DEPTFORD, N.J. — Benjamin Griffith, who has been president and CEO of South Jersey Federal Credit Union for 40 years, will retire in April.
The $323 million CU said its national search for Griffith's replacement resulted in the hiring of Rahul Kachru, who most recently was chief operating officer at Long Beach City Employees Federal Credit Union in Long Beach, Calif.
Kachru will join SJFCU in mid-January, while Griffith will stay on in a consultant capacity to aid in the organization's transition.
"Rahul Kachru has 19 years of financial services experience in branch administration, lending, operations, turnarounds, and strategy development," Griffith said in a statement. "In addition, he has experience in business development and community involvement, and a comprehensive technical background."
Griffith took the helm at SJFCU in 1974, and oversaw the credit union's growth from just 1,500 members to today's more than 45,500 throughout South Jersey.
During Griffith's watch, SJFCU evolved from a single office in the City of Camden to six branch locations in Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, Cumberland and Atlantic counties.
The CU said Griffith is active in the South Jersey community, including serving as treasurer of the Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce. He is a past chairman of the chamber. Griffith is a member of the Board of Directors for the United Way of Gloucester County and served on the Board of Trustees of the Southern New Jersey Development Council. Griffith also served as a trustee of the City of Pleasantville's Urban Enterprise Zone. He is a past chairman and current member of the Deptford Township Business Advisory Committee, and is a past member and chairman of the New Jersey Credit Union League.
Nationally, Griffith has served as a director of the Credit Union National Association. Among the numerous awards he has received are the "Distinguished Citizen of the Year" award for Gloucester County from the Southern New Jersey Council (now Garden State Council), Boy Scouts of America, the Camden Children's Garden's "Champion of Children" award, and the Volunteer Leadership Award of the United Way of Gloucester County.
CEO-to-be Kachru, who currently lives in Signal Hill, Calif., has served as a senior member of the executive team at credit unions in New Jersey, Nevada and California. Previously he was a director of lending for a startup financial institution in Las Vegas.
Kachru holds a degree in economics with a minor in statistics from the University of Texas at Austin. He started his career as a global management trainee with HSBC and rose to director of retail sales and operations within nine years. Kachru is a Six Sigma certified brown belt holder.
