Largest credit union in SC names new president after nixing previously-named one
Founders Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in South Carolina, has named a new president two months after the company parted ways with its incoming president.
The company named Evan Mathis as its new president, Founders announced in a press release Tuesday. Mathis will take over as president effective immediately, the release said. Bruce Brumfield, whose retirement had been announced by the company in January of last year, is set to stay with the company as its chief executive officer.
The credit union, based in Lancaster, S.C., had initially named Keith Wilson, a 25-year veteran of the company, as its incoming president after Brumfield announced his pending retirement. But in November, the credit union’s board reversed course and cut ties with Wilson.
“After careful consideration and discussion with our Board, we know Evan is the right person to assume this role and maintain the momentum of the steady growth and strategic goals we have worked hard to achieve,” Brumfield said in the release.
Mathis joined Founders, which boasts some 50 locations across the Carolinas, in 2019, according to the release and had been serving as its chief financial officer.
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 2024.
It’s unclear why the board changed direction on the hiring of Wilson. When reached by a reporter with The State in November, two board members — former University of South Carolina Athletic Director Ray Tanner and State Sen. Allen Blackmon — declined to comment.
“We appreciate [Wilson’s] contributions and wish him well,” the company’s spokesperson Nicki Nash said in an emailed statement to The State in November
Brumfield, the sitting CEO, 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.
