WASHINGTON - William A. Longbrake was named chief financial officer of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Thursday.
Mr. Longbrake, currently chief financial officer and senior executive vice president at Washington Mutual Bank in Seattle, also will be one FDIC Chairman Ricki Tigert Helfer's two deputies.
When he joins the agency March 6, Mr. Longbrake will advise Ms. Helfer on financial policy. The chairman's other deputy, Leslie Woolley, handles other policy matters.
Mr. Longbrake will replace Steven A. Seelig, who had held the CFO post since November 1992. Mr. Seelig, a 17-year agency veteran, will continue as director of the finance division.
Prior to his 13 years with $18.5 billion-asset Washington Mutual, Mr. Longbrake was a bank regulator for both the FDIC and the Comptroller's office.
He worked in the Comptroller's Washington headquarters for five years, rising to senior deputy comptroller for resource management in 1982. His first, six-year stint with the FDIC began in 1970. Beginning in 1977, Mr. Longbrake interrupted his time at the Comptroller's office to serve for 14 months as special assistant to George LeMaistre, then chairman of the FDIC.
Mr. Longbrake holds a bachelor's degree from the College of Wooster, in Ohio. His graduate education includes a master's in monetary economics and an MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin. He earned a doctorate in finance from the University of Maryland in 1976.
In addition to Mr. Longbrake, Ms. Helfer has hired Ms. Woolley and general counsel William F. Kroener since being sworn in last October.
Ms. Woolley came to the agency from Capitol Hill, where she worked for Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla. Mr. Kroener was a partner with Davis Polk & Wardwell.
