Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle Announces Newly Elected Directors for 2013

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle (Seattle Bank) has announced the results of its recent Board of Directors elections. William V. Humphreys was re-elected to serve as the bank’s member director from Oregon; J. Benson Porter was elected to serve as the member director from Washington; and Debora D. Horvath, Thomas P. Potiowsky, and David F. Wilson were elected to serve as independent directors.

William V. Humphreys is president, chief executive officer, and director of Citizens Bancorp in Corvallis, Oregon. He has served on the Seattle Bank’s Board of Directors since 2006 and as the board’s chairman since 2010. Mr. Humphreys has more than 36 years of banking experience, including 23 years as chief executive officer of a community bank. He is chair of the American Bankers Association Federal Home Loan Bank Committee and has served as a director of the Oregon Bankers Association and chairman of the State of Oregon Banking Board.

J. Benson Porter is president and chief executive officer of Boeing Employees' Credit Union (BECU) in Tukwila, Washington. Prior to joining BECU in April 2012, he served as president and chief executive officer of First Tech Credit Union in Palo Alto, California, from February 2007 to March 2012. He also served in several positions at Washington Mutual Bank, most recently as executive vice president and chief administrative officer, from May 1996 to February 2007. Mr. Porter has held positions as regulatory counsel at Key Bank and as staff director for the Washington State Senate Banking Committee. He is a former director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and is currently a member of the Board of Overseers of Whitman College and the Board of CO-OP Financial Services. Mr. Porter earned a law degree from Seattle University School of Law and an undergraduate degree in economics from Whitman College.

Debora D. Horvath is principal of Horvath Consulting, LLC, in Shoreline, Washington, a firm she founded in 2010. From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Horvath was executive vice president for JP Morgan Chase & Co. From 2004 to 2008, she served as executive vice president and chief information officer for Washington Mutual, Inc. Prior to her tenure at Washington Mutual, Ms. Horvath, a 25-year veteran from GE, served 12 years as senior vice president and chief information officer for the GE Insurance businesses. Ms. Horvath holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baldwin Wallace College in Cleveland, Ohio, and is a graduate of the GE Financial Management Program and various GE executive development programs.

Thomas P. Potiowsky is professor and chair of the Economics Department and director of the Northwest Economic Research Center at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Mr. Potiowsky served as Oregon State Economist from 1999 to 2006 and from 2008 to 2011. He has also served as advisor to Oregon Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. Mr. Potiowsky received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ohio University and his master’s degree and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

David F. Wilson has been the chief executive officer of Wilson Construction, LLC, a residential and commercial development company in Ketchum, Idaho, since 1977 and has served as an independent director on the Seattle Bank’s board since 2007. He is chairman of the board at Idaho Housing and Finance Association, and has been a member of that organization since 1995. He is also an active member of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and served as the organization’s president in 2005. Currently, he is an NAHB senior life director and chairman of the Home Building Industry Disaster Relief Fund. Mr. Wilson served as mayor of Sun Valley, Idaho, from 1997 to 2001 and as a city council member from 1991 to 1997. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University at Los Angeles.

The Seattle Bank's Board of Directors comprises financial service, business, and community leaders from across the Seattle Bank’s district. The 2013 board includes 14 directors: eight member directors and six independent directors. Two of the independent directors are public-interest directors.

• Member directors must be officers or directors of Seattle Bank member institutions.
• Independent directors are required to have knowledge or experience in one or more of the following areas: auditing and accounting, derivatives, financial management, organizational management, project development, risk management practices, or the law.
• Public-interest directors are required to have at least four years of experience representing consumer or community interests on banking services, credit needs, housing, or financial consumer protections.

A complete listing of the Seattle Bank’s 2013 Board of Directors is available on the bank’s website at www.fhlbsea.com.

About the Seattle Bank

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle (Seattle Bank) is a member-owned cooperative, serving 338 community financial institutions, which include commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, and insurance companies. The Seattle Bank provides its members with access to wholesale funding, which they use to make home mortgages, small business, and other loans in their communities.

The Seattle Bank also works with its members and their community partners to promote affordable housing and economic development. Each year, the bank provides 10 percent of its profits to fund affordable housing—both rental and homeownership—and provides millions of dollars in reduced-rate loans for affordable housing and community economic development.

One of 12 Federal Home Loan Banks in the United States, the Seattle Bank serves Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.