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Scaling Mt. Treasury

REI didn't really have a treasury operation until Russell Paquette showed up one day and started coming up with one idea after another

By Richard Gamble | Updated on February 01, 2006

When Russell Paquette started work at Kent, Wash. based recreational equipment supplier REI in October 2000 as its first cash manager, he faced a mountain of challenges. There was no cash forecasting at the then $698 million member-owned cooperative. Investment strategy boiled down to the transfer of surplus balances into one of two money market funds. And, bank relationships were, at best, haphazard. “It was a bit daunting,” he admits. “But I was pretty fired up from the first. It was fun to be able to look at the big picture. I had an opportunity to put a real program in place and implement best practices. There were processes everywhere that could be streamlined and sometimes automated.”

No doubt, Paquette’s mission was potentially massive: Create an efficient treasury operation where little treasury of any kind existed before. But despite the enormity of the job, Paquette took the plunge, and after five short years, he has not only managed to build an efficient treasury, he has built one that puts many larger multinational counterparts to shame. “REI now has a very progressive, forward-thinking treasury,” notes Sean Corrigan, a vice

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