TACOMA, Wash.–Sound Credit Union has announced that CEO Richard Brandsma will retire this week after nearly 35 years of leadership in the financial industry.
Named to replace Brandsma as CEO is Don L. Clark, Jr., who is currently president of the credit union.
“Richard Brandsma has had an extraordinary career. During his 35 years, he’s guided the organization through economic cycles, 16 mergers, charter changes, name changes, and has helped create one of the largest and most financially stable credit unions in the state,” Clark said in a released statement.
“Don is extremely well prepared to guide the continuous growth of Sound Credit Union,” Brandsma explained in the same statement. “His significant experience in strategic planning and financial analysis within the credit union industry allows him to address the evolving demands of our members as well as the changing regulatory requirements of the financial industry.”
Clark served as an executive vice president at Sound Credit Union before accepting the role as president in 2015. Before coming to Sound, he held positions on the executive teams at several credit unions, and served as CFO at Sound Credit Union in the late ’90s.
Brandsma started at Sound Credit Union in 1981, and helped grow the organization from one branch and $18.9 million in assets into the seventh-largest credit union in the state of Washington, with $1.3 billion in assets and over 110,000 members.