Conversion to Bank Provides Million-Dollar Payday for Former CU Figure Gary Base

PLANO, Texas – Last year's conversion to mutual savings bank of Community CU produced a million-dollar payday for Gary Base, president and CEO of the biggest credit union convert ever, now known as Viewpoint Bank. Base, the long-time credit union executive and former chairman of the Texas CU Commission, earned $919,328 in benefits from the credit union-turned bank–a 34% raise from the year before when he headed a $1.4 billion credit union, according to a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Base, who was recently elected director of the Texas Bankers Association, also earned more than $230,000 in stock profits in 2006 from his newly minted shares in the bank. Other top executives in the credit union convert also got hefty raises last year, including General Counsel Mark Hord, who earned $321,380, up 42% from the year before, and more than $35,000 in stock profits; and CFO Pattie McKee, who earned $295,000, also up 42%, and another $35,000 in stock profits. Shareholders in the credit union-convert will vote May 22 on a stock incentive plan that will provide $27.4 million in equity-based benefits for Base, Hord, McKee and other members of senior management.