It was five years ago, March 2009, when NCUA seized WesCorp andU.S. Central, and thus began a shakeup that would completely redrawthe map of corporate credit unions and their spokes. Thatstory has been told, extensively, in CU Times.

What has not been told is the human side of the story.

Here is a beginning of that storytelling, as three who had risenhigh in the world of corporate credit unions have since foundthemselves thrust into second acts in their lives.

Read more: Thomas Bonds …

Thomas Bonds

Former CEO of Corporate America

CU Times 2011 Trailblazer CEO of theYear

The end came for Thomas Bonds' reign at Corporate America in early July 2012. That's when it was announced that the CEO of the Irondale,Ala-based corporate credit union was leaving the corner office.

Two years later there are still moments when “sometimes I wish Iwere still at Corporate America. It's a great institution,” saidBonds, who still isn't ready to discuss the why of hisdeparture.

But Bonds quickly added, “Most of the time I am very comfortablein that decision.”

Look up Bonds now and he is in Orange Beach, Ala., on the GulfCoast, 285 miles due south of Irondale.

“The ocean breeze is blowing continuously,” he said.

He runs Bonds Capital Group, a branch office of SanAntonio-based Investment Professionals, Inc., an investmentbrokerage and asset management firm. His work to-do list isto first analyze a client credit union's investment portfolio, thenadvise it on other investment opportunities. And, lastly, sellthose credit unions' investment products to round out theirholdings.

Ask Bonds will tell you, he's living the good lifenow.

“I've lost 20 pounds, I work out three days a week, I wake upevery morning whistling,” he said.

But, he acknowledged, “There's not that steady paycheck.Sometimes there are sleepless nights. I hope we can build thecompany up. At this stage we are doing well, we are pleased withthe progress we are making.”

At Corporate America, Bonds felt he had a special expertise inhelping natural person credit unions fine tune their investmentportfolios. That, in essence, is the mission of Bonds Capital,where he said he has 23 to 25 clients.

Most of them, he said, had an affiliation with CorporateAmerica.

“It took around four months to get Bonds Capital going. Istarted working on it as soon as I left Corporate America. We didour first trade in December, 2012. It closed in January,2013.”

He added that the firm's goal is to help credit unions that areflush with cash invest without increasing their interest raterisk.

“This is fun. This is where it ends for me,” he said.

Read more: Francois Henriquez …

Francois Henriquez

Former General Counsel and CEO of U.S.Central

Francois Henriquez, longtime general counsel at U.S.Central FCU, was promoted to CEO when NCUA put the corporateinto receivership. He knew his job would end because he knew U.S.Central was winding down.

When the lights were turned off in his office, it did not comeas a surprise.

But, in his mid-50s, the termination came as something of aliberation; even a rebirth.

He did something he thought he would never do. Or moreprecisely, he did two things.

He moved back to South Florida, where he had grown up and liveduntil he went away to college at Yale.

And he took a job at Shutts and Bowen, a large, Florida-basedlaw firm with a focus on financial institutions.

“I never thought I would live in Florida again and I neverthought I'd work in a law firm again,” said Henriquez, who workedfor a couple of law firms after law school.

But when Shutts and Bowen initiated conversations with him abouthis plans post U.S. Central, he said he welcomed the new direction,mainly because he is surrounded by top legal talent and the clients— in his case, primarily credit unions — are also top notch.

To work at Shutts and Bowen, he had to pass the Florida barexam, and it had been decades since he had sat through thosegrueling exams. Keep in mind that bar exams, aimed primarilyat 25-year-olds, test generalist knowledge of the law.

For decades, Henriquez had honed highly specialized legalknowledge.

So he had to bone up.

“I passed,” he said, with what sounded like relief.

He was not the oldest person in the room, he insisted, althoughprobably he was among the 10 oldest.

Another plus: “I left my snow shovels behind in Lawrence,Kan.”

Now he lives in a Miami-area apartment with a view of BiscayneBay. And even sweeter, his commute to work is 10 minutes. InKansas, it had been 45.

“I have lost 20 pounds. I run four times a week. When you don'tspend 90 minutes a day in the car, you have a lot more time to getthings done,” he said.

At Shutts and Bowen, Henriquez said, he works with around 85credit unions, mainly natural person but with a few corporatecredit unions in the mix. Some of the engagements areprecisely defined; in other cases, they represent ongoing work. Hesaid he speaks with three or four times every day.

“My clients don't know it, but there are times when I amsitting on the beach with my laptop, doing legal work. You can'tbeat that. This is as though it was meant to be,” he said.

Read more: Brian Hague …

Brian Hague

Former CEO of CNBS

Brian Haguehad been CEO at Kansas City investment CUSO CNBS for 15 years, andemployed there for eight years prior, when he got pink slipped inApril 2013.

He declined to discuss why the relationship fractured, otherthan to say that his departure “did not come as a surprise.”

There had been lots of changes at the CUSO leading up to hisexit. Once solely owned by U.S. Central, in late 2012 CNBS becamemajority owned by Dallas-based Aberdeen Capital, where formerTexans Credit Union CEO David Addison was a partner and a founder.

“Was I ready to go? Not in the way I did,” Hague said. “I wasready for several years, however. In hindsight I was ready for achange.”

Within a week of leaving CNBS, Hague picked up the phone and onthe other end of the line was Dan Kampen, a partner at Overland Park, Kan. consulting firm TheRochdale Group, and a past CEO at U.S. Central. He asked Hague ifhe wanted to do consulting work.

Hague, who had spent the past two decades focused oninvestments, jumped at the chance to work with a firm that mainlyfocuses on enterprise risk management, strategic planning andsimilar topics somewhat removed from investments.

“I had always wanted to do this,” said Hague, who added that forsome years he had been teaching courses in organizationalmanagement and strategy at the University of St. Mary inLeavenworth, Kan.

Even so, Hague said, “After 22 years at CNBS the old dog didhave to learn new tricks. I was ready for a new challenge. I hadrun out of dragons to slay [at CNBS].”

The typical Rochdale Group engagement is a full bore riskassessment for a credit union. In a meticulous process that maytake two or three weeks, Rochdale experts sit down with pertinentcredit union staff in the operating units — IT, branches, consumerlending, down the line — and talk about key processes, risks, howthe risks are managed and what more can be done.

The tasks were utterly different from what he wrestled with atCNBS, but Hague said, “I have a real appetite for research. I reada ton. I asked a lot of question. I went out on a couple ofengagements. By the second week, I was helping to lead theengagement.”

It seemed to click for all concerned.

“Early this year, [managing Rochdale partner] Tony [Ferris]asked me if I was interested in a fulltime role. I was and am.”

“I wanted to be CEO at CNBS, I wanted to put my imprimatur onit. But I don't like dealing with the stuff, the HR stuff that aCEO has to deal with. We once had a downsizing. I was in tearsletting people go, it wasn't their fault,” he said.

“I am solving other peoples' problems now. I lovethat. But I don't like owning the problems.

This has been a big stress relief,” he added.