Chairman,
Chief Executive Officer
and President
Opportunity and leadership.
All we do to create opportunity for customers, shareholders and communities is made possible through the hard work and leadership of our associates.One of our longtime leaders is leaving our company early this year — Al de Molina, who served as our chief financial officer through the end of 2006. Al served our company well for 17 years in a variety of leadership roles, and as CFO made great strides in bringing more transparency to our earnings and operations for investors.
Stepping into the CFO role is Joe Price, a 14-year associate of the company. We are extremely fortunate to have had someone like Joe in the wings to take on this new challenge. Joe's broad experience in the company includes service as our general auditor, leadership of the Consumer Finance business, key roles in Finance, and service as Risk executive for GCIB. Joe is straightforward, smart and has an incredible work ethic. I am confident he will serve the company well in his new role.
We have one departure from our board of directors this year: Paul Fulton, chairman of Bassett Furniture Industries in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who is retiring after 14 years of dedicated service. Paul brought tremendous experience and insight to the leadership of our company over the years, and I appreciate all his counsel and guidance to me and to former leaders of our company. We wish Paul all the best in his future endeavors.
As we begin 2007 with a fresh commitment to creating opportunity in all we do, I want to again thank our customers, our shareholders and the communities for their partnership and their trust. And I'd like to thank all our associates and directors for the hard work and leadership that enables us to achieve our goals. I look forward to all we'll achieve working together in 2007 and, as always, I welcome your thoughts and suggestions.
KENNETH D. LEWIS
CHAIRMAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
AND PRESIDENT
MARCH 17, 2007
5. Opportunity and leadership.