Many of the brightest minds from the U.S. and Canada were present in Montreal September 29 – October 1, 2009 for the Filene Research Institute’s collaborative gathering of talent: big.bright.minds. This annual meeting of Filene’s Research Council, i³ teams, Fellows, Administrative Board, and special guests began with a reminder from CEO, Mark Meyer, that U.S. credit unions can benefit from looking to their northern neighbors who, on many levels, are weathering the recent economic storm with less damage than their American counterparts.
- Our Canadian host at Desjardins, Hubert Thibault, shared a history of Desjardins and its notable position in the Canadian financial system. He reminded us that the Institute’s choice to gather in Canada is a pleasant renewal of a relationship that began 100 years ago when Edward Filene and Alphonse Desjardins first met to discuss the future of cooperative financial opportunities. Although the Canadian and U.S. credit union systems forged different paths, today it is essential to reinvigorate our relationships so that we may more easily collaborate in the future. Click here for Mr. Thibault’s presentation.
- Of course, what would a Filene conference be without the presentation of new and innovative research? Five i³ teams presented their ideas. Click here for brief descriptions of the proposals or click here for their full presentations.
- Next the Filene Fellows presented their current research projects and analysis of what the future will bring for credit unions and financial services. Highlights include Peter Tufano’s message that the “third i” of i³ (implementation) is the most important. Peter punctuated this by showing President’ Obama’s message that Americans can now save their tax refund more easily. This is was a direct result of Peter’s work with D2D. Click here for a full brief on the other Fellow’s important projects.
- Eldar Shafir, Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, illustrated to us how behavioral economics is a strong influencer in people’s behavior. He explained that people’s choices are strongly influenced by many factors such as quantity of options, images used in marketing, and the choice of wording among many others. Click here to view his presentation.
- Lastly, our day ended with three innovative case studies by Howard Brodsky, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO of CCA Global Partners; Vidar Jorgensen, President, Grameen America (video about Grameen here) and William Spademan , Project Director & President, Common Good Bank.
Day one wrapped with a social gathering on the 39th floor of Complexe Desjardins overlooking the city of Montreal. Alphonse Desjardins and Ed Filene would have been proud to see new friendships developing based on shared ideas and a common faith in the cooperative system.
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Andrea: Thanks for an excellent review. Dave R.
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excellent! you are so smart! total MGMer!!!
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