TUKWILA, Wash. — BECU is one of the largest credit unions in the United States with nearly $12 billion in assets. But Gary Oakland, its president and CEO from 1986 until his retirement in 2012, insisted on the CU keeping a "small" feel.
Oakland, who is being honored as one of the winners of the 2014 Herb Wegner Award for Lifetime Achievement, told Credit Union Journal he is most proud of not losing sight of what is important as BECU expanded.
The credit union still officially is named Boeing Employees Credit Union, but began using BECU as early as the late 1990s in an effort to try to avoid the confusion many credit unions face by a name that appears to limit membership. It moved to a statewide charter in 2003; then growth really took off.
BECU had 108,000 members when Oakland became CEO in 1986, growing to more than 775,000 members at the time of his retirement in 2012.
"In spite of growing a lot, and getting large by credit union standards, we never lost the principles of the credit union movement," he said in a recent interview with CU Journal. "We were still about people helping people and putting the members first. We did not treat ourselves as a 'big' credit union; we were just a credit union that had a lot of members. We made sure to be a significant contributor to bettering the community as a whole. We helped consumers whether they were members or not, which is what credit unions do."
Roger Mauldin, who has served as a director on the BECU board for more than 30 years, said what sets Oakland apart is his "passion for the credit union philosophy" and how he created and grew a member-focused culture at BECU.
"His decision making always included improving value for the member," Mauldin wrote in his nomination letter. "Gary led the credit union from exclusively serving Boeing employees to a statewide field of membership. He does not believe in growth for growth's sake, but saw the expanded field of membership as an opportunity for more members of the community to benefit from the credit union advantage: member-focused service with better rates and fewer fees."
Creating Member Advantage
Oakland began his credit union career at Seattle Telco CU, which later became Watermark CU and subsequently merged into Sound CU. His first job was as a teller, then loan interviewing, loan officer, collections, accounting and assistant manager. After five years at Seattle Telco, he left for Boeing in 1980 to be director of finance. He became CEO in 1986.
Because his experience covered many departments, Oakland understands what is important to members. One savings product BECU developed several years ago — the "Member Advantage" account — drew praise from several Wegner nominators, including Mauldin.
In 2006, Mauldin recalled, BECU was in a position to return a portion of its reserves to members. Typically, BECU does so by raising the interest rate on share accounts. As BECU explored other options, and with U.S. savings rates at or below zero, Mauldin said Oakland focused his team on how BECU could improve its members' savings habits.
"The financial services industry norm is to pay the highest interest rates on the largest balances — rewarding big savers," Mauldin noted. "This type of pricing structure gives no extra incentive for people to start saving. BECU's answer was to create a reverse interest rate tier, paying the highest rate (7.5% APY at the time) on the first $500 in both checking and savings accounts.
"The reverse tier sent a strong message to our members about the importance of thrift and our long-term commitment to their financial well being," Mauldin added.
Oakland said the Member Advantage account was, "A way to encourage people — young people and beginning families in particular — to save. We came up with the idea of turning the interest rate structure upside down and it has been a really good thing."
Callahan Fund
Tom Dorety, president and CEO of Suncoast Schools FCU, first met Oakland in 1996 when both were members of the Filene Research Council. Later, they served on the Filene Administrative Board. Oakland was chairman of board for three years, during which time he led a process to formalize board governance in addition to stabilizing the organization's finances.
"I witnessed Gary's calm, yet purposeful approach to reach a consensus among several constituents," said Dorety. "That was the first of many examples of Gary's effective leadership that I was fortunate enough to witness."
In 2002, the NCUF created the Callahan Fund under the umbrella of its Community Investment Fund (CIF). According to Dorety, Oakland immediately pledged, on behalf of BECU, an additional $10 million to fund the new initiative.
"Using Gary's example, we quickly convinced other credit unions to support the new fund with more than $100 million," said Dorety. "This effort had a major impact on NCUF's ability to support worthwhile efforts throughout the credit union community."
BizKids
BECU under Oakland has "long recognized the importance" of financial literacy and education in helping individuals achieve financial freedom, said Mauldin, who noted BECU provided dedicated financial educators and access to financial counseling while helping spearhead the launch of the PBS show BizKids.
Oakland said BizKids was an opportunity to consolidate all of the good work credit unions had been doing in many areas of the county.
"It was all good, but it was piecemeal," he recalled.
One of the early conversations was with Bill Nye the Science Guy, who also wanted to promote financial literacy. Oakland said there were enough other people who thought a television show was a good idea, and was able to get enough momentum to get it produced.
"It was a really good program," Oakland declared. "It has morphed into lesson plans for teachers and an online component. The exciting, interactive television show piqued kids' interests. The Department of Defense uses it as the primary financial literacy tool for American kids overseas, and Ernst & Young has adopted it as well. It is continuing to grow."
NASCUS
One of Oakland's nominating letters came from Mary Martha Fortney, president and CEO of the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors (NASCUS). She first met Oakland when she came to work for NASCUS in July 1993, when Oakland was chairman of the NASCUS Credit Union Advisory Council.
Oakland served as chairman of the NASCUS Credit Union Advisory Council for close to a decade, Fortney said, and played a "critical role" in restructuring NASCUS and ensuring that the credit union perspective and voice were heard more fully by state regulators.
"He endeavored to ensure the state credit union system was not disadvantaged through federal pre-emption, and was a champion at focusing the association on the importance of states' rights," Fortney said. "When issues arose that would challenge state authority, he passionately pursued outcomes that would benefit the state regulatory and state credit union community alike."
In addition, Fortney said, Oakland not only lent his "intellect and time" over the years, through BECU he stepped up financially when the state system needed the financial resources to achieve its goals.
"Many credit Gary for making the NASCUS Advisory Council the strong organization it is today," said Fortney. "Until his recent retirement, he ably served as an intellectual thought leader on every important issue facing credit unions. Of particular note and importance are his dedication and efforts to make supplemental capital a reality for all natural person credit unions. We are seeing the result of Gary's work on this issue today as supplemental capital is being considered on Capitol Hill."
Helping Others
Mauldin complimented Oakland for supporting some of the smallest members of the credit union movement. Oakland and BECU helped more than a dozen low-income credit unions across the country, he noted, and BECU played a key role in the founding of TULIP Credit Union and Express Credit Union as low-income-designated credit unions in the region.
"Establishing Express Credit Union leveraged an innovative partnership with a Seattle-area foundation," said Mauldin. "Gary also oversaw BECU's creation of Prime Alliance, a CUSO that directly or indirectly provided mortgage solutions to approximately 600 credit unions.
In addition to supporting financial literacy and education efforts, Mauldin said a third area of BECU's community focus has been affordable housing. He said Oakland guided BECU to support a number of non-profit organizations that are working to provide and preserve affordable housing, such as Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, Impact Capital and Plymouth Housing.
"While Gary worked tirelessly on all the aforementioned activities, I cannot fail to mention his dedication to the credit union's employees," said Mauldin. "Gary understands that People Helping People begins at home. It was always important to Gary that employees have a healthy work-life balance, be paid a living wage, receive good benefits and know they are appreciated."
