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Kirk Drake

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Short bio (50 words)

Kirk Drake is the founder of CU 2.0, a fintech and AI digital studio for credit unions, and President of XDI and Painted Hills CUSO. A serial entrepreneur with eight exits, including Ongoing Operations and CU Wallet, he is an author, keynote speaker and, with his winemaker wife, owner of Resistance Wine Company.

Medium bio (100 words)

Kirk Drake is a serial entrepreneur, author and keynote speaker who has spent more than 30 years building technology for credit unions. He founded Ongoing Operations, a disaster-recovery and cloud CUSO acquired by Trellance in 2022, and co-founded CU Wallet, acquired by the Michigan Credit Union League in 2016. His 2017 book, CU 2.0, became CU 2.0, a fintech and AI digital studio for credit unions. Today he is also President of XDI and founder and President of Painted Hills CUSO, and runs Resistance Wine Company in Ashland, Oregon, with his wife, its winemaker. He has been part of eight exits as a founder or owner.

Full bio (about 300 words)

Kirk Drake is a serial entrepreneur, author and keynote speaker who has spent more than 30 years helping credit unions compete with technology, and he is known for using humor to explain complex ideas and drive change.

In 2006 he founded Ongoing Operations, a credit union service organization launched with the backing of seven credit unions. For more than a decade it provided disaster-recovery and cloud services to credit unions, and in 2022 it was acquired by Trellance. In 2013 he co-founded CU Wallet with digital banking pioneer Paul Fiore, a credit union–backed digital wallet acquired by the Michigan Credit Union League in 2016.

His 2017 book, CU 2.0: A Guide for Credit Unions Competing in the Digital Age, became a company. CU 2.0 began as a fintech studio and has grown into a fintech and AI digital studio that helps credit unions put AI to work. His 2020 book, FinAncIal: Helping Financial Services Executives Prepare for an Artificial World, followed.

Today Kirk is also President of XDI, a document intelligence platform for financial institutions, and founder and President of Painted Hills CUSO, a credit union service organization owned by its member credit unions. Along the way he has been part of eight exits as a founder or owner. He speaks on where AI creates real value, how regulated institutions adopt it safely, and how small organizations compete with large ones, and he has been featured in The Next Web, International Business Times and CUbroadcast.

Based in Ashland, Oregon, Kirk and his wife run Resistance Wine Company, a boutique winery where she makes the wine and his AI tools keep the books.

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Topics for TV

  • Why businesses struggle to turn AI into real results

    Companies have more AI tools than ever but little to show on the bottom line. Kirk argues AI is not a software purchase but a change in how work gets done, and shows how to pick what to automate.

  • Can smaller financial institutions compete in AI?

    You cannot outspend the megabanks, and you do not have to. Kirk covers how credit unions compete by cooperating on AI, moving fast with governance built in, and keeping member trust.

  • Preparing people for an AI economy

    Banning AI does not stop kids from using it; it stops anyone from teaching them to use it well. Kirk covers why judgment beats prompting and what families, schools and employers can do now.

Books

FinAncIal: Helping Financial Services Executives Prepare for an Artificial World (2020)

What financial services executives need to know about AI, and what they need to start doing now.

Get the book

CU 2.0: A Guide for Credit Unions Competing in the Digital Age (2017)

A plan for credit union boards, CEOs and management teams to use technology to compete with banks.

Get the book

As seen in

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