The Western Bridge Corporate Charter Committee announced Tuesday that it had elected a seven-member board of directors to lead the transition into a new corporate credit union.
The committee also named a three-person supervisory committee.
The Charter Committee further agreed that board members will be chosen to reflect asset size classes of member credit unions, ensuring that large, small and medium-sized credit unions would be represented on the board.
Specifically, two directors will come from credit unions larger than $1 billion, two from credit unions in the $100 million to $1 billion range, and two will come from credit unions smaller than $100 million. At least one director must also come from a credit union outside California.
Elected to the board of directors were Bill Before, CFO of the $1.5 billion Spokane Teachers CU in Liberty Lake, Wash.; Matt Davidson, CFO of the $1.3 billion Kern Schools FCU in Bakersfield, Calif.; Jim Aley, CFO of the $538 million Honda FCU in Los Angeles; Shane Berger, CEO of the $158 million Beehive FCU in Rexburg, Idaho; Paul Lewis, CEO of the $72 million SD Medical FCU in San Diego; Elizabeth Lipke, CEO of the $42 million Bourns Employees FCU in Riverside, Calif.; and Charles Papenfus, CEO of the $37 million Inland Valley FCU in Fontana, Calif.
The supervisory committee members are Francisco Nebot, CFO of the $8.5 billion SchoolsFirst FCU in Santa Ana, Calif., Mike Harden, COO of the $1.1 billion F&A FCU in Monterey Park, Calif.; and Donna Young, COO of $372 million Vons Employees CU in El Monte, Calif.
As for the probability that Western Bridge will successfully recapitalize, board member Shane Berger said in an interview, "I am very optimistic."
He added, "Going forward, there will be closer oversight from the regulator. The old folks are gone and so are the old regulations. We are very happy with the item processing and settlements we have received at WesCorp, and we expect to stay happy with the new corporate."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
