Chair of the Board, Meridian Trust Bank · Judge, Oregon Court of Appeals (ret.) · Reads every page of the packet
Portland · Meridian Trust Bank · 911+ connections
I served eighteen years on the Oregon Court of Appeals, where I wrote opinions on lending practices and consumer protection that are, I am told, still cited. I joined Meridian Trust's board in 2015 while still on the bench, with the court's approval, and have chaired it since 2020.
In 2021 the bank was approached about a merger that would have tripled its size and ended its independence. The board spent three months on the question, including open meetings with staff in all three branches, and declined. The question that settled it was simple: who would the loan officer be, afterward, for the family at the kitchen table?
Independence is not a slogan. It is a decision the board makes again every time someone offers to buy it. We make it again every year.
Our annual independence vote was Tuesday. Nine directors, nine votes to remain an independent Oregon bank. We hold the vote every year, whether or not anyone is offering to buy us, because independence is a decision and decisions should be made on purpose, in minutes, with names attached.
What a judge looks for in a bank's governance: whether the board reads the packet. Not whether it is sent. Whether it is read. I ask directors to mark the page they stopped on. Nobody has stopped before the end since 2021. Helen Kowalczyk's twelve pages are why.
Twelve pages. Thirteen is where people stop. Thank you for proving it.
Chapter six of the cannery history is finished. My mother ran the office at the Bumble Bee plant in Astoria; her 1952–1974 ledgers are the spine of the book. It will be done when it is done. Chapter seven concerns the 1970s collapse of the salmon fishery, and I am taking my time.
Leads a nine-member board; chaired the 2021 independence deliberation; instituted branch open meetings and the directors' quarterly Red Folder review.
Served with the court's approval while on the bench; chaired the governance committee from 2017.
Eighteen years; opinions on lending practices, consumer protection and commercial contracts.
Twelve years of commercial and lending litigation; partner from 1991.
J.D., Lewis & Clark Law School, 1980
B.A. History, Reed College, 1976
Nine to nothing. Five years running. Thank you, all of you.
I voted the way the customers in the complaint summary would have. Easy vote.