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2026 ACU Operations & Technology Conference Recap: What's Next for Credit Union AI
Inside the 2026 ACU Operations and Technology Conference
Two days at the ACU Operations and Technology Conference 2026 made one thing clear: credit unions are ready to move faster on AI adoption, real-time payments and member experience, and they want to do it without losing control of the systems their members rely on.
From September 22 to 24, operations, member experience and technology leaders gathered for America's Credit Unions' Operations and Technology Councils' Conference. The Devsu team is grateful to everyone who stopped by, joined our sponsored session, and shared what's on their roadmap. Here's what stood out to us, and how we're thinking about helping.
Conference highlights: keynotes, council panels and sessions
The agenda balanced big-picture keynotes with peer-led panels where credit union practitioners compared notes on the work in front of them.
Keynotes on leadership, innovation and AI
Former U.S. Navy submarine officer Marc Koehler opened with Fast Attack Leadership, a framework for leading teams through pressure and disruption. Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino challenged leaders not to "hit snooze on the future" and to build cultures where every voice can spark innovation. Dan Chuparkoff, who has led teams at Google, McKinsey and Atlassian, cut through the hype in AI & the Future of Everything. Bill Benjamin closed the main program with the behaviors behind high-performance cultures.
Council panels on credit union operations
Council-hosted panels and roundtables covered branch operations for both $1B+ and sub-$1B credit unions, deposit operations, contact centers, payments and process improvement. The Cross Council Panel brought these threads together around Operations, Member Experience and Technology priorities.
Education sessions on cybersecurity, payments and member growth
Sessions ranged from cyber risk quantification and 2026 cybersecurity audits to payments orchestration, card-not-present fraud, member loyalty and walletshare, workforce development, and what credit unions can learn from Chime's growth with members under 40.
Giving back in Las Vegas
Attendees assembled school supply and food kits with United Way of Southern Nevada, raced at F1 Arcade, and celebrated the volunteers who make the Councils thrive.
Devsu-sponsored session: a playbook for responsible AI adoption in credit unions
Devsu was proud to sponsor AI Is Here, Now What? A Credit Union Playbook for Responsible Adoption, led by Amy Travers of Illuma. The session covered real-world AI and generative AI use cases, plus the governance, ethics and risk principles (transparency, fairness, privacy and accountability) that keep adoption compliant and member trust intact.
Key takeaways for credit union technology and operations leaders
- AI only works on a process and a system built for it. Session after session made the same point: adding new tools on top of legacy approaches isn't enough. Pilots stall when AI is layered on an old process or can't reach the data it needs.
- Real-time payments raise the stakes on integration. FedNow, RTP, digital wallets and P2P add rails and partners. Orchestrating them depends on how cleanly the systems behind them connect.
- Lean teams need results they can own. Whether the topic was risk programs, branch projects or automation, credit unions asked for progress without adding headcount, and for work their own teams can run once it's done.
How Devsu helps credit unions modernize for AI and real-time payments
Devsu continuously modernizes the systems credit unions run on, so the AI, payments and digital banking tools you've already invested in can deliver for members.
Walk any conference floor and you'll find great platforms. Think of them as powerful new appliances. If the building's wiring is decades old, they can't run at full power. We're the electricians: we modernize the wiring, and keep modernizing it as you add more. We don't sell you another appliance, so we can work neutrally with what you already license, from Q2 and Banno to Snowflake and MuleSoft.
Our approach to credit union modernization
- Start from a living map. Velx, our architectural mapping technology, reads your real code to show how your applications, data and integrations actually connect, before anything changes.
- Put senior engineers on it. Our Forward Deployed Engineers modernize legacy applications, turn brittle point-to-point links into governed APIs, and move batch processes toward real time.
- Keep it healthy. Continuous governance means new technical debt doesn't pile up while old debt is cleared.
Benefits for your credit union
- Capacity without hiring. Your team spends less time keeping fragile connections alive.
- Exam-ready by design. Documentation and controls are produced as part of how we build, which supports NCUA exam readiness.
- Your team owns it. Every engagement is designed to be operationally supportable by your staff, with no permanent dependency on us.
- Scoped, not open-ended. Work runs in 8 to 12 week increments, and the first engagement often fits a budget you've already approved.
See you at next year's ACU Operations and Technology Conference
Thank you to America's Credit Unions, the Council volunteers, our fellow sponsors and every attendee who made this year's conference such a generous exchange of ideas. The credit union spirit of sharing what works was on full display, and we left with a longer list of conversations to continue.
If we met in Las Vegas, or if we missed you, we'd love to keep talking. Whether you're planning an AI initiative, preparing for real-time payments, or simply trying to get more out of the systems you already own, let's map where to start.
We're already looking forward to seeing everyone again at next year's conference.
