MEDIA RELEASE / AUGUST 19, 2005

Conference of State Bank Supervisors
1155 Connecticut Avenue NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036

CSBS ANNOUNCES PROMOTIONS AND STAFF ASSIGNMENTS

Washington, DC – The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) this week announced several senior management promotions and staff assignments designed to strengthen the organization’s role in representing state banking in the nation’s capital.

“These changes in staffing recognize the growing demands on the Regulatory Division and CSBS, particularly to coordinate with federal regulators and assist in coordination among the states,” said CSBS Executive Vice President John Ryan.

Michael Stevens, who has served as CSBS Vice President, Education since 2000, moves to the CSBS Regulatory Division as Vice President & Co-Director, Regulatory Affairs. He brings more than 11 years’ experience in banking and bank supervision to the position. Prior to joining CSBS, Stevens was a bank examiner for the Iowa Division of Banking. He is a 1988 graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He serves on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado and the Texas Tech Banking School.

Mary Beth Puccinelli, Regulatory Vice President, will join Stevens as co-director of CSBS’s Regulatory Division. Prior to coming to CSBS in 2001, Puccinelli worked with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond for six and half years. She rose through the examiner ranks from assistant examiner to becoming commissioned bank examiner. Puccinelli is a 1994 graduate of Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Va.

Stevens and Puccinelli will report to Ryan, who oversees CSBS’s policy development.

Tonita Harrington, who has served as senior administrative assistant in CSBS’s Regulatory Division has been promoted to Assistant Vice President, reporting to Puccinelli. Harrington joined CSBS in 1998. Previously she worked at a South Carolina law firm and also at the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Agriculture.

CSBS also announced two additional staff changes, as follows:

Frances Hernandez, who has served as CSBS Office Assistant and Receptionist will join the Regulatory Division as administrative assistant.

Kelly Williamson has joined CSBS as administrative assistant in the Legislative Division.

“As CSBS continues its second century of leadership and service to the industry, our association is in the strongest position in its history to act as the voice for state-chartered banking and the dual banking system," said President and CEO Neil Milner.

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CSBS is the professional association of state officials responsible for chartering, regulating and supervising all of the nations' 6,300-plus state-chartered banks and 400-plus state-licensed branches and agencies of foreign banks. Since 1902, CSBS has been the primary advocate for the state banking system nationwide, fulfilling this mission by representing the state banking system on Capitol Hill, among federal regulatory agencies and the courts. CSBS is the leading provider of education and training for state bank examiners, and serves as the central clearinghouse for information on the state banking system.

Information Contact: Mary White mwhite@csbs.org, Vice President, Communications, (202) 728-5715