Founded in 1938, GreenState Credit Union has spent nearly nine decades growing into a regional banking leader to become one of the Midwest’s largest credit unions. Today the financial institution is known for an efficient and high-performing branch network that serves more than 400,000 members. As they expanded, the credit union leaned into a model of fewer, larger branches spread across wide geographic areas, prioritizing operational efficiency over geographic proximity. As member expectation evolves and competition intensifies across established and emerging markets alike, credit union leadership answered the call for change.
GreenState recognized that the legacy branch patterns of today could not support the deeper relationships and core deposits needed to spur future growth. They needed deeper insight into where their network was underdelivering and how strategic expansion could better serve members. While they wanted to fill in the gaps in their branch network with a more intentional hub-and-spoke model, they also sought to preserve GreenState’s hallmark efficiency and member access.
The Solution:
GreenState partnered with Adrenaline to build a comprehensive retail delivery strategy – a custom-made roadmap created specifically for the credit union’s network, operational model, and long-term growth goals. Using a combination of powerful datasets, the Adrenaline team evaluated GreenState’s existing branch network across macro and micro markets, transaction patterns, competitive presence, and future potential. With this data-rich foundation, the team was able to identify where the credit union should place branches, which locations carried the greatest impact, and how each branch should function in a unified system.
The Story:
GreenState’s retail strategy engagement with Adrenaline demonstrates the power of aligning data and design to guide meaningful transformation. From the earliest conversations, it was clear that the credit union needed a customized, curated solution reflecting the realities of their current footprint, operational approach, and strong commitment to member service.
Adrenaline’s team collaborated closely with the credit union’s retail, experience, and operational leaders to build a holistic view of the current-state network. Working sessions surfaced strengths and pain points across markets and revealed opportunity gaps that could be solved with strategic approaches to unlock more powerful performance.
One core element of the retail strategy is the GreenState-specific branch archetypes, which include flagship, momentum, neighborhood, and convenience branches. Each model maps branch staffing, experience intent, and operational focus to local market demands. These delivery archetypes are the blueprint for the future – guiding the design of a modern member experience inside the branch and allowing leaders to visualize how each archetype would function and feel.
The findings bring analytics into sharp focus. Using curated data, the team could assess potential, performance, competition, and growth dynamics. This snapshot allows leadership to see their network not as a static set of branches, but as a dynamic system with distinct roles and opportunities.
As the team moved through foundation-setting exercises, the delivery strategy establishes a clear North Star for GreenState’s future branch network. Ultimately, the ideal branch environment will be rooted in member accessibility, purposeful design, and meaningful experiences. This work helped internal teams see the future more clearly and rally around a shared vision.
Translating insights into “How to Be There” guidance, the plan includes design strategy, mood boards, member journey mapping, zone approaches, and experience plans. This delivery strategy helps leadership envision what their future-state environment could become and the ROI the network can deliver.
Finally, the plan helps identify which branches would drive the most meaningful impact, how to prioritize them over the next five years, and where new opportunities for expansion still remain. The final recommendations synthesized all insights into one cohesive delivery roadmap, showing how the network could evolve over the coming years – through a mixture of optimizations, new builds, relocations, and ITM expansion.
For GreenState, the engagement became a catalyst for cross-department collaboration and culture, prompting conversations between retail, facilities, and executive leadership about the future of the network. The collaboration also illuminated opportunities for continued partnership and a strong foundation for future transformation.
Adrenaline is a culture fit with us. Your team’s understanding of the credit union movement is clear. You know what credit unions look and feel like, and that makes all the difference.”
– Katherine Bader Courtney, Chief Operating Officer, GreenState Credit Union
