Tech People in the Know: FI Works Keith Henkel
In what is a recurring feature, Finopotamus profiles interesting and intriguing tech professionals who are positively impacting the credit union industry.
For this issue, we visited with FI Works Founder and CEO Keith Henkel. The Little Rock, Ark.-based fintech bills itself as providing digital solutions that empower community banks and credit unions with smarter data, AI, and growth strategies.
By W.B. King
While studying economics and business administration at Rhodes College in the early 1980s, Keith Henkel had an aha moment of sorts. “The question that interested me most was how software and data could be used to solve business problems,” he told Finopotamus. Upon graduation, he accepted a position with Systematics, Inc., which is considered one of the pioneering fintechs. Later becoming ALLTEL Information Systems, the company is known today as FIS.
“This is where I built the first PC-based asset/liability management system. Asset/liability management is an analytical process that uses detailed data to understand interest rate risks inherent in every institution’s balance sheet,” he shared. “This got me hooked on the idea that software and data could automate and improve decisions in financial services, especially with community institutions.”
Quality Trusted Data
Throughout his career, he has been continually challenged on how FIs can better use data to create value as well as develop relationships, products, and decisions that drive growth and profitability.
“The biggest change I’ve seen is that credit unions now have vital member data in dozens of systems on different technology platforms that don’t share data. Data quality has actually decreased over time. This presents a major roadblock to using data in a strategic way to increase growth,” said Henkel who founded FI Works in 2024 and serves as its CEO.
“The explosion in technology platforms has also led to a world where completing a process involves navigating multiple sign-ons and user interfaces. Let’s look at a simple example of a marketing analyst that needs to create a targeted campaign,” he continued. “The first step may be to ask IT for an extract or to export data from a dashboard. The second step is usually to import that data into a marketing or email tool. Then if you want to have your staff contact members, you must import the offers to a CRM.”
Over the years, the questions fielded became more complex. Instead of asking about what CD accounts are maturing, for example, he noted that his team must identify which relationships have the most growth potential and what products and services they need.
“Traditionally, this required very experienced data analysts and data scientists and weeks or months of work. This led to a major difference in capabilities between big banks and community institutions,” he said. “I think that AI is by far the biggest technology change that I have ever seen. It now enables a marketing leader to ask a question in plain language and get an answer from the credit union's own data in seconds. However, that only works when the data underneath is trustworthy, so quality, trusted data is more important than ever.”
Building Lasting Relationships
Henkel has a message for the next generation of technologists: Learn the business first. While technology changes, the dedicated way credit unions support their members remains the same. To this end, he said understanding member needs is what drives technology innovation.
“I love to hire people who are curious about solving our clients’ business problems and not just supporting the product. The most valuable person in the room is often the one who can translate an executive’s question into a solution that solves the problem,” he told Finopotamus. “I want everyone on our team to understand how a credit union serves its members, how a member relationship grows, and why a number has to hold up in front of a board.”
Among new products that support credit unions’ needs is FI Works’ AI-driven analytics platform, which was introduced in 2026. “Business users can ask a question in plain English and get an answer from their institution’s own governed data without waiting on an analyst or IT,” he shared. “What makes that useful is what sits underneath it. FI Works pulls data from the core plus digital banking, lending, card, teller, trust, investment, and insurance systems. It cleanses and standardizes that data, resolves duplicate records, and builds households and business relationships.”
The broader accomplishment of the platform, he added, is its ability to bring data integration, analytics, profitability, marketing automation, and CRM together on one data model.
“Most credit unions buy those pieces separately and then pay again to connect them. On one platform, an insight becomes a campaign, a task, or a referral without leaving the system, and the results tie back to new accounts, balances, and profitability,” Henkel said. “That gives credit union marketing teams a way to prove their work moves the numbers leadership cares about.”
Growing On Your Own Terms
While AI has captured his attention, he’s spent decades advocating for the industry to move from campaigns to continuous engagement. Many FIs, he noted, still market by the calendar, such a HELOC deal in January and a CD promotion in June. “The better model is always-on programs for onboarding, cross-sell, maturities, and attrition that respond to what each member is doing, and that run whether or not someone remembers to build a list,” he said, adding the importance of a CRM that does work for the user instead of asking the user to do work.
While many credit unions are forced to run lean tech and marketing teams, Henkel said they are also asked to compete with much larger institutions on personalization and digital experience. “They can’t afford to build a platform themselves, and they can’t afford one that requires an outside integrator to keep it running,” he continued. “A fintech partner that shares the credit union’s focus on the member relationship can help a small team do the work of a much larger one, and that is what keeps a credit union growing on its own terms.”
