A Pot of Gold Awaits at the End of this CU Conversion

PLANO, Texas – Shareholders of Viewpoint Bank on Tuesday approved a $30 million pot of stock to be awarded under the new bank’s Equity Incentive Plan; then the former Community CU handed out almost $8 million worth of stock to 11 senior executives and directors, the largest pot ever awarded by a credit union-convert. The biggest winner was president and CEO Gary Base, who received 139,259 shares valued at $2.5 million; while four top executives received 45,196 shares worth $840,000; five directors got 16,243 shares worth $300,000; and chairman of the board James McCarley got 18,950 shares worth $350,000, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares vest in five equal installments over the next five years, but each insider owns voting rights and receives dividends for each of the shares immediately. The large stock awards come just a week after another CEO of a converted credit union, John Fiore of Synergy Financial Group (Synergy FCU) received almost $6 million for his stock when he sold his converted credit union for $180 million. Viewpoint Bank, known until January 2006 as Community CU, is the largest credit union to convert to savings bank and the fastest to cash in on the conversion. Shares in Viewpoint have soared more than 80% since debuting last October, and closed yesterday at $18.20.