Your friendly, local CEO

Self-described fly-fishing fanatic Rob Stuart, ’96, followed his career in finance through several roles at one of the country’s largest banks, but hasn’t forgotten his roots in Eastern Oregon.

Now the President and CEO of OnPoint Community Credit Union, headquartered in Portland, Stuart remains connected to the communities and culture of the Grande Ronde Valley.

After graduating from La Grande High School, Stuart enrolled at EOU to follow his father’s footsteps into the sciences. But his career trajectory changed during a summer cultural geography trip with professor Ralph Lewis. Lewis encouraged him to consider studying business, where his talent for communicating and working with people would shine.

Stuart started as a part-time teller at Bank of America in La Grande right after graduation. Four years later he was the branch manager, and by 24 he was a vice president.

From there, he moved to Portland to manage two downtown branches and establish the bank’s Financial Relationship Management program. He went on to oversee consumer banking in all rural markets in the Pacific Northwest, and become president of Bank of America in Idaho.

“It’s a very well-known fact in Portland that employers love to hire people that come from rural markets like La Grande,” Stuart said. “The primary reason is because when we come to the city from Eastern Oregon, we bring a unique kind of openness and honesty.”

“Having a strong work ethic is critical. When you bring that [grit] to the city, the synergy you create — employers, customers want to grab onto that.”

Rob Stuart, ’96

By 2006 he was feeling pressured to move to the East Coast, but then received a call about an opportunity to run a credit union in Oregon, where he wouldn’t have to sacrifice his love for the outdoors or proximity to his extended family.

Despite joining the institution right before the Great Recession of 2008, Stuart led OnPoint’s growth from $1.8 billion to $6.5 billion in assets.

“Consumers were upset with Wall Street and big banks, and it was a really special time to be more of a community institution and a credit union,” he said.

In the Portland area, OnPoint market share grew from 15% to 25% in the last 10 years. It’s now the second largest financial institution headquartered in Oregon and the largest credit union.

Stuart credits much of that success to his rural background. The work ethic and value of authentic relationships he learned in small towns has served him well in the big city.

“Having a strong work ethic is critical,” Stuart said. “When you bring that [grit] to the city, the synergy you create — employers, customers want to grab onto that.”

As CEO, Stuart’s most important job is to establish and protect OnPoint’s company culture, which focuses on community connections, relationships with customers and quality service on large and small scales.

“Our culture reflects the values of Eastern Oregon because that’s where my heart and soul is,” he said.

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5 questions to strengthen rural economies

Rural economies have strengths and challenges all their own. Rob Stuart, ’96, grew up in La Grande, but now works as President and CEO of the state’s largest credit union. He sees a few questions rural communities should ask themselves.

1. How do the leaders convince industries to come in and make investments back into the community? Successful rural businesses know that it’s all about turning around and reinvesting in the community.
2. How can we become more recession-proof? You have to have multiple industries so people can stay gainfully employed when timber or wheat prices fall.
3. What are you doing for the future? You have to invest in children and make sure they have every educational opportunity possible. Investment in teachers and universities, those are the centerposts of the future.
4. What are governments and planning commissions doing to encourage big and small companies to think of their community as an opportunity for future plants or factories? You have to create a sustainable marketplace.
5. Is your model sustainable? It’s not my goal to make sure 2019 was a great year, what’s important is that we have a sustainable, safe and sound institution that’s going to perform for another 100 years — it’s the same with communities.