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Paul Gentile, president and CEO of the Cooperative Credit Union Association, will leave his post in the fall to become president and CEO of Rahway, New Jersey-based Merck Employees Federal Credit Union.
The CCUA, which represents credit unions in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Delaware, made the announcement earlier this week and said it will undergo a nationwide search to find a successor.
Gentile has held the top post at the CCUA for nearly five years, during which time he oversaw the creation of the multi-state organization. The Massachusetts Credit Union League, the New Hampshire Credit Union League and the Credit Unions of Rhode Island merged to create the CCUA in 2014, and the Delaware Credit Union League came aboard in 2016.
“It has been an honor to serve the credit unions of Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The credit union system in these states is so strong, driven by the credit unions’ ability to work cooperatively together for the greater good of serving their members,” Gentile told Banker & Tradesman. “More and more consumers are turning to credit unions today because of our not-for-profit cooperative model built around delivering low-cost, high quality financial services in a consumer friendly way. At credit unions, it will always be about the member first and I relished the opportunity to represent the terrific credit unions in our region who live that philosophy every day.”
During his tenure, Gentile launched the “Better Values. Better Banking.” consumer awareness campaign, which drives home to constituents that credit unions are not just financial service providers, but true community partners. Gentile also helped launch the Credit Union Senior Safeguard, which has earned accolades from lawmakers and regulators for its mission to battle elder financial abuse through a scalable education platform.
“We wish Paul only the best and thank him for his tremendous contributions to our success,” Ellen Ford, CCUA’s chairwoman and the CEO of Peoples Credit Union in Middletown, Rhode Island, said in a statement. “He worked cooperatively with the association’s team, our members and the board to get us to this point of advocacy excellence and continually driving member value. We are committed to continuing that work and always keeping our members’ interests first and foremost in all that we do.”
Prior to joining the CCUA, Gentile held roles as editor and publisher of the Credit Union Times, president and CEO of the New Jersey Credit Union League and executive vice president of the Credit Union National Association, among others.
His new position at Merck will involve overseeing an institution with more than $1.9 billion in assets, over 25,000 members and five branches.
