News Release

For Release: December 10, 1998
Contact: Elizabeth Masten, (415) 974-2133

SAN FRANCISCO -- Idaho-based supermarket chain executive Gary G. Michael and California real estate executive Nelson C. Rising have been designated chairman of the board and deputy chairman, respectively, of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco for 1999 by the central bank's Board of Governors in Washington, D.C.

Michael, 58, is chairman and chief executive officer of Albertson's, Inc., the nation's second largest retail food and drug chain, headquartered in Boise, Idaho. He served as chairman of the Bank's Salt Lake City Branch Board in the early nineties, was elected by member banks to the head office board in 1994, became an appointee of the Board of Governors and the Bank's deputy chairman in 1997, and was first designated as chairman of the board for 1998.

Rising, 57, has headed one of the nation's largest full service real estate companies, Catellus Development Corporation in San Francisco, since the fall of 1994. Catellus develops and manages industrial, office, retail, residential, and mixed-use properties--the majority of which are located in California--and others in Dallas, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, and Portland. Rising was first appointed to the Reserve Bank's board in 1998 and succeeds Cynthia A. Parker as deputy chairman. Ms. Parker is the executive director of Anchorage Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc., in Anchorage, Alaska, and has served as a Fed director since 1993.

Michael is a business graduate of the University of Idaho. He began his career as a staff accountant with the CPA firm of Ernst & Whinney and joined Albertson's in 1966 as an accountant. Michael became controller in 1971, and following various appointments, he succeeded to his present position as chairman and chief executive officer in 1991.

A native of Laurel, Montana, Michael is a director of Questar Corporation and Boise Cascade Corporation. He has chaired the Saint Alphonse Regional Medical Center in Boise, served as president of the University of Idaho Foundation and the Boise Public Schools Foundation, and also served as vice chairman of finance for the Food Marketing Institute.

Rising is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles and received a juris doctor from UCLA's School of Law, where he also was managing editor of its law review. Active in business and community affairs, he currently is chairman of the Environment Policy Advisory Committee of the National Realty Committee and has served in a leadership role in many civic organizations, including chairman of the Los Angeles Central City Association and the Metropolitan Water District Blue Ribbon Task Force.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco provides wholesale banking services to financial institutions in the nine western states through the head office in San Francisco and branch offices at Los Angeles, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Seattle. As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve System formulates monetary policy, serves as a bank regulator, administers consumer protection laws, and is fiscal agent for the U.S. government. Head office directors are responsible for overseeing Reserve Bank operations, selecting the Reserve Bank president, providing details of economic trends in their regions, and advising the Bank's president and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on the general direction of monetary policy by establishing the Bank's discount rates.