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Jeremy M. Pinard, Chief Lending Officer at Canvas Credit Union, joins host Rodney Hood, former NCUA Chairman, to share how a would-be Secret Service agent found his way into lending and what it takes for a $5 billion credit union to originate like a $10 billion one. Jeremy explains why SoFi-style instant decisions are now the benchmark, how Canvas is working toward 70–90% auto-decisioning, and why success means twice the volume with the same team. He and Rodney also dig into "no margin, no missi
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The Origination Podcast - Jeremy M. Pinard
Recorded 2026-09-21
Jeremy M. Pinard: I think that's as leaders or whether it's in lending or anything, you're going to make a mistake. Like there's no way you're not going to make a mistake in the lending division. At some point in your career. How do you learn from that? How do you correct it and be transparent and say, hey, this won't ever happen again because I'm doing these things now?
Rodney Hood: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Origination Podcast. Today, everyone, I am pleased and honored to welcome Jeremy Pinard, the Chief Lending Officer for Canvas Credit Union. Jeremy, welcome to the Origination Podcast and thank you for joining us.
Jeremy M. Pinard: Thank you, Rodney. I'm excited to be here and looking forward to the conversation.
Rodney Hood: Well great, thank you. And it's good to see you again. And again had such great visits to your credit union over the years because of the great game changing work you're doing. But you know, I've introduced you and your title. Tell us a little bit more about you the person.
Jeremy M. Pinard: Well, I've been in the credit union industry since '99, back in the Y2K days and some of us might remember that, some don't. but I joined the credit union movement coming from a bank. but it wasn't my career aspiration. I actually went to school for criminal justice pre law and I did an internship with the Secret Service in New York City and the Towers and I was gonna become a Secret Service agent. And so, when that fell through for my eyes, they disqualified me. Back then they would have a thousand applicants for one position at the at the agency. So, when that happened I turned to my next career and it landed in a bank in Colorado and I just kinda fell in love with numbers and I kinda went from there and went to a credit union and I've been to it's not a claim to fame but I've been to five different credit unions, worked at five different credit unions and I think that gave me a really good view of how every credit union does a little different, but we're all doing it for our members and our teams and our employees.
Rodney Hood: Well that is amazing. Well, one of the things that I've always admired about you is your leadership and your vision. Jeremy, what shaped the leadership in you? I know you thought about fighting crime as perhaps an opportunity for career. My thing that I thought about was becoming a priest. So I love how we both were thinking about different careers, but how we ended up in financial services. But tell me about your leadership and vision. who really gave you that opportunity to shine and do the types of things you're doing now?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, I mean I think it started at a young age with sports. I think leading being a captain on teams and in high school and club and and in college. I I think that was the initial area where I learned to start to become a leader. I don't know if I ever am a great leader or finished learning as a leader, but I think that's where it started. And then it grew into when I joined the Marine Corps. Obviously there's in the Marine Corps you learn a lot about leadership and leading your men and And so there it evolved and then over time I think it's just having great mentors that has shown me how to lead in the right way, be authentic, be yourself, but also be transparent as you can, with everything. And and I think people get on board when they see that you're you're genuinely there for them and to support So, yeah, I think that's where it started and where it's kinda come.
Rodney Hood: Well, I love that you're talking about genuine, authentic leadership, Jeremy. And that's what resonates, I know, for me, and I hope with many of our listeners as well. But when we as leaders talk about authenticity, one of the things that people often see, they see the positive, they see us leading and directing, but they may never know that there are setbacks that we may have experienced. Can you maybe talk about a setback and how you went on to overcome it? How if anything, it made you stronger for the future.
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, I mean I think we all have these moments where when you're an authentic real person you sometimes step in it, so to speak. And I've done that a few times in my career, probably more than I wanted, where I came from the right place. I meant well, but my approach or my engagement with an individual didn't go the way it should have and actually went really bad. And I think those are the instances where in my leadership journey I think I've learned the most from is when I step in it and I have to have the ability to step back and one, be humble and be genuine and apologize, but also correct the action, right? and I think that's as leaders or whether it's in lending or anything, you're going to make a mistake. Like there's no way you're not going to make a mistake in the lending division. At some point in your career. How do you learn from that? How do you correct it and be transparent and say, hey, this won't ever happen again because I'm doing these things now?
Rodney Hood: And I think that's so important. I think so many folks are afraid to make the mistake, but to your point, if you're gonna make it, learn from it, grow from it, and then move on. Well, Jeremy, I think that I and I think along with our listeners, we've all gotten a feel for you, the man and the leader. I'd like to shift gears now, since we are talking about originations on this podcast. What are some of the challenges or opportunities that you see in the lending arena? You are part of the credit union system, the industry that I once chaired at NCUA. I'm proud of the fact that we have 146 million members of credit unions throughout the country. and loans that are over about one point seven trillion, how are you gonna continue to contribute to that? So what are some of the things that you may see as challenges with originations or opportunities?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah. I mean I think there's a lot of opportunities right now and I think obviously with AI, digital currencies, all that kinda out there, I think the real opportunities for credit unions to become extremely efficient and ability to originate 24/7, 365, 'cause that's who we're competing against. I I use this analogy all the time. You know, if you go to SoFi you can get an account, a loan without whatever within seconds if not minutes. And that's who we're competing with. So we as credit unions need to evolve our lending origination funnels and the systems and solutions we use. And and I think one of the things we do here at Canvas is we have a little tagline where we're a five billion dollar credit credit union that wants to originate like a ten billion dollar credit union. Well you can't do that with manual processes and I I think that's the key that we're really trying to work towards that automation, meeting the members where they are, when they are. If they want to do a loan on Saturday morning from their couch, we need to meet them there. And it needs to be efficient, instant. And I think one of the keys is is Zest AI for example. We're we're looking to get to that high seventy, eighty, ninety percent auto decisioning so that our people can talk to our members when they really need to. But if they don't need to, we need to be able to go end to end with no human friction and and get that automated.
Rodney Hood: That is amazing. And Jeremy, what's your time horizon for getting to that seventy to eighty percent?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Well, on the direct channel we'll probably get there pretty soon, I would say by the Q1 next year. that we're we're on our way to there. On the indirect side, it's probably gonna take a little bit longer, but I would say sometime next year we should be there. 'Cause again, on the indirect side, which is a big volume of ours, the faster you get that decision back to the dealer, the better, the easier for them and the more likely you're gonna get that loan.
Rodney Hood: I couldn't agree with you more. And again, 24-7, 365, critically important. You've talked about your goal, and I think it's an ambitious goal. And I'm sure from my knowledge of Canvas, you're certainly going to meet it head on. But what are the business costs if you don't? How have you dimensionalized what would be the cost to your business model and to the Canvas Credit Union members if you don't move forward?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, I think that's a real number, right? I think we see it already prior to launching Zest and having a decision a lower decision auto decision rate percentage. We're missing out on that pull through rate, right? 'cause the consumer, the member doesn't want to spend five, ten minutes filling out an application and then get a screen that pops up say we'll be we'll get back to you shortly. They want to know instantly before they go shopping for that car, before they get that personal loan, whatever it is, the cost of not doing it is you're gonna lose members and members are going to go to these other platforms. I mean just think about it this way. If you go to your local credit union website and apply for a loan and it takes you ten minutes and then again a screen says we'll get back to you shortly and they need something today, they're gonna go right over to one of those platforms and get a instant decision and they're most likely going to use that 'cause it was frictionless. Even though they like the credit union better, it's just reality. Members want it now, when they want it. It's kind of that Amazon effect, right? You can go online, you can order it anything from anywhere and get it within the day or same day. And I think that that's the cost of not doing it. So you're gonna lose your members, you're not gonna scale efficiently, and you're not gonna be competitive.
Rodney Hood: I cannot agree with you more. I certainly agree wholeheartedly. How will you know what you've succeeded? I know we've talked about pull-through rates. I know we've talked about retention. What are some of the things that you will know that you have accomplished your goals in meeting this head on?
Jeremy M. Pinard: think the biggest one I would say is that we can scale, you know, be that five billion dollar credit union that originates like a ten billion. We can scale without adding more FTEs, without adding more people to teams. We keep the same number of teams but now we're doing twice the volume. That's when I know we've succeeded is that we can do twice as amount of volume with the same number of people and I think that's our goal.
Rodney Hood: Well, that's amazing. And I am so delighted that you shared it with us and our listeners today because we look forward to seeing the progress and on the journey that you're making in the days and months to come. I want to talk now though. I want to shift gears. Jeremy, we talked about you, the man, the myth, the legend. Let's talk about some of the things in the industry. And I would like to one ask. Is there an industry buzzword that just that drives you bonkers? I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. What drives bonkers? What buzzword?
Jeremy M. Pinard: I think best in class, I think we we tend to throw that around like we want to be best in class. And I I think the reality is you just gotta be as good as you can be, right? and best in class just drives me crazy.
Rodney Hood: Well, for me, the term big data, well, what is little data? If some data is big. So I think we just should use data strategically and use it to to to best meet our needs. What are some of the organizational metrics that you find that you like to track and I would say that you find give you the most value? I'm not asking you for proprietary information, but what are some useful metrics that you all are tracking that you think others as well who really do want to be at the top of their game and especially When it comes to enhancing their origination percentages.
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, I mean I think the number that everyone kinda goes to is how many loans can you process, especially on the direct side, like these are our members. How many loans can we process per processor or employee? How many loans can we originate per MLO? just those general numbers I like to watch. I think also efficiency ratios are huge. we talked about pull through rate, auto decision decline and approvals. those are all key for efficiency gains. but again I would really say that number of employees per origination volume and how does that equate to a and show a more efficient process over time.
Rodney Hood: I think that makes a lot of sense. And you've talked about a lot of the metrics that really do drive your business in the bottom line, but those tend to be, in some instance, internal to Canvas. Are there any microeconomic data points you can think of that's crucial for the credit union industry that's often underrated. I know we look at employment and interest rates. Are there any other microeconomic data points you can think of that are critically important?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, unemployment's probably a great one. I mean, especially I would just say here in Colorado, you know, we're experiencing for the first time ever, perhaps other states too, where we're seeing a migration of people out. So that might be another one. So we're seeing the number of people moving in is lower than the number of people leaving Colorado and the first time, I think forever. I think that's a good one here. as well as I think the other thing that we all needed to pay attention to is just the overall inflation cost. that is hurting our members, right? Whether it's insurance, whether it's gas, whether it's taxes, that those numbers impact our members real and and they're gonna impact how our loans perform.
Rodney Hood: I think that makes a lot of sense. Now, what's your juiciest consumer lending prediction for next year? Is there anything that you're predicting that really is going to be important for driving the industry?
Jeremy M. Pinard: I had been telling my team that there's gonna be a refinance boom coming, but all of a sudden rates are just going in the opposite direction. So I think I got that one wrong. I think next year, depending on a few macro things that are we have going on, whether it's Iran, whether it's tariffs, whether it's political, I think Yeah,
Rodney Hood: Geopolitical.
Jeremy M. Pinard: geopolitical. what the administration wants to do on things, I think it's gonna be one of two things. I think we're gonna have incredible 2027 or it's gonna be really, really rough for credit unions and our members. I just don't think there's gonna be anything down the middle. I think it's gonna be one extreme to the other, just because of all the stuff that we have around us, and even regulatory issues that are impacting the credit unions. Like here in Colorado our AI law is going into effect January 1. That that's something we have to deal with.
Rodney Hood: That's a really good question. You're mentioning some of the regulatory activities. We have a new NCUA chairman. There will soon likely be a new CFPB chairman there at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. What are some of the things if you were given an audience with the prudential regulators, what would be some things that you would tell them or encourage them to be mindful of? that would really allow you guys to really get greater local origination. What have been the regulatory impediments that you'd like to see addressed?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Well, I there's a few. I think I'll start with digital assets. I think it was pretty disappointing that that didn't pass and I do think that's something we need to get clarity on so that we can compete against the banks and these other institutions that are already using it for lending. I think, clarity around AI and how it's gonna be hard if every state has their own AI regulations. There should be something I think a broader scale and that'd be my one opinion. and then I would just say from a CFPB standpoint, like I never understood why this ten billion dollar line was drawn. Like it didn't make sense to me. There there needs to be a better way because just because you're ten billion doesn't mean you all of a sudden need to be governed by this new agency. I get why the CFPB is around, I totally understand it. I might not agree with it, but there just seems to be a weird line and what they picked that ten billion, what was it, fifteen years ago or ten years ago?
Rodney Hood: Yes, it was during the whole Great Financial Crisis and the implementation of Dodd-Frank. And I will say that I, as a regulator, and I do know some of the other regulators, they are looking at indexing some of those thresholds just because 10 billion today does not mean systemic importance in today's dollar in today's market. So I will say that there is room for improvement there. So More time on that.
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, awesome.
Rodney Hood: What are some of the things though? Lending is important. What would you say are the misconceptions that people have about consumer lending? You run a big lending channel there at Canvas. What are the big misconceptions?
Jeremy M. Pinard: guess I don't know there's huge misconceptions, but I do think sometimes individuals not close to our industry don't understand like we have to make money to be able to lend to the lower credits, right? So you have to charge the right risk adjusted or you have to charge the right rate to get the risk adjusted returns. And what does that mean? That means some people are gonna pay pay a little higher, some pay or less, but it's based on risk and if we don't do that correctly, we can't generate revenue to reinvest back into our members and our employees. So I think that's something I always try to point out when somebody's kinda understanding lending as a whole is you have to make money on these loans. If you don't make money, you're not gonna grow scale efficiently. Also what is the saying? no margin, no mission. Like if we can't yeah, if we can't have a a decent margin, we don't need to gouge people and I don't think credit unions do that. but we need to make an appropriate return for our risk. And I've always tried to tell people, credit unions, if you grow at ten percent and make a one ROA, you're gonna survive forever. Like You are gonna be around. And and it's those simple ratios that we just need to try to be more transparent about.
Rodney Hood: Not only the transparency, Jeremy, but I agree. One of the things I like to remind people, credit unions exist to serve their members. And yes, credit unions are not for profit cooperatives, but it doesn't mean that there are no profits. There needs to be a profitability margin there. There needs to be a really important ROA. There needs to be stability. It's going to take profits to succeed. And while credit unions are not public credit, they're not doing quarterly. forecasts and things of that nature for shareholders, but they are there to serve their members. And I think the misperception or the misconception is that credit unions don't have to make profits. Yes, you need profits to survive and especially if you want to be an ongoing sustainable entity. So I couldn't agree with you more. We've
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, and I I I would might add one thing to that, Rodney, is and I think something another reason we need to make money and have revenue streams is that we need to hire the best talent. And if you're gonna hire the best talent to be successful, you've got to compete against these other firms. And so you do have to look at that side of it. Like if you can't pay people at the level that the talent is, you're not gonna attract those people and then you you could become stagnant and not grow and become a merger candidate.
Rodney Hood: It becomes an attraction tool or retention tool. It also is important as credit unions growing assets. And I know we talked about 10 billion, or whether you're 5 billion, 10 billion, or 30 billion, if you're going to attract talent, you're going to really have need to have the metrics in order to not just bring them in the front door, but to keep them and nurture them in their careers. With that being said, you're such a gifted leader. I'm going to talk to about some professional experiences now. And that is how do you recruit for talent? Jeremy, you build a wonderful team there. How do you recruit? What's the secret sauce if there's the secret sauce?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Gee, secret sauce. I mean I just I would say, you know, one of the things that's helped me recruit over time is being part of America's Credit Unions councils. I I think being creating that network where you're around your peers, whether it's your equals or someone like a higher level or someone that's just becoming a leader, that the America's Credit Unions councils, the lending council specifically has helped me recruit a lot of people and help other people find people to get opportunities at credit unions. I would say that that and then I think the other thing is I'll go back to the beginning. Be that authentic, transparent, honest, humble, and vulnerable. I think that's the other thing. If you're a leader that has all those qualities and not saying I I have all of but if you do, people wanna come work with you, right? They wanna work with you to solve problems and serve our members. So I I think that's the key.
Rodney Hood: But no, it's great. You're living your authentic self and you're allowing those teammates of yours to be their authentic selves as well. It goes actually both ways. And with that being said, Jeremy, what's the one question that you find yourself often asking your team members? Not just about their production targets. What is some what's another big question that you find when you're doing those one on ones or team meetings?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, I think one of the questions I ask a lot is, do you have everything you need to be successful today? but also in the future. And how can I help you get those things, whether it's tangible system solutions technology or it's intangible things like leadership traits or, you know, development or education. Like it's really trying to ask my team members, how can I make you more successful? And how can I get you to a point where if I win the Powerball someday, you're ready to step up and take my job.
Rodney Hood: that is amazing. Question for you, because I see your leadership, I see your passion. I also think that you would be great in the classroom, not telling you to leave Canvas, but saying to be maybe an adjunct or do some teaching there. If you could teach a semester, I don't know, at CU Boulder or whatever is near you there, what would be the name of the course, Jeremy, and what would it cover?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, there's I've always wanted to write a book and I'd say maybe this would be the class two about the two things parents are and adults I should say adults but that have kids, the two things that they're not reasonably rational about are their kids and their money slash retirement. Like I've worked in the financial industry for a long time and people aren't rational really rational when it comes to money and investing and retirement and all that, but they're also not rational about their kids in sports. And so I think it'd be something like that, like money and kids and we would talk about how you can be a rational human being about money and your kids in sports, because everybody knows youth sports have gotten crazy and I've coached soccer for many, many years and I just got back into it. I I'm shocked how How far one way we've gone.
Rodney Hood: Well, it's very expensive with the traveling teams and the club teams and I know some parents had multiple children in the soccer leagues and that's almost the cost of tuition.
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, I just talked to somebody was telling me their neighbor spends forty five thousand dollars a year on their kids' club sports.
Rodney Hood: That is amazing. That's in addition to any school sports they already have there.
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah. Yeah.
Rodney Hood: Well, it almost takes a finance degree to really look for opportunities to finance our club sports. But with that
Jeremy M. Pinard: That's right. That's right.
Rodney Hood: being said, Jeremy, you obviously are up to date on everything going on. Who in the finance world, dead or alive, would you most like to have coffee with? And I won't be offended if it's not me.
Jeremy M. Pinard: No, it's definitely you, Rodney. I think honestly,
Rodney Hood: Yeah.
Jeremy M. Pinard: I it would be Warren Buffett. I think I in his heyday I would have loved to sat down I mean still alive today, but in his heyday when he was starting his investment company out. That would I think that would be awesome.
Rodney Hood: I think he's someone that we all greatly admire. Did you also know Jeremy? He's an award-winning bridge player.
Jeremy M. Pinard: I did not know that.
Rodney Hood: Yeah, so that's amazing what he does. Now you want to sit down with Warren Buffett, you're going to teach a class. Well, on a daily basis, how do you stay so current? How do you stay up to date? What are the main sources that you're using to get the the business information you need to make informed decisions?
Jeremy M. Pinard: think it's a lot of places. I I I think the probably the primary is America's Credit Unions resources. I think I'm a big CNBC fan. I also
Rodney Hood: Same here.
Jeremy M. Pinard: I I also follow a lot of financial people on X and that's probably where I get my immediate financial news you know, like or when things are going on. But I think across a variety of platforms, but probably those three the most.
Rodney Hood: Very well, and as we get ready to conclude in just a bit, I'm having such a great time speaking with you today. I wanna know what's your favorite? It could be a quote or a joke about consumer lending.
Jeremy M. Pinard: a quote or a joke. I would probably say it would be there's no bad loan when you originate a loan. Like every loan's a good loan when you originate it. And so I think lenders have to have that mindset. If we come from the risk part first, we're never gonna do the right loans to our members. So every every loan's a good loan when we originate it.
Rodney Hood: I love that. I think that makes a lot of sense. We started out our conversation talking about artificial intelligence, innovation. You talked about it from the business perspective. And again, what you're doing around pull-through rates and customer, in our case, member retention. What about your personal life? What things are you using AI with in your personal life?
Jeremy M. Pinard: Yeah, I mean I think it's just like everybody, you know reviewing anything I have to read personally or professionally, having ChatGPT or Copilot summarize it first. I think you know, the the fun stuff where you take a picture of your refrigerator and say, what can I make today? I haven't really in my personal life I haven't really dove into it because I feel like I use it all day long at work and with Copilot and you know writing job descriptions. I just feel like when I get home it's kind of the last thing I want to do, but that's probably going to change over time and I need to create an agent for my Myself.
Rodney Hood: And I agree with you as well. I'm using it in bits and pieces. I've been able to use it for restaurant tips and things of that nature. And also, if I see something like, gee, what was that recipe or something like that? Or what was this idea? So it's really good. I do want to be more strategic in how I use it. Well, Jeremy, this has been an excellent conversation. I want to thank you for joining me and for sharing your experience. your insights and your perspective with all of us today. And I also want to thank everyone for listening to the Origination Podcast. I again I hope you've enjoyed today's conversation. I want you all to be sure to follow the show and leave us a review wherever you listen and join us for more exciting conversations in the days ahead with leaders and innovators who are shaping the future of consumer lending. Again, that's the Origination Podcast, the people Ideas and technology shaping the future of lending. And I'm thanking you again as Rodney Hood. Look forward to joining you all again soon. Goodbye, everyone.