Rogue Credit Union was founded as Jackson County Teachers Federal Credit Union in 1956 by 10 Southern Oregon teachers. Membership was originally open to public school employees in Jackson County, employees of the credit union, members of their immediate families, and organizations to which these people belonged. Jackson County Teachers Federal Credit Union changes its name to Jackson Public Service Federal Credit Union expanding membership for city, county, state, and school employees. The name was changed to Rogue Federal Credit Union following a merger in 1982 which also added federal employees to eligibility. Later In 1977, the credit union began offering checking accounts and expanded its charter as a community based credit union. In 2000, Rogue Credit Union had 32,000 members and US$185 million in assets, and was approved in 2001 by the National Credit Union Administration to expand their branch network into Josephine and Klamath County. Rogue Credit Union purchased and assumed Chetco Federal Credit Union in 2012 from the National Credit Union Administration, acquiring branches in Curry, Coos County, Oregon and Del Norte County, California, with a total combined membership of 71,000 members and US$809 million in assets. The credit union also acquired a branch in one California county. After the 2015 shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, Rogue Credit Union raised funds to support the victims in the shooting, and planned on giving up to $7,500 to them. In January 2016, Gene Pelham, current CEO of Rogue Credit Union, began a three-year term on the Federal Reserve System's Twelfth District Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council in San Francisco, California. The council meets twice a year, submitting input to senior Federal Reserve Bank management on different bank and economic conditions and policies. The credit union reached US$1.137 billion in assets in April 2016, a milestone in the company's history. Circa 85 percent, or $860.4 million, of the credit union assets, is presently tied up in loans and $154 million is invested in government-backed bonds and securities. Gene Pelham, current CEO of Rogue Credit Union, said that his organization's growth rate is "among the top five credit unions in the country."
