PLANO, Texas – Gary Base, a longtime credit union executive who turned heads in 2005 when he converted his $1 billion Community CU to a bank, announced his retirement at the end of the year, after 25 years with the institution.
Base was a popular figure in credit unions and even served as chairman of the Texas CU Commission when he took the unpopular move of switching to a bank charter. The plot thickened when Community and nearby OmniAmerican FCU had to go to court to block NCUA’s efforts to stop their conversions.
Since the 2006 conversion to mutual savings bank Base has grown the one-time credit union, now known as ViewPoint Bank, to $3 billion in assets.
