Philadelphia, Pa. (August 31, 2007) – Gerald J. Dent, executive vice president and chief credit officer, Zions Bancorporation, Salt Lake City, was elected chair of The Risk Management Association (RMA). Sonny B. Lyles, executive vice president, chief risk and credit officer, Sterling Bank, Houston, was elected vice chair. Their one-year terms begin September 1, 2007.
An active member of RMA since 1991, Dent was vice chair of RMA last year, and he has served on RMA’s board of directors for the past three years.
Dent joined Zions Bancorporation, a $47 billion institution, in 1977, working with Chairman Roy Simmons in mergers, acquisitions, and branch expansion. During this period, he organized and supervised three de novo banks and assisted in the acquisition of 11 banks in Utah and Nevada. He later served as director of marketing for Zions First National Bank and manager of the credit examination/review function for Zions Bancorporation. From 1989 to 1998, Dent served in a dual role as Credit Administrator for Zions Bancorporation and Zions First National Bank, where he was chairman of the bank’s Credit Administration Committee and vice chairman of the Senior Loan Committee.
Dent graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in banking and finance. He is also a graduate of the Colorado School of Banking and the BMA School of Bank Marketing.
Lyles, who joined Sterling Bank, a $4.4 billion institution, in 2005, became an RMA member in 1973. He is a member of the RMA board of directors and also of the RMA Texas Chapter board of directors. He has served on RMA’s Credit Risk Management Council and Regulatory Relations Council.
He is a graduate of Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
About RMA
Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk principles in the financial services industry. RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk, and operational risk.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, RMA has 3,000 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the association by 18,500 risk management professionals who are chapter members in financial centers throughout North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. Visit RMA on the Web at www.rmahq.org.