WARSAW, N.Y., Sept. 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Five Star Bank, subsidiary of Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI), today announced the recent hiring of a Director of Internal Audit and three officers to lead teams within its recently restructured compliance department and the promotion of an existing Bank employee to a fourth compliance officer role.

• Sean M. Willett is Senior Vice President and Director of Internal Audit. Mr. Willett has 20 years of experience instituting internal control frameworks, process efficiencies, project management and enterprise risk management functions. Most recently he served as Executive Director and Global Head of Regulatory Affairs Strategy & Implementation for Morgan Stanley in New York City. Mr. Willett earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management at the University of Maryland.
• Bethany L. Bowers is named Fair and Responsible Banking Officer & Community Reinvestment Act Officer, providing compliance support in the areas of Fair Lending, CRA, HMDA and UDAAP. She has 15 years of banking experience, most recently serving as a Compliance Specialist and Assistant Vice President at M&T Bank. Previously, she was Compliance Manager for Retail and Digital Banking and Vice President at First Niagara Bank, N.A. Early in her career, she was a branch manager and gained operational experience as she progressed through regional operational manager and senior retail operations roles.
• Michelle M. Kline is Senior Compliance Officer, leading the team responsible for implementation of the Bank’s compliance management program and providing retail banking and governance-related compliance support, including Regulation O and privacy. She most recently served as Financial Intelligence Unit Team Leader at Community Bank N.A. and previously was BSA Analyst II/ Fraud Investigator at Community Bank and Financial Crimes Analyst at Alliance Bank N.A. Ms. Kline earned Bachelor of Science and Masters Degrees in Economic Crime Management at Utica College.
• Christopher Nowak is Director of the Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit and the BSA/AML & OFAC Officer, leading the BSA/AML, Fraud and Legal Processing teams. He most recently served as Assistant BSA/AML & Assistant Security Officer – Assistant Vice President at Evans Bank, N.A. and previously served as Senior FIU/AML Compliance Analyst / Trainer – Bank Officer at First Niagara Bank. Mr. Nowak earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management at The State University of New York at Buffalo.
• M. Jordan Wiemer was recently promoted to Senior Compliance Lending Officer, primarily dedicated to delivering full compliance support to the Bank’s lending business. He joined Five Star Bank in November of 2015 after working in Client Entity Management and Legal Entity Management for Goldman Sachs in Salt Lake City. Mr. Wiemer earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting at Weber State University.

“The addition of these experienced professionals to our organization strengthens our audit and compliance functions and will further support the Bank’s growth,” said Michael D. Burneal, Chief Risk and Enterprise Administration Officer for Five Star Bank. “Sean brings a strong bank internal control and regulatory background that will be invaluable as he leads the Bank’s internal audit function. He will also have an independent yet consultative role with our finance and accounting group, direct our ongoing enterprise risk management (“ERM”) process, and provide risk-based consultative input to senior management. Our recent organizational restructuring of compliance and the leadership of Bethany, Michelle, Chris and Jordan will better position us to address the critical and complex regulatory requirements of our institution and meet the robust compliance management program expectations of the highly regulated industry in which we operate.” 

About Five Star Bank and Financial Institutions, Inc.
Five Star Bank provides a wide range of consumer and commercial banking and lending services to individuals, municipalities, and businesses through a network of more than 50 offices and 70 ATMs throughout Western and Central New York State. Additional Five Star Bank information is available at www.five-starbank.com, on Twitter, and on Facebook.