Spire Credit Union's Dan Stoltz is the 'CEO on the street'

Spire Credit Union Chief Executive Dan Stoltz is also the institution's chief commercial evangelist, amiably visiting customers in Spire's blue, 1952 Ford pickup truck.

Stoltz, 62, meets and greets at St. Paul Saints games, customer remodeling projects and small businesses, Salvation Army events and other community fundraisers. Since 2011, he has starred with real customers in low-budget, high-visibility Spire commercials that stress finance as human and community development.

"Dan does customer service better than we do," said Saints President Mike Veeck, also a "fun is good" business guru. "Dan is the CEO on the street. I'm a fan. And look at the numbers Spire has put up."

Stoltz, 62, an accountant and then chief financial officer, became interim CEO of Spire in 2009 with turnaround orders from the board. Regulators demanded cuts to conserve capital and that Spire's board consider merging into a stronger partner after an $11.5 million loss in 2009 due to bad commercial real estate loans tied to the previous CEO.

"Thank God that board picked Dan," said Tom Heinzen, current board chairman and a veteran business executive who called Stoltz "a leader in strategy and establishing the right culture."

Stoltz resisted becoming Spire's pitch man when Casey Carlson, the marketing vice president, came up with the idea. The CEO reasoned he should concentrate on the save-the-bank strategy.

"I thought the idea was stupid at first," Stoltz quipped. "But people liked the truck."

Carlson found the vintage truck online and named it "Archie" after Spire's 1934 founder.

Stoltz eventually came around to the idea that homespun, low-cost ads would cement that the credit union was focused on customer service. He has done 65 commercials that are essentially snippets of unscripted hour-long chats with customers.

Stoltz credits the commercial editors for making him look good in the 30-second spots.

"We wanted authenticity, not acting," said Carlson, a 28-year employee who started as a teller. "Dan's strategic. He studies leadership and mistakes others made. He wants...Spire to be like the bank in [fictional] 'Mayberry. Employees and customers know you.''

Stoltz insisted on growing branch offices as other, larger institutions, shuttered offices to save money.

"Many of our members want to do business in branches," Heinzen said. "It's more expensive. But it's worth it."

Spire, located since 2003 across Larpenteur Avenue from University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus, has grown profitably from $523 million to $2 billion in assets since 2010. The credit union posted a record $20.7 million profit in 2021. It grew from 60,000 customers to 146,000 and doubled to 22 offices.

That market-beating growth was aided by 11 mergers with smaller institutions. Spire, with 300-plus employees, is Minnesota's fourth-largest credit union by assets and third by customers, and among the 15 largest Minnesota-based banking organizations.

"I love business, competition and making money," said Stoltz, 62, who also enjoys public speaking and schmoozing at events until the lights go out. "But my legacy will be my family and faith. And to live fully is to give fully. Time, talent and treasure."

Stoltz focuses on customer satisfaction. Spire has a high "Net Promoter Score,'' a standard measure of customer experience that predicts growth. Spire pays employees an extra bonus of up to $500 quarterly tied partly to customer satisfaction. The company pays competitive wages. Happy employees are the cheapest way to expand relationships and acquire new customers.

"Dan is the real deal," said Chris Chinn, a Spire manager and 26-year employee. "Employees love that Dan does the commercials with real customers. Unscripted. At annual meetings with 5,000 members and employees, he puts his phone number on the overhead. Got a problem, call him.''

Stoltz was paid $735,000 in salary and bonus in 2021 for Spire's success — about in the middle among CEOs of credit unions with $2 billion to $4 billion in assets, Heinzen said.

"He could go elsewhere to make more," he said. "We have people trying to poach Dan …because we are so successful. He's a great leader.''

Stoltz joined Spire as chief financial officer in 1999, when it was still the Twin Cities Co-op Credit Union, from University of Northwestern in Roseville, his alma mater.

Stoltz has served dozens of organizations, from the St. Paul Winter Carnival to the Salvation Army, as volunteer and donor. He has been King Boreas Rex at the Winter Carnival and commodore of the Minneapolis Aquatennial.

He sees successful leadership as being a "go-getter" and "go-giver." He's still working on giving more than he has received, or becoming a "net giver," as he puts it.

Chris Wright, former executive with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota United, recalled lunching with Stoltz several years ago to tell him the Timberwolves were ending their relationship with Spire in favor of U.S. Bank.

"Dan couldn't believe I hadn't just called him, instead of arranging a lunch," Wright recalled. "He thanked me."

Wright later welcomed Spire to a partnership with St. Paul's major league soccer team.

"He's one of the most authentic business people," Wright said. "He delivers on his promise of fairness, respect and equity. And then good things happen.''