus is on Hispanic relations and he has been busy building banking relationships with immigrant communities in North Carolina but also Illinois, Florida and California.
Also on is resume is that he is a co-founder of the very successful Latino Community Credit Union in North Carolina. That credit union got its start some 20 years ago when there was a wave of robberies and murders of immigrant workers who got paid in cash and often carried large sums.
He is the founder of El Pueblo in North Carolina which focuses on civil rights for immigrants.
He was named an immigrant innovator by President Barack Obama.
He was the first Hispanic immigrant elected to a North Carolina municipal office. He served as an alderman in Carrboro NC.
He was named by Time Magazine as one of 31 people who are changing the South.
In this podcast he offers rich and deep insights into how to serve immigrants – especially Hispanics – and he muses on how the United States is soon to become a minority majority nation (by 2045 according to many demographers). This is smart, sensitive commentary. Take notes. It’s a primer in how to serve a crucial US demographic.
Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees’ Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine’s thinking in this CUInsight blog.
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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto