WWilliam A. Longbrake is vice chair of Washington Mutual, Inc. (WaMu) and serves as the company's executive liaison with regulators, legislators, industry trade organizations, and government-sponsored enterprises.  He is currently on loan part-time to the Financial Services Roundtable, based in Washington, DC, as the Anthony T. Cluff Senior Policy Advisor.  Members of the Roundtable include the largest financial services companies in the U.S.

Longbrake has been vice chair of WaMu since 1999 and was a member of the Executive Committee from 1996 to 2006. He was an executive vice president from 1996 to 1999 and served as the company’s chief financial officer from 1996 to 2002 and chief enterprise risk officer from 2002 to 2004.

Longbrake originally joined WaMu in 1982 as executive vice president and chief financial officer, a position he held, except for a two-year stint when he was responsible for retail banking and home lending, until his appointment in February 1995 as chief financial officer and deputy to the chairman for finance at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). He returned to the company in October 1996 as chief financial officer, a position he served in until October 2002. In 2001, Longbrake was named CFO of the Year in the Driving Revenue Growth category by CFO Magazine. He began his career in Washington, D.C. in 1970, where he served in various positions, including acting senior deputy comptroller for policy and senior deputy comptroller for resource management for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and special assistant to the chairman at the FDIC.

He earned his bachelor of arts degree in economics from the College of Wooster in 1965, graduating with honors. He earned his master’s degree in monetary economics in 1968 and his master of business administration degree in 1969 from the University of Wisconsin. He received his doctorate in finance from the University of Maryland in 1976.

Longbrake is active in numerous academic, business and community service organizations, particularly those involving issues surrounding affordable housing. Currently, he is a member of the board of the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC), which provides affordable housing nationwide. He chairs the Washington State Citizens Tax Preference Commission and also is a member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors for Washington State, the University of Washington Business School Advisory Board and the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business Board of Visitors. He serves on the boards of directors for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle, the Washington Financial League and America’s Community Bankers and is Chairman Emeritus of the Financial Services Roundtable’s Housing Policy Council.

He previously served as chairman of the Washington State Affordable Housing Advisory Board, Threshold Housing, the Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program, and is past president of the Washington State Chapter of Financial Executives International and the Puget Sound Council of Financial Institutions. He is also a former member of the Fannie Mae National Advisory Council and the Thrift Institutions Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

In the academic sector, Longbrake has published extensively and has taught courses in business administration and finance at the University of Maryland and Seattle University. Currently he serves on the board of trustees of the College of Wooster.  He received the 2007 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year for the Robert H. Smith School of Business of the University of Maryland.

Email: bill@fsround.org