In Person: Credit-union champion Gary Oakland has come a long way

In Gary Oakland's bright corner office, the artifacts of 31 years at BECU line the walls and shelves. The black telescope in the window stands out.

Before 1990, the credit union's headquarters was a two-story building overlooking the tarmac at Boeing Field. Jet landings signaled break time for BECU's employees — a chance to spy on the comings and goings of presidents, British royalty and dignitaries such as Henry Kissinger.

"Most of us had either telescopes or binoculars," Oakland said, "and it moved with me."

During Oakland's 25 years as chief executive, BECU has grown to become the nation's fourth-largest credit union, with $9.6 billion in assets. Oakland, 58, has excelled at seeing new business opportunities while keeping the 75-year-old institution true to its Depression-era values of thrift and fellowship.

"He's a real influence on the competition that's out there in making the highest deposit rates available and the lowest loan rates he can afford," said Linda Jekel, director of credit unions for the state Department of Financial Institutions. "That really helps his members, but I think it helps Washington state at large."

Unlike banks, credit unions are not-for-profits and cannot raise capital by selling stock to investors. Credit union "members" — as depositors are called — can be limited to a region, employer or an occupation. Members own the institution and get a single vote, regardless of the size of their deposits.

Oakland says that healthy as it is, BECU — formerly known as Boeing Employees' Credit Union — must become more efficient and offer more benefits to compete with banks.

To do so, Oakland has often taken risks on new technologies.

Last year, for example, BECU became the nation's first credit union to offer POPmoney, an email and mobile payment service that lets people send money directly from their account to anyone for free. It also rolled out a mobile app for members to manage their accounts and pay bills from their phone.

"Gary and his team have managed to be near the cutting edge without being on the bleeding edge," said Marvin Umholz, a credit-union consultant in Olympia.

Mobile banking dovetails with Oakland's determination to phase out the teller window. BECU has tellers only at its Tukwila headquarters and an Everett branch. Its workhorse is the ATM at some 40 "neighborhood financial centers," where members can manage their accounts and talk with consultants about loans and financial planning.

"We teach them how to do their financial services on their own terms," Oakland said.

Legacy of parents

Both of Oakland's parents were members of a credit union for educators, but he never thought he'd end up working at one, let alone leading it.

Fresh from Washington State University with an economics degree in 1975, Oakland was looking for a job as the region was deep in recession.

Banks weren't hiring, but credit unions were. He took a job as a teller at Seattle Telco Credit Union at Eighth Avenue and Stewart Street in Seattle, and was soon promoted to handle loans and then collections.

That wasn't his strong suit, though.

"I believe everybody," he said. "Check's in the mail? OK."

In 1980, BECU hired Oakland as its director of finance. Its membership — decimated by massive Boeing layoffs in the early 1970s — was shifting deposits to thrifts, which could offer higher interest on 13- and 26-week money-market certificates. As a result, BECU had essentially stopped lending, offering only $500 emergency loans.

But from 1980 to 1985, as Congress allowed credit unions to compete more with banks and thrifts, BECU recovered and expanded, rolling out checking accounts, ATM cards, IRAs, CDs, credit cards, home-equity loans and financial counseling.

"That whole period was the blossoming of credit unions," Oakland said.

In 1986, BECU named the 33-year-old Oakland its next CEO.

Over the next two decades, Oakland oversaw the credit union's expansion into the community. In the early 1990s, it began offering home loans and free financial-education seminars, a new foundation to award scholarships, and neighborhood financial centers.

Boeing's acquisition during the mid-1990s of St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas and Rockwell International's aerospace and defense divisions gave Oakland an opportunity to work with the two credit unions serving those companies' employees. They set up a network that allowed members to use other locations when traveling for work.

That network helped lay the groundwork for a credit-union global network that now has more than 28,000 surcharge-free ATMs and more than 4,000 shared branches.

"We actually have a bigger ATM network than Bank of America," Oakland said.

BECU's membership took off after 2002, when eligibility, previously restricted to current and former Boeing employees, was opened up to anyone living in Washington state.

Observers, such as Umholz, the credit-union consultant, say Oakland and his team deserve credit for managing the organization well and marketing it beyond its base. It now has about 700,000 members, up from 109,000 in 1986, and its assets have grown 12-fold.

Spreading the word

While Oakland is regarded as a tough competitor, he's also a die-hard believer in spreading the gospel of financial literacy and the credit-union movement.

"If you had to pick one champion of the cause, it would be Gary Oakland and BECU," said Wendell Sebastian, executive director of the National Credit Union Foundation.

Oakland's office display includes a kiddie lunchbox emblazoned "Biz Kid$," from a locally produced program that features young entrepreneurs discussing business basics like the value of saving, investing and managing debt.

BECU and other credit unions funded the first four seasons of Biz Kid$. The National Credit Union Foundation will pay for the fifth season, which will allow the show to be syndicated to PBS stations nationwide, Sebastian said.

Even though Oakland has great influence, he's a humble, quiet leader, said Norma Hernandez, president of Express Credit Union, which is based in Seattle's Sodo District.

Express, founded in 1934 to serve workers at Burlington Northern and later Amtrak, was stagnant for years. In 2008, it shifted its focus to serving low-income workers in any occupation. But it needed help to expand — mentoring, new technology and capital.

Hernandez sought out Oakland. In 2008, BECU put up $300,000 to replace Express' computer systems, she said, and committed $700,000 over five years to support its operations. BECU's commitment led to grants from the Medina Foundation.

Today, Express has 2,700 members, almost double where it was three years ago. Assets have grown by $1.4 million to more than $10 million.

"That's the first growth for Express in 20 years," Hernandez said. "Gary doesn't take full credit for it, but we all know it's because of his fire and caring for people, (which) encourages the rest of us, including his staff, to get out there and serve the communities."

Sometime next year, Oakland plans to retire and take many of the artifacts home. The telescope, though, will probably stay.

Oakland said he plans to spend time with his son, a junior in high school, before embarking on adventures overseas with the World Credit Union Council to support the development of credit unions in emerging nations.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com