Laura Lee (Laurie) Stewart

President and Chief Executive Officer
Sound Community Bank and Sound Financial Bancorporation
Seattle, Washington


Laurie Stewart is the president /CEO of Sound Community Bank and SFBC, headquartered in Seattle.

Active in the industry, Laurie was one of 14 bankers selected to serve on the inaugural FDIC Community Bank Advisory Board. Subsequently, she was appointed to the inaugural Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Community Banks Advisory Board. She is active in trade associations, serving two terms as chair of the Washington Bankers Association , and she chaired the American Bankers Association (ABA) flagship Governmental Affairs Committee and as chair of the ABA, which represents the industry including banks large and small. In 2017, she was one of nine community bankers invited to the White House for a listening session with the President. She also served as chair of the National Arthritis Foundation Board of Directors and is a director of the Head Office Board of the Federal Reserve Bank, former chair of the Woodland Park Zoo, and Secretary/Treasurer of the Jamestown/S’Klallam CDFI. She is the only non-tribal member of the CDFI Board.

Laurie has been recognized in American Banker Magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Banking list continuously since 2017. She also earned the prestigious Woman of Influence award from the Puget Sound Business Journal. In 2019, Seattle Business Magazine recognized her as an Executive of Excellence. In 2018, she was named Community Banker of the Year – a national recognition. In 2021, the Puget Sound Business Journal named her one of the Power 100.

Laurie is a frequent speaker and teacher. Her community volunteering includes formerly serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, designing and decorating trees for the O’Christmas Tree Celebrations and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money for cancer research. She also loves to sew and makes a baby quilt for every newborn in the bank family.