- Sean M. Willett named Senior Vice President and Director of Internal Audit
- Bethany L. Bowers, Michelle M. Kline, Christopher Nowak and M. Jordan Wiemer named Compliance Officers
WARSAW, N.Y., Sept. 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Five Star Bank (the “Bank”), subsidiary of Financial
Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI), today announced the recent hiring of a Director of Internal Audit and three officers to lead
teams within its recently restructured compliance department and the promotion of an existing Bank employee to a fourth compliance
officer role.
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- Sean M. Willett is Senior Vice President and Director of Internal Audit. Mr. Willett has 20 years of experience instituting
internal control frameworks, process efficiencies, project management and enterprise risk management functions. Most recently he
served as Executive Director and Global Head of Regulatory Affairs Strategy & Implementation for Morgan Stanley in New York City.
Mr. Willett earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management at the University of Maryland.
- Bethany L. Bowers is named Fair and Responsible Banking Officer & Community Reinvestment Act Officer, providing compliance
support in the areas of Fair Lending, CRA, HMDA and UDAAP. She has 15 years of banking experience, most recently serving as a
Compliance Specialist and Assistant Vice President at M&T Bank. Previously, she was Compliance Manager for Retail and Digital
Banking and Vice President at First Niagara Bank, N.A. Early in her career, she was a branch manager and gained operational
experience as she progressed through regional operational manager and senior retail operations roles.
- Michelle M. Kline is Senior Compliance Officer, leading the team responsible for implementation of the Bank’s compliance
management program and providing retail banking and governance-related compliance support, including Regulation O and privacy.
She most recently served as Financial Intelligence Unit Team Leader at Community Bank N.A. and previously was BSA Analyst II/
Fraud Investigator at Community Bank and Financial Crimes Analyst at Alliance Bank N.A. Ms. Kline earned Bachelor of Science and
Masters Degrees in Economic Crime Management at Utica College.
- Christopher Nowak is Director of the Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit and the BSA/AML & OFAC Officer, leading the BSA/AML,
Fraud and Legal Processing teams. He most recently served as Assistant BSA/AML & Assistant Security Officer – Assistant Vice
President at Evans Bank, N.A. and previously served as Senior FIU/AML Compliance Analyst / Trainer – Bank Officer at First
Niagara Bank. Mr. Nowak earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management at The
State University of New York at Buffalo.
- M. Jordan Wiemer was recently promoted to Senior Compliance Lending Officer, primarily dedicated to delivering full
compliance support to the Bank’s lending business. He joined Five Star Bank in November of 2015 after working in Client Entity
Management and Legal Entity Management for Goldman Sachs in Salt Lake City. Mr. Wiemer earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in
Accounting at Weber State University.
“The addition of these experienced professionals to our organization strengthens our audit and compliance
functions and will further support the Bank’s growth,” said Michael D. Burneal, Chief Risk and Enterprise Administration Officer
for Five Star Bank. “Sean brings a strong bank internal control and regulatory background that will be invaluable as he leads the
Bank’s internal audit function. He will also have an independent yet consultative role with our finance and accounting group,
direct our ongoing enterprise risk management (“ERM”) process, and provide risk-based consultative input to senior management. Our
recent organizational restructuring of compliance and the leadership of Bethany, Michelle, Chris and Jordan will better position us
to address the critical and complex regulatory requirements of our institution and meet the robust compliance management program
expectations of the highly regulated industry in which we operate.”
About Five Star Bank and Financial Institutions, Inc.
Five Star Bank provides a wide range of consumer and commercial banking and lending services to individuals, municipalities, and
businesses through a network of more than 50 offices and 70 ATMs throughout Western and Central New York State. Additional Five
Star Bank information is available at www.five-starbank.com, on Twitter, and on Facebook.
Five Star Bank, Scott Danahy Naylon, LLC (“SDN”) and Courier Capital, LLC (“Courier Capital”) are subsidiaries
of Financial Institutions, Inc. SDN provides a broad range of insurance services to personal and business clients across 45
states. Courier Capital provides customized investment management, investment consulting and retirement plan services to
individuals, businesses, institutions, foundations and retirement plans. Financial Institutions, Inc. and its subsidiaries employ
approximately 650 individuals. Financial Institutions, Inc. stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the
symbol FISI. Additional information is available at www.fiiwarsaw.com.
Contact: Shelly J. Doran (585) 627-1362 or sjdoran@five-starbank.com
