Energized with Deonne Christensen (#239)

“The culture isn’t just a sidecar to the credit union motorcycle. It has to be the fuel that runs what we do.” — Deonne Christensen 

Welcome to episode 239 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight, and Jill Nowacki, co-founder, president and CEO of Zealyst.

This episode is sponsored by Trellance. Trellance is a leading technology partner for credit unions, delivering innovative technology solutions to help credit unions achieve more. With a comprehensive suite of analytics, cloud and talent solutions, the Trellance team ensures credit unions increase efficiency, manage risk, and improve member experience. Learn more here!

In this 2026 season, Jill and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

For this episode, we are so excited to bring Deonne Christensen to the show! Deonne is  the President and CEO of Mazuma Credit Union, and she joins us to discuss what it means to be energized and why it matters. We explore what it really takes to create a workplace where people feel connected, supported, challenged, and excited to contribute, and Deonne shares how Mazuma’s culture evolved from a well-intentioned but sometimes awkward collection of ideas into something much more sincere and woven into the way the organization operates.

We talk about why culture requires more than pizza parties, perks, or carefully crafted slogans, with Deonne explaining the importance of building the infrastructure that allows culture to thrive, giving teams ownership of it, and learning to recognize when an organization’s attempts at creating energy are actually missing the mark. She shares some wonderfully candid stories along the way—including mandatory member high-fives, branch dance parties, and a particularly memorable chocolate-fountain-filled commercial!

The three of us also explore the connection between culture and purpose, including Mazuma’s emphasis on helping employees identify their own purpose and understand how it connects to the organization. Deonne talks about belonging, particularly for people who don’t fit the stereotypical image of an energetic or outgoing workplace culture, and why healthy cultures need both positivity and accountability.

Deonne also reflects on her own evolution as a leader and the realization that being kind and caring doesn’t mean sacrificing effectiveness, and we discuss how leaders can care deeply about their people while still holding them accountable. Deonne offers some practical advice for anyone who feels that their career has become too closely tied to titles or positions, encouraging listeners to separate their identities from the corporate ladder and reconnect with their own purpose.

This is truly a conversation about culture, purpose, belonging, leadership, burnout, humor and the energy we create for the people around us, and we hope that you enjoy our conversation with Deonne Christensen!

Connect with Deonne:
Deonne Christensen, President and CEO of Mazuma Credit Union
mazuma.org
Deonne: LinkedIn
Mazuma Credit Union: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts and Spotify
Books mentioned on The CUInsight Experience podcast: Book List

Show notes from this episode:
Sponsor: Trellance
Shout-out: Mazumans
Film mentioned: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Shout-out: Chick-fil-a
Character mentioned: Michael Scott
TV series mentioned: The Office
Shout-out: Deonne’s four teenagers
Shout-out: CUES Symposium
Shout-out: Claude
Shout-out: Zoom
Shout-out: Mazuma’s Chief Risk Officer
Shout-out: Mazuma’s Chief Information Officer

Previous guests mentioned in this episode: George Hofheimer (#33); Kelly Botti (#238)

In This Episode:
[2:02] - Deonne believes that a strong culture requires leadership investment, infrastructure, and space for people to take ownership.
[4:49] - Early culture efforts can easily miss the mark when they don’t reflect employees’ and members’ real experiences.
[6:10] - Deonne asserts that culture should fuel meaningful work without creating forced or disconnected experiences for employees and members.
[9:07] - Hear how Deonne's employees have refined the culture by integrating its values naturally into their everyday work.
[10:43] - Personal purpose helps employees align their work with something deeper than just compensation or status.
[13:08] - Deonne and Jill discuss how work is a type of a relationship.
[15:31] - Hear how a healthy culture makes everyone feel they belong and can contribute, regardless of personality type.
[18:05] - Deonne reflects on how, after years of leadership effort, employees eventually took ownership of the culture before pandemic fatigue dimmed its spark.
[19:48] - Rebuilding culture requires addressing struggles directly rather than allowing conflict or burnout to go unresolve
[22:19] - Jill and Deonne talk about how core values define how teams handle conflict, accountability, and challenges while supporting a healthy workplace culture.
[25:24] - Deonne argues that effective leadership combines kindness and empathy with accountability and high expectations.
[28:14] - A strong workplace balances caring for individuals with serving a purpose larger than themselves.
[31:27] - Sharing cultural leadership empowers teams while allowing leaders to recharge and maintain energy.
[34:39] - Hear how, even though she loves people, Deonne is an introvert and sometimes needs time to recharge her social battery.
[36:26] - Deonne advises how discovering personal purpose can free people from defining success through titles, positions, or advancement.
[38:52] - Deonne offers an example of how embracing humor can make stressful work more manageable and memorable.