WESTERLY, R.I. - Joe Cugini may have worked for the same credit union for 41 years, yet this month ends a career of amazing variety. One week, he was running a hometown basketball tournament in Westerly, Rhode Island, an annual event sponsored by Westerly Community Credit Union. Another week, he was deep in the African bush, meeting with tribal elders. One weekend, he made a late-night emergency loan to a member. Another weekend, he stood in the Oval Office talking with Ronald Reagan. "I'm just a country boy named Joe," says Cugini, 70, who retires from Westerly Community CU this month. "Credit unions have given me the opportunity to do things I never, never would've experienced. I've traveled around the world three times; I've met political leaders from all over the globe. I feel so fortunate." Along with serving as Westerly Community CU's president since 1959, Cugini has held most of the movement's highest offices: chairman of CUNA (1981-1983), vice chairman of CUNA Mutual (1999-2000), and president of the World Council of Credit Unions (1985-1987). He served on their boards much longer, of course, retiring from the CUNA Mutual board just this year. Yet talking with Cugini, you get the impression that his happiest and most fulfilling days have been those he's spent right there in Westerly, a Rhode Island town of 16,500 near the Connecticut border. Cugini is a Westerly native, and first left the city when he volunteered for the U.S. Air Force in 1950. The Korean War was underway, and Cugini soon found himself in North Africa, setting up a radar network to protect the air base in French Morocco. "It was Casablanca, the Sahara Desert...quite an experience for a young guy," he marvels. After serving time at other bases in the U.S., Cugini was discharged in 1954, and headed back to Rhode Island to study business and accounting at Bryant College in Providence. The post-war job market was tight, but Cugini found employment at a local dye company - where he soon learned about an opening at a local credit union. Though he says "I didn't know what a credit union was from a bar of soap," Cugini thought it might be a good fit with his accounting degree. It was a minute organization at the time, founded by a couple who knew Roy Bergengren and were enamored with the credit union ideal. They hired Cugini as their manager and taught him the fundamentals of the credit union philosophy. He proved a quick study. "To get a loan from a bank, you had to prove you didn't need one," Cugini remembers. "Finance companies were charging 3% per month on unpaid balances; we charged 1%. We really filled a need in the community." And from "those humble beginnings," notes Cugini, the credit union has grown to 13,000 members and $85 million in assets, with a main office and one branch. "We're a little financial powerhouse in Westerly," Cugini says proudly. Not only does WCCU survive surrounded by huge banks, it easily surpasses them in the PR department. It hosts a "Final Four"-type high school basketball tournament over the Christmas holidays that draws thousands and fills the local paper with photos for nearly a week. Proceeds from ticket sales-$6,000 last year-go back to the schools. It sponsors the town's holiday lighting contest, too, garnering more local press. "You'd have to live on Mars to not know Westerly Community Credit Union exists," remarks Cugini. It is a classic example of a small credit union, one that rents out its basement hall for bridal showers (a great way to add members, notes Cugini), one that has no desire to grow into a billion-dollar institution. "Certainly, there's a role for both," Cugini responds. "Navy Federal happens to be serving a huge military group. We happen to be serving a small town." WCCU's size certainly didn't hinder Cugini's move into the forefront of credit union politics. While serving as league president in the 1970s, he was asked to run for CUNA secretary. "When I ran for the CUNA board, we were about $50 million," he says of the credit union. "So sure, there's representation (of smaller credit unions)." Cugini's tenure at CUNA, he says, also brought geographic representation. "Until then, the job had always bounced back and forth between Texas and Michigan." So how did Cugini break the trend? What did he bring to all these national and international offices? "I think I'm warm," he responds. "I can laugh a lot and have fun, and I think that endears you to people." He recalls a trip to Africa as head of the World Council, where, without prompting, he joined in on a dance performed by local women. "They loved it. It broke down the barriers of culture and language and brought it back to people helping people." Cugini now looks forward to a retirement filled with grandchildren, golf, volunteer work and afternoons at the beach, just blocks from his home. "I feel like I'm retiring to, not from," he notes. He has a six-year-old grandson and a 3-year-old granddaughter in the area, has been asked to run for the town council and volunteer boards, and even hosts a weekly radio show. He and his wife, Betty, have no intention of leaving it all for a retirement home down south. "Of all the world, I've never seen a place more beautiful than Westerly, Rhode Island," Cugini declares. "Now I hope the good Lord gives me the time and the health to enjoy it." -
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