As state credit union leagues continue seeking efficiency without sacrificing local advocacy, Fuel Solutions is charting a new path for multi-league collaboration — which was spotlighted in a recent CU Times’ Shared Accounts podcast.
In “The Behind-the-Scenes Weapon Fighting for CU Leagues,” Fuel Solutions Executive Director Stephen Nelson details how the partnership among California’s Credit Unions, Nevada’s Credit Unions, and Utah’s Credit Unions operates on a simple premise: serving as a collaborative back-office engine that handles operational support so individual leagues can focus on state and federal advocacy.
“It’s basically a CUSO for leagues,” Nelson said. “We’re owned and run by the California, Nevada, and Utah leagues, and our purpose is to help state leagues stay independent. We support advocacy by providing non-advocacy services to credit unions through their leagues.”
He drew a clear distinction between state-specific legislative advocacy — led by California and Nevada leagues President and CEO Jeremy Empol and Utah league President and CEO Rusty Cannon — versus operational needs and credit union affairs. Advocacy is unique to state boundaries, but the operations of credit unions are very similar across the board.
“We’re not really trying to build the Fuel brand among credit unions,” Nelson said. “We want credit unions in our leagues to think of us as an extension of their league.”
Fuel Solutions delivers leadership development, training, and operational advisory services, with compliance support standing out as a major priority. Nelson said credit unions of all asset sizes need compliance assistance, with state leagues serving an important role for leaders who want to feel connected with fellow professionals, network, and discuss high-level ideas.
Governed by a nine-member board with three representatives from each partner league, Fuel Solutions is preparing for national growth as similar collaborative conversations emerge across the nation.
“We would like to serve as many state leagues as possible,” Nelson said. “We recognize that not every state league is going to choose to use us, but we want to be well-positioned to have that conversation when those leagues are ready. We need to have the right infrastructure and engines in place to deliver products and services across multiple states in a very efficient manner.”
Nelson, whose career began with an internship at the Utah league in 1998 around the passage of H.R. 1151 (the Credit Union Membership Access Act), emphasized that having experience on both sides keeps Fuel Solutions grounded in delivering measurable value.
“When you work at a league, it’s easy to think the league is the center of the credit union universe,” Nelson said. “Then you work inside a credit union, and you realize how busy teams are by just serving their members. That perspective informs where I am today — making sure we deliver meaningful, high-value non-advocacy services that give credit unions the biggest return on their investment.”
