Chairman Elected and Four New Directors Join the Board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York
Contact: Eric Amig - 212 441-6807 |
April 11 , 2002 |
New York, New York – Atwood Collins III, Executive Vice President of M&T Bank, Fishkill, New York, has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. Mr. Collins has served on the Board since 1997.
Dennis A. James, President and CEO of Sturdy Savings Bank, Cape May Court House, New Jersey, has been re-elected Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Home Loan Bank. Mr. James has served on the Board since 1996.
Four additional directors have joined the Bank’s Board: three are public interest directors appointed by the Finance Board and one is an industry director.
The appointed directors are:
Elias Behar-Ybarra, President, Behar-Ybarra and Associates of San Juan, Puerto Rico; Michael M. Horn, Partner, McCarter & English of Newark, New Jersey; and Richard S. Mroz, of Counsel, Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
The elected director is:
William E. Swan, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. and First Niagara Bank of Lockport, New York. The Board elected Mr. Swan to the Board to fill a vacant industry-elected director slot.
The New York Federal Home Loan Bank’s Board of Directors is comprised of 17 members: six are appointed to three-year terms as public interest and community interest directors by the Federal Housing Finance Board, and 11 industry directors are elected to three-year terms by the Bank’s financial-institution stockholders. The Board members elect the Chair and Vice Chair.
Atwood Collins III was elected Chairman of the Board, having first been elected to the Board of Directors in 1997. Mr. Collins is Executive Vice President of M&T Bank and President of its Hudson Valley Division. Prior to leading M&T’s New York City Division (formerly The East New York Savings Bank), Mr. Collins headed Treasury Operations for Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York. M&T Bank is the principal bank subsidiary of the Buffalo-based M&T Bank Corporation, the nation’s 26th largest publicly-owned commercial bank holding company with $31.5 billion in assets as of December 31, 2001. M&T Bank has 450 branch offices in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.
Dennis A. James was re-elected Vice Chairman of the Board; he joined the Board of Directors in 1996. Mr. James is President and CEO of Sturdy Savings Bank of Cape May Court House, New Jersey. He is chairman of the New Jersey League Community and Savings Bankers’ Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Committee. His prior experience includes the firm of Deloitte & Touche. Mr. James was a U.S. Navy Seabee and a trustee of the Wetlands Institute. Sturdy Savings Bank offers six full-service banking facilities and has provided banking services to Cape May County, New Jersey since 1922.
Elias Behar-Ybarra heads Behar-Ybarra and Associates, an architectural and engineering firm he founded in 1984 that has offices in San Juan, Puerto Rico and in Miami and Tampa, Florida. Mr. Behar specializes in the design and management of infrastructure projects, including long-span bridges, highways, marine structures, schools, buildings, and water and sewer systems. During the past 12 years, he has been involved in the design of projects with construction costs totaling over $1 billion. Mr. Behar was named the 1992 Distinguished Civil Engineer of the Year in Puerto Rico by the Puerto Rico Board of Engineers and Land Surveyors and received the Henry H. Edwards Industry Advancement Award from the Prestressed Concrete Institute in 1992.
Michael M. Horn has been a partner since 1990 in the law firm of McCarter & English in its Newark, New Jersey office. From 1986 to 1990, Mr. Horn was Executive Vice President of Ryan, Beck & Co., Investment Bankers and Bank/Thrift Consultants. Mr. Horn was Commissioner of Banking for the State of New Jersey from 1982 to 1984 and was State Treasurer from 1984 to 1986. He received the Outstanding Service to State Government Award from the National Governors Association in 1985. Mr. Horn is a Board Member of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, is former Chairman of the New Jersey Pension and Health Benefits Review Commission, and actively assists community organizations that promote affordable housing. Mr. Horn previously served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York from 1988 to 1999.
Richard S. Mroz of Haddonfield, New Jersey, is an attorney with the law firm of Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young. He acts as lead attorney for the Government and Public Affairs Group and serves as New Jersey Counsel to the Delaware River and Bay Authority. Mr. Mroz was Chief Counsel to New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, a cabinet level position, from May 1999 to June 2000. From 1994 to 1998, he was Director of the Authorities Unit in the Office of the Governor and was County Counsel in Camden, New Jersey from 1991 to 1994. Mr. Mroz is a Board Member of the New Jersey Alliance for Action, Past President of the University of Delaware Alumni Association, and a former instructor with the National Academy of Paralegal Studies.
William E. Swan began his career in community banking at M & T Bank as a Collector, Business Development Officer, and Branch Manager in 1970 and rose through the management ranks as he became Administrative Vice President and Regional Executive. Mr. Swan joined First Niagara Bank in 1988 as senior executive vice president and was named president and CEO in 1989. Following an IPO in 1998, he also became president and CEO of the bank’s parent company, First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. In January 2001, Mr. Swan was elected to serve as Chairman of the Board of both the bank and the holding company while continuing his role as President and CEO. Based in the Buffalo, New York suburb of Lockport, First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. is the $2.9 billion multi-bank holding company of three community banks, including Cortland Savings Bank, Cayuga Bank, and its principal subsidiary, First Niagara Bank. Formerly known as Niagara Bancorp, Inc., First Niagara underwent a name change following approval last year. First Niagara has a presence in the western and central regions of New York State with 37 banking offices, 67 ATMs, two loan production offices, and a telephone-banking center.
Mr. Behar, Mr. Horn, Mr. Mroz, and Mr. Swan were sworn in at the regular March Board meeting of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York.
The Home Loan Bank is a Congressionally chartered, $80 billion, wholesale Bank. It is part of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, a national wholesale banking network of 12 regional, stockholder-owned banks. The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York serves 300 community lenders in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The mission of the Home Loan Bank is to advance housing opportunity and local community development by maximizing the capacity of community-based member-lenders to serve their markets.