WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is teh text of a press release
published Thursday by the Kansas City Federal Reserve:

ESTHER GEORGE NAMED PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF KANSAS CITY

Esther George, first vice president and chief operating officer of
the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, has been appointed president
and chief executive officer of the Bank. She will succeed Thomas M.
Hoenig, who is retiring from the Bank on Oct. 1 as required by mandatory
Federal Reserve retirement rules for presidents. The announcement was
made by Paul DeBruce, chair of the Banks board of directors and CEO and
founder of DeBruce Grain Inc., Kansas City, Mo.

On behalf of the board of directors, I congratulate Esther on her
appointment as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City,
DeBruce said. Esther is a great leader who possesses an extraordinary
depth of knowledge of the financial system and the economy that will
enable her to carry out the tradition of excellence at the Kansas City
Fed. We are confident that she will uphold the high standards of
performance at this Bank and will be a strong voice for Main Street on
national policy issues.

It is a privilege to have this opportunity to lead the Bank as it
continues to fulfill its key missions of conducting monetary policy,
providing financial services and supervising and regulating financial
institutions, George said. The financial and economic landscape is
changing in our region and around the world, and I am mindful of the
challenges ahead. I am honored to be selected to serve.

George, 53, joined the Bank in 1982 and served as a commissioned
bank examiner until 1995, when she was named to the Banks official
staff. She has held numerous leadership positions at the Bank within its
research support, public affairs and human resources functions.

From 2001 through her appointment to first vice president in 2009,
George was senior vice president in charge of the Division of
Supervision and Risk Management. In that position, she was responsible
for the supervision and regulation of the District’s 170 state-chartered
member banks and nearly 1,000 bank and financial holding companies, as
well as the Bank’s discount window and risk management functions.

During her tenure in banking supervision, she was directly involved
in the Tenth District’s banking supervision and discount window lending
activities during the banking crisis of the 1980s and after the 9/11
terrorist attacks. She is a former chair of the Federal Reserve System’s
Community Banking Organizations Management Group and is also a member of
the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Management Committee, which is
responsible for strategic planning and policy direction.

In 2009, George served for a time at the Federal Reserve Board of
Governors in Washington, D.C., as acting director of the Boards
Division of Bank Supervision and Risk Management during the financial
crisis, where she worked closely with the Board on System matters.

Georges experience in international central banking issues
includes presentations at the Bank for International Settlements
Financial Stability Institute programs in Lima, Peru; Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.;
and Singapore. She also has served as the Tenth Districts lead officer
for international partnership programs involving the central banks of
Morocco, Iraq and Malawi.

A native of Faucett, Mo., she holds a B.S.B.A. in business
administration from Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph,
Mo., and an M.B.A. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is a
graduate of the American Bankers Association Stonier Graduate School of
Banking and the Stanford University Executive Program. She has been
married to Kevin George for 30 years. They have a daughter and a son,
both of whom attend colleges in Missouri.

Georges appointment to president, which was made by the Banks
directors and approved by the Board of Governors, followed a nearly six
month-long search. In March, DeBruce announced the formation of a search
committee of directors to find Hoenigs successor. The committee was
headed by director Terry Moore, president of the Omaha Federation of
Labor, AFL-CIO, Omaha, Neb. Other directors on the search committee
included DeBruce; Lu Cordova, CEO of Corlund Industries, Boulder, Colo.;
Mark Gordon, owner of Merlin Ranch, Buffalo, Wyo.; Richard Ratcliffe,
chairman of Ratcliffes Inc., Weatherford, Okla.; and John T. Stout Jr.,
CEO of Plaza Belmont Management Group, Shawnee Mission, Kan.

I want to convey my deepest gratitude to Terry Moore, who took on
significant responsibilities to lead the selection of the next Bank
president, DeBruce said. We are indebted to him.

As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, George
will rotate with other regional Reserve Bank presidents as a voting
member on the Federal Open Market Committee, which has authority over
U.S. monetary policy. She will participate in FOMC meetings with her
appointment as president and will be a voting member in 2013.

As the regional headquarters of the nations central bank, the
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and its branches serve the seven
states of the Tenth Federal Reserve District: Colorado, Kansas,
Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, northern New Mexico and western Missouri.

ESTHER GEORGE CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

1982-1995: Commissioned Bank Examiner, Federal Reserve Bank of
Kansas City
1995-1997: Assistant Vice President, Economic Research
1997-1999: Vice President, Public Affairs
1999-2001: Vice President, Human Resources
2001- 2009: Senior and Executive Vice President, Supervision and
Risk Management

2009: Acting Director, Division of Supervision and Regulation,
Federal Reserve Board of Governors

June 2009-September 2011: First Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer

EDUCATION

Stanford University Executive Program, 2007

Stonier Graduate School of Banking, University of Delaware
Thesis Library HonorsFederal Home Loan Bank Membership for
Commercial Banks: Benefits, Costs and Public Policy Issues (1994)

University of Missouri-Kansas City
Masters of Business Administration

Missouri Western State University, St. Joseph, Mo.

Bachelor of Science-Business Administration

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Missouri Western State University Foundation Board, member

University of Missouri-Kansas City, Board of Trustees, member

Kansas City, Missouri, Civic Council, member

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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