NEWS

Helping was guiding principle to Paul Archambault's 40 years with Wave FCU

Posted 6/10/21

By Beacon Staff After working 40 years at Wave Federal Credit Union, 26 years as President & CEO, Paul Archambault will retire early this summer. "I'll be 62," Paul said in an interview last week, "I want to have time to play golf." He won't be on the

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NEWS

Helping was guiding principle to Paul Archambault's 40 years with Wave FCU

Posted

After working 40 years at Wave Federal Credit Union, 26 years as President & CEO, Paul Archambault will retire early this summer.

“I’ll be 62,” Paul said in an interview last week, “I want to have time to play golf.” He won’t be on the course by himself.

His wife, Mary Jean, a national account rep for wholesale food company Sysco Corporation is also planning to retire this year. In addition to golf they plan on traveling. Yet Paul is not looking at retirement as a time to slow down, but rather a shifting to gears with the same guiding principle to life.

“The goal is to do something every day to help somebody and to feel good about yourself,” he said.

Paul sees that relationship between community and the credit union as critical. He and members of the Wave staff personally know many of Wave’s 7,000 members.

When Paul was employed as an accounting clerk in 1981after graduating from Providence College with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) degree, the credit union had less than $10 million in assets. The credit union started in 1938 was still the Narragansett Electric Employees Federal Credit Union.

From accounting clerk, Paul moved up to vice president and when he was named president in 1995, becoming the third president in the credit union’s history, the credit union had $50 million in assets. Under Paul’s guidance, the credit union has grown to $137 million in assets.

Throughout the credit union’s history, Paul has overseen steady growth and positive changes. In the early 2000’s, the credit union began the process of converting to a community charter changing the credit union’s name from Narragansett Electric Employee’s FCU to Wave Federal Credit Union which involved the search for a community office location which under his leadership became a reality in 2006 in Warwick. Under his leadership, three mergers were completed with Hasbro Employees’ Credit Union in 2002, Anchor Federal Credit Union in 2008 and Cottrell Federal Credit Union in 2011.

Paul graduated from the Credit Union Executives Society CEO Institute in 2002 becoming a Certified Chief Executive (CCE).

He is the Past Chairman of the Rhode Credit Union League and served on various committees, past Special Olympics Board member, and past Chairman of the Cooperative Credit Union Association (CCUA) Social Responsibility Committee. The credit union has 23 employees and two offices.

“I have enjoyed my career at Wave Federal Credit Union and met a lot of great members, staff and volunteers and have a lot of great memories. Some of my fondest are mentoring staff and helping members buy their first car, purchase their new home or just helping put members in a better financial position. The credit union remains in a great financial position and should continue to thrive and provide the best service possible,” Paul said in a release.

In a statement Chairman of the Wave Federal Credit Union Board of Directors, Kenneth M. Mallette, Jr., said: “I would like to extend personal congratulations to Paul Archambault on his long standing 40-year career of excellence leading the credit union and I wish him the very best on his retirement.”

Paul resides in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, with his wife and has a son and a daughter.

Wave Federal Credit Union’s Board of Directors wished Paul well on his well-deserved retirement and announced that David P. Dupéré, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, would be promoted to President and CEO in July. David has been involved in the credit union industry for 35 years serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Bayside FCU, Bostitch FCU and Anchor FCU and since 2008 was named as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Wave Federal Credit Union.

Wave, Archambault

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