A Mortgage Without Stress

Buying a home is one of the most exciting times in a consumer’s life—but also one of the most stressful. Prospective homebuyers are often anxious about the mortgage lending process and want reassurance from their credit union that everything is proceeding as expected. If communication is lacking, members are likely to feel disconnected from their own financial journey.

Ryan Suttles, CCM, Real Estate Specialist at $56 billion State Employees’ Credit Union in North Carolina, has developed a solution to stop this disconnect from happening. He presented his concept for a pipeline-centered mortgage dashboard during the competitive phase of the 2025 CUES® Emerge Program—a free, monthslong professional development program designed to educate and encourage the next generation of credit union leaders. From a strong field of five finalists who presented their business cases, Suttles came away with the title of the 2025 CUES Emerging Leader.

“The pipeline-centered mortgage dashboard focuses on improving communication, transparency, and efficiency throughout the mortgage process,” Suttles said. “It reduces the complexity and the opaqueness that members feel on their mortgage journey, and at the same time, it gives credit union staff a clearer, more efficient way to manage the pipeline and communicate those updates proactively.”

Suttles explained that the aim of the dashboard is to bring all required information in the mortgage lending process together into a single, centralized platform that helps both sides—members and staff—stay aligned. “It means less uncertainty for our members and more confidence in their journey. For staff, it means a better workflow and reduced back-and-forth communication, allowing them to focus on the personal, consultative side of that service.”

An Impressive Presentation

Suttles was among a cohort of 36 up-and-coming credit union professions selected to participate in the 2025 CUES Emerge program. Sponsored by CUES and Currency Marketing, the program gave the cohort the opportunity to hone leadership skills through live online courses, mastermind sessions, peer collaboration, and the practical experience of preparing a business case. Suttles and the four other finalists presented their business cases during a live online pitch show, held on Oct. 1 and hosted by Tim McAlpine, Currency Marketing’s founder and CEO.  

In making his case for the pipeline-centered mortgage dashboard, Suttles described how the worst thing that can happen in the mortgage lending process is that members become disengaged because of a fragmented communication process. “Having a dashboard would put everybody on the same page,” he said. “Consumers want to have transparency. They want to have clarity and consistency. But most of all, they want to feel connected to us as their lender and their credit union.”

Suttles’ presentation was enhanced by strong graphics depicting a dashboard that features real-time updates, a messaging hub, and a document center. The dashboard gives members an at-a-glance view of their loan’s progress so that they never have to question what tasks have been completed and what tasks are pending. The result is higher engagement, reduced miscommunication, faster closings, and better member relationships.

“This dashboard changes the dynamic,” Suttles told the judges, noting that the member feels much more a part of the process. “They own their own journey, just like they own their new home.”  

Suttles stressed that the dashboard would pay for itself through better efficiencies and fewer redundancies. In his presentation, he projected a 33% reduction in time spent per file across the lending department. With a 60% adoption rate, he foresaw a breakeven point of less than 18 months. By year three, he estimated savings of over $1.5 million in labor and a cumulative net benefit exceeding $2.1 million.

This isn’t just soft savings,” he observed. “It directly affects our financial statements by controlling expenses, growing revenue, and retaining our market share.”

A Natural Progression

Suttles has worked at SECU for nearly 12 years but has been a member his entire life. His mother joined the credit union during her career in county and state government and the public school system.

“For 36 years, I’ve been very familiar with the credit union and its mission,” he said. “State Employees’ Credit Union is ubiquitous in North Carolina. Every county has at least one branch, and many counties have multiple branches. It’s the second largest credit union in the country and the second largest lender in North Carolina.”

With this tremendous market reach, SECU has grown to 2.7 million members served by 275 branches throughout North Carolina. That means 1 out of 4 people in the state are SECU members.

Suttles segued from SECU member to SECU employee in 2014, shortly after earning his bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University. After gaining experience in the contact center, he took some lending courses that equipped him to move into a consumer lending role. Eventually, he expanded into mortgage lending and home equity loans.  

“That seemed like a natural progression for me,” Suttles said. “Then, in 2022, there was an opportunity for me to move into a real estate lending role exclusively. I quickly found that I loved it. It’s incredibly fulfilling to help first-time homebuyers make their dreams a reality. There’s nothing quite like guiding somebody through that process and seeing their excitement when they close on their home.”

Suttles has coupled his passion for real estate lending with a desire to improve the member experience. “My goal is to make things easier for members, whether through improving communication and transparency or making the mortgage process more efficient,” he said. “I’m always looking for ways to better our process and make it the best it can possibly be.”

Gaining Leadership Insights

By participating in CUES Emerge, Suttles feels equipped to move even farther in his career. “The program was amazing,” he said. “It challenged me to think differently and gave me a lot of clarity regarding what kind of leader I want to be. There was a lot of mentorship, coaching, and collaboration with other like-minded professionals across North America.”

Suttles especially found value in the mastermind sessions, which paired program participants with more seasoned experts. “I’ve got to give a shoutout to Jayde Delgado (the 2023 CUES Emerge Winner),” Suttles said. “He was our mastermind this year and was a great support throughout the process. I got a lot of good feedback and advice from him along the way.”

Suttles also has words of praise for the help provided by McAlpine and CUES staff members. “I’ve done several programs like this in the past. All of them are very good, but this one stands out amongst all the rest,” Suttles said. “It’s very organized and well-structured. You know exactly what to expect every single week. You know what to expect if you make it into the competitive phase. They’re going to help you and give you good advice. They’re even going to pair you with a professional speaking coach who will improve your presentation. This was Trevor O’Rouke, who was instrumental in helping me get my presentation from where it was, which was good, to what it became, which was great.”

During his CUES Emerge experience, Suttles also received help and support from key people at SECU—most notably, Colton Mathews, CMB, Associate Executive Vice President, Lending Retail Delivery. “Colton helped me generate ideas for my business case and gave me great advice,” Suttles said. “I had a general idea of what I wanted to present, but he helped me refine that vision into what my business case became. Colton has always been a great advocate for me in my professional development. He was pivotal in helping me recognize the potential of this concept and encouraged me to pursue it through the Emerge program.”

Mathews, meanwhile, recognizes the qualities in Suttles that make him deserving of the title of CUES Emerging Leader. “Ryan constantly seeks out new knowledge and challenges himself to evolve as a leader, ensuring his skills remain cutting-edge and relevant,” Mathews said. “This dedication to self-improvement directly translates into the value he brings to the members of State Employees' Credit Union. He applies his evolving expertise to making a difference in the lives of SECU members through real estate lending while modeling a standard of continuous development that inspires his colleagues at SECU.”

Aspirations for the Future

As the CUES Emerge winner, Suttles has won an education package that includes coaching from Envision Excellence and free registration to the CUES Advanced Management Program delivered online from Cornell University. He’s looking forward to taking advantage of these resources to improve his leadership abilities. He is likely to pursue advancement in the real estate lending field but is also open to opportunities in other areas.

“I feel like there’s a broad world out there,” he said. “I do have a passion for real estate lending, but I’ll work to help people achieve their goals in whatever capacity I can.”

In keeping with his proposal for the pipeline-centered mortgage dashboard, Suttles would like to explore other ways that technology can improve the member experience. “Over the next five or 10 years, I want to keep contributing to initiatives that will help our industry modernize while staying true to our values as a credit union,” he said. “Looking further ahead, I would love one day to serve at an executive level. There are many ways that credit unions can make a difference in people’s lives, and I want to help lead us in that direction.”

As he contemplates his CUES Emerge experience, Suttles would encourage other young leaders to apply for program. “The one thing I would say to anybody who is on the fence about applying is just do it. Say yes. Bet on yourself. It’s an incredible opportunity to learn difference facets of leadership. You get a great education and wonderful networking opportunities, too.”

Based in Missouri, Diane Franklin is a longtime contributor to CU Management.