Brad Hickey: Insights From the Founder of CU Build

The third annual CU Build event was held in Dallas July 28-30, 2023. CU Build is a buildathon (sometimes called a hackathon) for credit unions running Jack Henry’s Symitar core processing platform, as well as invited vendor partners. The event is 100% credit union organized.

Prior to the event, Digital Banking Podcast host Josh DeTar had the opportunity to chat with Brad Hickey about the then upcoming event. Hickey is the founder of CU Build, as well as the Manager of Application Development at American Airlines Federal Credit Union. In that discussion, Hickey discussed the how and the why of CU Build, laying out a blueprint that other credit unions can follow to leverage the cooperative credit union spirit and drive credit union technology forward.

Given Hickey’s passion for innovation, it’s not surprising that the conversation went on to examine a wide range of topics, including artificial intelligence and what it could mean to education, the promises and reality of decentralized finance (DeFi), and the fact that most high-performing technologists are driven by more than just a good paycheck.