Tremont Credit Union aimed high in seeking its new CEO – it wanted Charlie Baker, former GOP gubernatorial candidate and business turnaround artist. Baker declined to take the helm, but the attempt had positive results: Baker agreed instead to join the board of directors.

Braintree-based Tremont Credit Union made the announcement today, adding Baker as the newest member of an all-new board, Chairman George Hardiman told Banker & Tradesman. Tremont is hoping Baker can help steer the troubled institution away from its rough past, which includes the removal of its previous CEO and a scathing regulatory report last year.

The high-profile Baker is the former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, who often brought up his success in that position during his 2010 campaign against Gov. Deval Patrick. When he joined the company in 1999, Harvard Pilgrim had lost $227 million. After several years under his watch, the provider was profitable again – a streak it has continued for over a decade.

Tremont Credit Union is itself undergoing a transition, Hardiman told Banker & Tradesman. Its previous CEO was removed in 2009, and in 2010 the Division of Banks publicly issued a report that found insider abuse, weak management, poor loan quality and inadequate internal controls at the institution.

The $169.6 million-asset credit union lost $11.5 million in 2009, but managed to post net income of $7.7 million last year, and has brought its return on assets (ROA) up to 0.48 percent through September 2010, compared to an industry peer average of 0.36 percent, according to a statement from Tremont.

Hardiman said the credit union continued to seek a permanent new CEO, but a number of new executive members, the new board and dedicated employees had all worked hard to engineer the credit union’s turnaround. While Baker had demurred from the CEO slot, he’d been positive about the credit union industry in general, and had expressed interest in staying involved in some other way, Hardiman said.