Incoming CEO of SC’s largest credit union is out. Here’s what we know.
The president and incoming Chief Executive Officer of the state’s largest federal credit union is out, according to news reports.
Keith Wilson, who’d been with South Carolina-based Founders Federal Credit Union for 25 years and was set to take over as CEO in January, is no longer with the company, Founders spokesperson Nicki Nash confirmed. The Lancaster News was the first to report Wilson’s departure.
Founders Federal Credit Union is the state’s largest credit union, boasting some $4.7 billion in assets and 860 employees serving 273,817 members in North and South Carolina, according to the company’s annual report from last year. It has nearly 50 locations across the Carolinas.
Nash, who was unavailable by phone, confirmed in an emailed statement that Wilson was “no longer with” the company and that CEO Bruce Brumfield would stay in his role after the credit union previously announced his retirement.
The credit union, headquartered in Lancaster, had named Wilson as the successor for Brumfield when his retirement was announced in January of this year. The news release, posted to the credit union’s website in January, has been taken down.
Two board members reached by a reporter — former University of South Carolina Athletic Director Ray Tanner and State Senator Allen Blackmon — declined to comment.
The credit union posted to social media Wednesday that Brumfield would remain CEO, at the request of the board.
“We appreciate [Wilson’s] contributions and wish him well,” Nash said in an emailed statement.
When the company announced Wilson’s upcoming promotion in January of this year, Brumfield said he was “confident [Wilson] has what it takes to lead this credit union.”
Brumfield has held the credit union’s top position for the last two decades and has worked for Founders for nearly four decades. He took over as CEO when Laura Fleming, who led the company for more than four decades, retired in 2002. An attempt to reach Brumfield was unsuccessful.
Founders Federal Credit Union began in 1950 under the name The Founders Difference, according to the company’s website, when a group of mill employees decided to start the credit union.
