WaMu Splits CEO/Chair Roles

Citing "feedback" from shareholders, Seattle-based Washington Mutual Inc. has announced that it will separate the roles of chairman and chief executive officer, elevating independent director Stephen E. Frank to the post of board chair long held by Kerry Killinger. Mr. Killinger will remain as chief executive officer and will serve as a director of the troubled thrift. The board also adopted a majority-voting standard and made several changes to the composition and leadership of certain committees, including the appointments of retired Starbucks CEO Orin C. Smith to chair its finance committee and Dallas Mayor Thomas C. Leppert to head its governance panel. "The actions today by the board are a result of a deliberate review of how best to enhance WaMu's corporate governance policies and practices," said Mr. Frank, 66, who has served on the WaMu board since 1997. "They also reflect the board's commitment to listening to feedback from our shareholders." In February, CtW Investment Group warned that certain directors of WaMu and other top financial institutions might face an election challenge if they did not provide a satisfactory explanation of what they did to protect shareholders from "excessive mortgage-related risk" in the past two years. WaMu can be found on the Web at http://www.wamu.com.