News Release

For Release: December 18, 1998
Contact: Elizabeth Masten, (415) 974-2133

SAN FRANCISCO--Member banks in the Twelfth Federal Reserve District have elected Hawaiian banking executive Warren K. K. Luke and Alaskan oil revenues steward Byron I. Mallott to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco for three-year terms beginning January 1, 1999.

Luke, 55, president of Hawaii National Bancshares, Inc., and vice chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Hawaii National Bank in Honolulu, was re-elected by the 81 mid-size member banks in the Fed's nine-state district. He has served on the Fed board since January 1996 and also served a three-year term beginning in 1990.

Mallott, 55, is executive director of the $25 billion Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation in Juneau. This superfund invests oil revenues on behalf of residents of the State of Alaska and pays out a dividend to them on an annual basis. Mallott was elected by the western Fed's 17 largest member banks to represent non-banking interests on the nine-member board. He served as a director of the San Francisco Fed's Seattle branch from 1982-1988 and replaces Stanley T. Skinner, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (Retired) of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Francisco. Skinner was elected to serve on the head office board from 1996 until 1998 year end.

A graduate of Babson College and the Harvard Graduate School of Business, Luke has been in banking for over thirty years. Joining Hawaii National Bank in 1971, he served in various capacities and was appointed president and chief executive officer in 1992. Born in Honolulu, Luke has shouldered numerous leadership positions in business affairs and his community. Currently he is chairman of the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council and a governor of United Way of America. He also serves as a director for the following organizations: Aloha Airlines, the Hawaii Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, the Hawaii Community Reinvestment Corporation, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, and the Queen's Health System. Luke also is a trustee of the Oceanic Institute, among others.

Born in Yakutat, Alaska, Mallott attended Western Washington State College and entered public service at age 22, when he was elected mayor of his home town. Following work in the offices of the state's governor and one of its senators, the governor appointed him to a cabinet position as the first commissioner of the Department of Community and Regional Affairs. Subsequently, his career path included being elected chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Sealaska Corporation, a natural resources conglomerate owned by Southeast Alaska Native peoples; mayor of the city and borough of Juneau; and a practitioner in residence in the School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Alaska Southeast.

Mallott is a director of the Alaska Air Group, which includes Alaska and Horizon Airlines. He served as chairman of the governor's Reapportionment Board for the state and the Nature Conservancy of Alaska and as president of the Alaska Federation of Natives. He also has been a director of the Alaska Commercial Fisheries and Agricultural Bank, Alaska Public Radio Network, Alaska United Drilling, Inc., Bank of America-Alaska, B.M. Behrends Bank, Colville Tribal Enterprise Corporation, the National Alliance of Business, Seafirst Corporation, United Bank Alaska and United Bancorporation, and the University of Alaska Foundation. Mallott also has served as trustee for the Alaska Native Foundation, among others.

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.