The publication is reproduced in full below:
CELEBRATING THE RETIREMENT OF BOB ARNOULD
______
HON. PETE AGUILAR
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Mr. AGUILAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor one of California's favorite adopted Iowans. Bob Arnould, a former Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives and fierce advocate for not-for-profit credit unions, has officially retired from his role as a Chief Advocate for his industry. I've had the pleasure of working with Bob and rise to honor both a good friend and a visionary leader.
Bob started at the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues as the Director of State Government Affairs. His team was responsible for all credit union advocacy measures in the world's fifth-largest economy at a time when the state was shifting politically, and the financial services sector was under the microscope for every act of lending. Credit union advocacy was still new to the Legislature and Bob made it his mission to develop long lasting relationships with the state's leaders.
This is where Bob grew the advocacy program from an organizational standpoint, which has changed California and Nevada credit unions, as well as the lives of their leaders and members. As he advanced to Vice President and eventually Senior Vice President of Advocacy, Bob expanded the three-person office to a full team devoted to advocacy's
``three-legged stool'' as he calls it: lobbying, political action and grassroots engagement. He developed and fostered a team that would go on to become a force in Sacramento and Carson City. Legislators, some of them my colleagues now, knew that when credit unions walked in the door, they could not be an afterthought.
Before coming to the Leagues, Bob was the Speaker of the Iowa State Assembly. For 20 years before that, he worked his way up from rank-and-
file Assemblyman, through committee chairs and party leaders, to a political career eventually culminating in the Speakership. He worked in the Iowa Caucuses and ran campaigns from his young 20's, until he came to California and the Leagues in the late '90s. To earn this level of trust among the Iowa community, he had to demonstrate a level of community devotion and something else rarely found in politicians: humility. Those who know and work with Bob to this day know that he embodies this.
Encapsulating Bob's leadership throughout the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues is not an easy task. He is a visionary leader, honest and decent person, but I'm proud to know him most as a good friend. His entire career has been dedicated to one mission statement, it's less about you, and all about them: the community, the people, everyone. Bob makes it 100 percent about you.
Rarely has there been a leader with such humility who recognizes that all great leaders give away their credit to allow others to rise. That is how he has accomplished so much.
Madam Speaker, please join me in honoring Speaker Bob Arnould.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 124(1), Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 124(2)
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