Brad Basse is a member of the board of directors at Big Horn Federal Savings Bank in Greybull, Wyo. Basse is also much more: A 30- year owner of local family business JadeCo Electric; a former county commissioner, and someone who has played a major role in attracting new businesses and driving economic growth.
Basse brings to Big Horn Federal several lessons from JadeCo: Faith that all challenges will work themselves out if you do a good job and are honest; and, belief in the importance of accountability and taking responsibility, even if doing so costs time or money. His success through that approach has led to his recognition as one of BankBeat magazine’s 2025 “Amazing Outside Directors.”
Basse has been an advisory director and a legal board member at the $371 million Big Horn Federal Savings Bank for nearly two decades. Basse is a member of the audit committee and chairs the compensation committee.
“The ability to thread the needle and demand strong governance for all those that Big Horn Federal serves, while also balancing out the needs of the employee base is always a delicate role,” said Big Horn Federal Savings President and CEO John Coyne III. “Brad’s ability to respect the needs of all the constituents, while making sure the bank has the necessary resources to attract top talent, is crucial to the long-term viability of a rural mutual bank.”
‘Born into the business’
Basse was raised in the north central Wyoming community of Thermopolis. His father, Dick, was a local entrepreneur who had started an electrical business in 1956. “I basically was born into the business,” Basse said. “I always had an interest in mechanical things; I always liked taking things apart and figuring out how they worked.”
Basse, who has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Nebraska, returned to the family business in 1986 following his college graduation. Basse and his older brother, who has since retired, assumed ownership of the company 30 years ago. Today, JadeCo Electric has nearly two-dozen employees. The company provides electrical trades contracting and service in the Big Horn Basin area of northwest Wyoming.
Big Horn Federal Savings Bank operates in a half-dozen communities in northwestern Wyoming. “The energy aspect is big, the ag aspect is big, and tourism is big, and it’s in all of the communities we have banks in,” Basse said.
A former Hot Springs County commissioner, Basse was appointed to fill an unexpired term in 2002, a role he would serve in until the end of 2016. He was named a legal director for Big Horn Federal in 2012. As a county commissioner, Basse served in an economic development group, which helped build a county-owned airport, which opened in 2015 near Thermopolis, to replace the original airport within the city limits. Basse also helped secure a hospital district to build a new hospital with 35,000 square feet in additional clinical space.
A member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Basse has served as treasurer. He was chair of the church’s building committee when his church, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Thermopolis, built a new facility. Basse sees being a bank director as another way to facilitate community development.
“By having a strong bank that has adequate capital to be able to lend to businesses, to startups, to homes, it actually provides a source of economic development in the community,” Basse said.
“That was one of my passions as a county commissioner, was economic development.”
Basse emphasized the board doesn’t get into the weeds of daily management at the bank. Still, he is aware of the compensation committee’s role as a gatekeeper between Coyne and the board of directors. Basse knows he must also have answers for employees who come to him with wage-related questions and job-related requests.
Basse must also balance the bank’s broader goals with the needs of each branch. For example, Big Horn Federal has a branch in Cody, Wyo., a higher-income area which is essentially a gateway to Yellowstone.
“When you get down into the boardroom, my vote counts no more than anyone else’s,” he said.
“The chairman is just the one who can take the arrows. As far as authority and responsibility, it’s shared among all of the directors.”
On loan applications, Basse can provide insight on the character of the applicant — positive or negative. “The role I feel as an outside director, and even before when I was an advisory director, is to know the pulse of your community — you know the people, you know the businesses,” Basse said.
Basse praises his board as having diverse skillsets. Members include a school principal, real estate investors and others with local business backgrounds. He also stressed the board’s status as a duly-elected body that is accountable to regulators.
“In our role as directors of a mutual, all of the depositors, all of the customers of the bank own the bank,” Basse added. “So it’s much like my role as an elected official. You have to completely separate your personal interest from the interest of the bank. You’re not making decisions to help yourself, you’re making decisions, always, with the overall community of the bank, the owners of the bank, which are the depositors.”
Basse attends to his bank responsibilities at Big Horn Federal Savings Bank on an as-needed basis, to review a loan application or attend to other business. He also serves on the boards of both a local hospital foundation and rehabilitation center. Despite his involvement with numerous local groups, Basse said he feels a special connection to Big Horn Federal Savings Bank.
“Their clothing has my logo on them, and that’s nice,” Basse said of his association with JadeCo Electric. “Usually when I go out when I am not working, if I have something with a logo on it, that logo is Big Horn Federal. I don’t know why that is, but it is. I am proud of my association with it, and it’s an important part of what I do.”