Speed Without Compromise - Origence

***“Find or do something in your career that you enjoy, and this will help bring passion to what you do every day.” - Marlene Juarez*** Thank you for tuning in to The CUInsight Network, with your host, Robbie Young, Vice President of Strategic Growth at CUInsight. In The CUInsight Network, we take a deeper dive with the thought leaders who support the credit union community. We discuss issues and challenges facing credit unions and identify best practices to learn and grow together. My guest on today’s show is Marlene Juarez, Vice President of Professional Services & Training at Origence. She joins me in this episode for a conversation about technology, lending, leadership, and the experiences that shape a career in the credit union movement. Tune in as Marlene reflects on how her path to her current role certainly wasn’t a straight line. She shares how she started out in finance, where working in lending and collections taught her some valuable lessons about understanding borrowers. From there, she moved into the credit union world, eventually becoming a vice president before stepping back to spend more time with her growing family. That decision ultimately led her to Origence, where she has now spent more than two decades building expertise across credit unions, dealerships, lending, and technology. Throughout our conversation, Marlene and I discuss what makes Origence different from a traditional technology vendor, including its CUSO structure and deep connection to the credit union community. Marlene also shares why “Go Live” shouldn’t be viewed as the finish line for a technology implementation but rather as the beginning of something that needs to evolve alongside a credit union’s goals, members, and compliance requirements. We also talk a bit about AI, with Marlene making a truly compelling case for starting with something much less flashy: clean data, and we talk about what practical, useful AI should actually accomplish in lending as well as why reducing friction and producing meaningful results matters more than chasing the biggest promises. As we wrap up the conversation, we get into developing the next generation of leaders, the importance of mentorship, and the value of listening to new ideas, and, of course, Marlene undergoes our usual round of rapid-fire questions as we get to find out about her favorite way to splurge, her favorite book, her approach to work-life balance, what she looks for when traveling to a new city, and more! Enjoy my conversation with Marlene Juarez! **Find the full show notes on** cuinsight.com. **Connect with Marlene:** Marlene Juarez, Vice President of Professional Services & Training at Origence origence.com Marlene: LinkedIn Origence: LinkedIn | Facebook | X **Show notes from this episode:** Place mentioned: California Shout-out: CUDL Shout-out: Marlene’s first manager Book mentioned: Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes TV series mentioned: Grey’s Anatomy TV series mentioned: Scandal Place mentioned: Hawaii **In this episode:** \[0:52] - Hear how an exchange-student experience sparked Marlene’s love of travel and inspired her international-relations ambitions. \[1:37] - Marlene reflects on how her career evolved from lending and credit unions to leading teams and supporting Origence’s national partners. \[4:54] - As a CUSO rooted in credit unions, Origence understands their needs and evolves alongside them. \[6:57] - Clean data enables effective AI, while young leaders bring fresh technological perspectives worth embracing. \[8:25] - What is Marlene’s focus for the road ahead? \[11:08] - Marlene credits her first manager as having been an effective leader. \[12:42] - Marlene reflects on what she loves about the book *Year of Yes* and also its author Shonda Rhimes. \[14:03] - Working across time zones makes balance difficult, so Marlene unwinds with exercise, music, audiobooks, and puzzles. \[15:01] - Marlene encourages others to pursue work that they enjoy, believing that passion makes careers more fulfilling.