SANTA CLARA, Calif. – April 29, 2025 – Eltropy, the leading AI-powered conversations platform for community financial institutions (CFIs), announced the successful conclusion of EMERGE 2025, which brought together a record 300 credit union and community bank leaders to explore advances in member service technology. The company’s third annual user conference – a four-day event held April 22-25 at the InterContinental San Francisco – featured packed sessions on contact center optimization, unified communications, and real-world AI applications.
“The true magic of EMERGE 2025 was seeing firsthand how collaboration between credit unions and community banks leads to practical solutions that work in the real world,” said Ashish Garg, Co-founder and CEO of Eltropy. “When these institutions share their experiences, we witness the spark of ideas that evolve into tangible improvements in member engagement and service delivery.”
A high-impact panel titled “The Future for Community Financial Institutions” brought together industry leaders including Mark Meyer, CEO of Filene Research Institute; Sumeet Grover, EVP at UFCU; Scott Rabe, SVP at STCU; and Wharton School Professor Kartik Hosanagar. Moderated by Sundeep Kapur of Digital Credence, the discussion explored how credit unions and community banks can harness AI and digital engagement strategies to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving financial landscape.
The unique “Speed Dating with Eltropy Products & Solutions” session provided attendees with quick, focused overviews of Eltropy’s entire platform. Participants rotated through various stations to learn how each offering could add specific value to their institutions.
Highlight sessions included Eltropy’s product team presenting a live demo of their new office telephony system integration, drawing enthusiastic responses from attendees. The “Staying Aware and Secure with Text Compliance” session provided critical regulatory insights for financial institutions, while the AI certification training drew a full house of participants eager to implement artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.
The popular “Stump the Expert” challenge put Eltropy’s technical team to the test, with customers asking tough questions about integrations and implementation details. Despite the challenging questions, Eltropy’s experts remained – according to the panelists, of course – “unshaken, unstoppable, and un-stumpable.” (In a fun twist, Eltropy presented each attendee who posed a question with their own pair of signature white shoes.)
Thursday’s program featured the inaugural “Customer Story Sprints” competition, where CFIs presented their implementation successes in rapid 20-minute sessions. Four credit union leaders, including Royce Ngiam from First City Credit Union, who took home the $2,000 grand prize, and Melissa Wrycha from Park City Credit Union, shared compelling stories that resonated with the audience.
“EMERGE 2025 has been fantastic for our team,” said Melissa Wrycha, Chief Experience Officer at Park City Credit Union. “We’ve been slowly turning on each Eltropy feature over the past year, and seeing how other credit unions are using the same tools gives us new ideas to bring back home. The connections we’ve made this week will help us focus on improving our member experience even more, and we’re excited to explore the AI capabilities coming in 2025.”
Nuvei, the conference’s Titanium sponsor, presented a well-attended breakout session on “Smarter Payments: Understanding the Payments Landscape and How to Leverage It to Your CU’s Advantage.” Led by Trey Swallow, Senior Vice President of Strategic Partners at Nuvei, alongside Eltropy’s Amir Tajkarimi, the session explored how seamless payment integrations and self-serve options enhance loan repayment while providing insights on key payment processing trends relevant to credit unions.
The conference concluded with Eltropy’s signature gala night, a dazzling “Gatsby Meets Bollywood” themed celebration that brought together customers and partners for an evening of networking and entertainment.
CUbroadcast‘s Mike Lawson served as the official emcee and conducted video interviews throughout the conference. Social activities included a San Francisco Giants baseball game, a sunset cruise on the Bay, and a foodie tour of the city, providing attendees with networking opportunities beyond the conference sessions.
During the event, Eltropy also showcased its commitment to giving back, with attendees participating in a payment experience demonstration that raised nearly $1,400 for Credit Unions for Kids.
EMERGE 2025 was supported by industry partners including Nuvei, Origence, Illuma, SWIVEL, Temenos, Finalytics.ai, REPAY, Tyfone, AKUVO, Janusea, Casap, IDgo, and Alacriti.
For more information on Eltropy’s AI-powered conversations platform for community financial institutions, visit eltropy.com/emerge-2025.
About Eltropy
Eltropy is the leading conversations platform for community financial institutions (CFIs). Its AI-driven communications tools empower CFIs to communicate, automate, improve operations and engagement, and increase productivity across the institution – all while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance. Using Eltropy’s platform, CFIs can connect with and service their members and customers anytime, anywhere via Text, SMS, Chat, Video, and Voice — all integrated into a single platform. For more information, please visit eltropy.com.
