KeyCorp said Thursday that it has hired Luther S. "Luke" Helms to be vice chairman of its lead bank.
The 54-year-old Mr. Helms will join KeyBank in Seattle. He will be responsible for middle-market and other commercial lending in 12 western states. The company also operates retail branches in six of those states.
A former BankAmerica vice chairman, Mr. Helms will be the most senior executive in KeyCorp's western region and will report to KeyBank's chairman and chief executive officer, Gary R. Allen, in Cleveland.
In addition to midsize business lending, Mr. Helms will oversee municipal bond underwriting and agricultural lending.
Mr. Helms is the former chairman and chief executive officer of the BankAmerica unit Seafirst Corp.
In his last job at the San Francisco-based company, Mr. Helms was in charge of banking in 10 western states outside California. He quit in late 1996 after former BankAmerica chairman Richard Rosenberg was succeeded by current chairman David Coulter.
Moving to Seattle will be a homecoming for Mr. Helms, who has lived in San Francisco for the last four years. Asked about competing against a company he helped build for more than 19 years, Mr. Helms said, "It's a strange feeling because I'm very fond of Seafirst. I never had to compete against my own bank."
Mr. Helms said he has been talking to KeyCorp for several months. "It's a very good match. I spent my entire life in the western United States. I think it's a great market," he said. "It gives me an opportunity again to compete in the western United States. You just can't get this out of your blood."
Analyst Gerard Cassidy of Tucker Anthony Inc. called the hiring of Mr. Helms a smart move. "With middle-market lending, what we've seen in the past is, you need local division managers for these large multistate holding companies," he said.
"They tend to know the markets better."
Mr. Helms will become one of five vice chairmen. He will succeed John Blake, vice chairman for KeyBank in Seattle. Mr. Blake will return to Ohio to take a yet-to-be-determined position within KeyCorp.
The $74 billion-asset KeyCorp has been rebuilding its bank over the past couple of years. It has reduced its branch network, organized its lead bank into one legal entity nationally, and created national business segments.
To that end, the company "requires the scale and depth of multistate experience that Luke brings," Mr. Allen said. "His reputation and track record in Seattle and the western United States is of the highest caliber."
