The school was established in June 1959 to serve credit union professionals located within the District Four of CUNA.

In 1958, the board of directors of the California Credit Union League (CCUL) instructed Clarence Murphy, the league's managing director, to explore the possibility of forming a school patterned after the Credit Union National Association school at the University of Wisconsin.

Bowman and Charles R. Stark led in organizing the CUNA District 4 School for Credit Union Personnel.

The committee then selected to partner with the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the school opened on August 12, 1960, with the first batch of 42 students who were to become the class of 1962.

[1] This is in contrast to how Charles Clark attributed to UCLA for having excellent coordinators that contributed to Western CUNA Management School's fine reputation.