SEATTLE, July 9, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Washington Federal, Inc. announced that Rick Collette has accepted a position as Executive Vice President and Business Banking Group Manager for the Company. Collette, currently First Mutual Bank's Executive Vice President and Manager of Commercial Banking, will join Washington Federal at the close of the two companies' merger, expected in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2007. Washington Federal, Inc. (Nasdaq:WFSL) and First Mutual Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq:FMSB) announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement on Monday, July 2.
Washington Federal's Chairman, President and CEO Roy M. Whitehead said, "Rick Collette is one of the premier commercial bankers in this market and we feel privileged to be gaining the benefit of his experience and market savvy. During the transition, we will work closely with Rick and his team to deliver service to all customers at the high level they expect and deserve. In the future, he will have our committed support to lead this newly acquired group to unprecedented growth and success."
Prior to joining the bank in December of 2001, he was the Northwest Region's Senior Credit Risk Management Executive for Bank of America, where he was employed from 1973 to 2001. He has over 34 years experience in commercial lending. Originally from Salem, Oregon, Rick is a graduate of Oregon State University. He is currently serving on the board of trustees for the Bellevue Arts Museum, where he was president from 2003 to 2005, and on the boards of trustees for Leadership Eastside and the Bellevue Community College Foundation.
At First Mutual, Collette's responsibilities include overseeing commercial real estate lending as well as business banking. After closing of the merger, First Mutual's commercial real estate lending function will report to Jack Jacobson, Executive Vice President and Manager of the Commercial Real Estate Banking Group at Washington Federal.
As of March 31, 2007, Washington Federal had $9.9 billion in assets, $6.0 billion in deposits and $1.3 billion in stockholders' equity. First Mutual, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, had total assets of $1.06 billion, total deposits of $771.6 million and total stockholders' equity of $72.3 million as of March 31, 2007.
The Washington Federal, Inc. logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3889