Barefoot Innovation Podcast

The Trump Administration’s new financial agency heads are taking office this spring and summer, and we will be talking with a lot of them. First up, today, is the new Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, Kyle Hauptman. We’ve had Kyle on the show before, when he was the NCUA’s Vice Chair. He and I got together last week at his office at the NCUA’s headquarters building in Alexandria, Virginia, to talk about his priorities and plans as he takes the helm of an agency he knows well.

Our conversation includes, of course, a focus on technology. A few months ago, I participated in two roundtables the Chairman convened on tech, one on AI and one on digital assets. The NCUA has been less restrictive than the bank supervision agencies in permitting institutions to engage in digital asset activities. That, in turn, has given the NCUA some insights that may be useful for other regulators as the U.S. changes its rules for banks in this domain. I was struck, at the roundtables, by the very wide variety of use cases that credit unions are already engaged in, in both blockchain and on AI.

Our discussions cover a lot of ground. We talk about credit unions as a sector – they are a small part of the overall financial system, but play a critical role for their customers, which ties to how the Chairman looks at the issue of financial inclusion. And we talk about how to address regulatory burden. 

We also talk about the steps that the NCUA is undertaking under the DOGE project to streamline government. Kyle talks about rumors about potential plans to consolidate the federal agencies overseeing depositary institutions. He also talks about the steps he has taken to reduce headcount. He makes the point that it’s not possible for an organization to downsize and then continue to do exactly what it was doing before, in the same way, with the same effectiveness. Instead, his team is doing a deep reset, using this moment to think creatively about how to do more with less, especially through technology. 

The DOGE downsizing is underway in various forms at all the agencies, and we’ll be bringing you a series of shows exploring how it is taking shape, along with the updated goals and priorities of the new leaders.

Before we turn to the episode, let me share a quick update about AIR. I’m excited to say that we have set the date and place for our inaugural conference – Converge: Creating the Future of Financial Regulation. It will be on September 16 here in Washington DC. We haven’t opened up registration yet, but PLEASE save the date and, if your organization might be interested in sponsoring it, please reach out!

More on Kyle Hauptman

Kyle Hauptman is the thirteenth Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). He has served in this position since January 2025. Before his designation as Chairman by President Trump, he had been the NCUA’s Vice Chairman since December 2020.

Kyle previously served as Senator Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) advisor on economic policy and as Staff Director of the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy. Prior to joining the Senate staff, he was Senior Vice President at Jefferies & Co and worked as a bond trader at Lehman Brothers in NYC, Tokyo, and Sydney. He also was a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies. Kyle served on President Trump’s transition team in 2016 and was Senator Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) policy advisor for financial services during the 2012 presidential campaign. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s degree from UCLA.

More for our Listeners

Upcoming Shows

We have wonderful upcoming episodes. Our second show with the new administration’s financial regulators will be with Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney Hood. We’ll also have SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who is not new to the commission but who will talk with us about the crypto task force she has been leading, among other things. We’ll have a discussion with Saket Narayan of AWS, discussing modern technology needed by regulators. We have a show coming up with Aishah Ahmad on digital financial services consumer protection in West Africa, tied in with some of the work AIR is doing in that region. And much, much more!

Upcoming AIR Events

We also have four fantastic AIR events planned for the coming months. 

AI fraud: Fighting fire with fire:  First, in our continuing body of work on fraud and scams, we will be convening an exercise in June that we’re calling Battlefront, a war games style competition between fraud attackers and defenders, all using AI. If you’re interested in participating, please apply!

Fraud Policy / West Africa:  Next, we’re heading to West Africa for a Payments & Fraud Policy Sprint, following up the TechSprint we did last year on payments fraud and consumer protection in that region. 

Calling all Regulators: We are excited to be offering a four day learning program in London in September, inviting regulators and central banks from around the world. The program shares AIR’s Innovation Elements methodology that regulators can use to build up their innovation capabilities. 

September Converge Conference in Washington D.C.:  And finally, again, I hope everyone will plan now to join us in Washington D.C. on September 16 for AIR’s inaugural financial regulatory conference, Converge: Creating the Future of Financial Regulation. September will be perfect timing to host some very provocative conversations among top leaders in finance, regulation and technology – and to enable participants to talk and work together about fresh thinking for regulation in a tech-enabled financial world.  Please save that date — tickets for Converge will go on sale  soon! And again, if your organization would like to be a sponsor, please reach out to us – we would love to talk with you about opportunities.

Upcoming Speaking Events by AIR’s team

On the spring conference circuit in the U.S. I spoke this week at the National Fair Housing Alliance’s Responsible AI Symposium. Coming up is the CSBS/AARMR Mortgage Policy Summit in the U.S. I’ll also be speaking in June on AI at the American Bankers Association’’s Regulatory Compliance Conference – the RCC – which is in Indianapolis this year. I’m also looking forward to speaking at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling’s annual conference, in Washington in August. Meanwhile, you’ll find my international AIR colleagues speaking at the Responsible Finance Forum (RFF) in South Africa, the 2025 RegTechAfrica Conference in Nigeria, and also at Money 20/20 Europe in the Netherlands. 

Here’s a full list of speaking engagements and events.

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