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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Briefcase

Mountain West Bank CEO set to retire

Mountain West Bank CEO Jon Hippler will retire at the end of the year. Hippler, 66, has served as chief executive since the bank was founded in 1993 in Coeur d’Alene.

He will be replaced by Russ Porter, the bank’s president and chief operating officer. Porter will be replaced by Rod Colwell, who recently joined the bank’s executive team.

Mountain West Bank has 23 locations in Idaho, Eastern Washington and northern Utah. It’s the largest state-chartered bank in Idaho.

“We have been living in a difficult banking environment these last three years,” Hippler said in a news release. “As I leave, I’m confident that the leadership we have put in place and the nearly 400 employees of Mountain West will continue to not only deal effectively with ongoing challenges, but also take the bank forward to new heights as conditions continue to improve.”

Hippler grew up in Coeur d’Alene, graduated from Coeur d’ Alene High School and the University of Idaho, and served with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He will remain on the Mountain West Bank board of directors.

Staff report

Red Lion Hotels Corp. hires senior VP, CFO

Red Lion Hotels Corp. of Spokane has hired Dan Jackson as senior vice president and chief financial officer. He will begin Nov. 10.

Jackson has been involved in senior-level finance and strategic planning for more than 20 years, and he has significant experience in the hospitality industry, Red Lion said Tuesday.

As executive vice president and CFO for KinderCare Learning Centers, Inc. and its successor, Knowledge Learning Corporation, Jackson oversaw all financial operations and worked with investment banks and lenders in negotiating financing for a company with more than 1,650 locations.

Prior to KinderCare, Jackson was vice president and controller for Red Lion when it was held by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Jackson replaces Anthony Dombrowik, who left Red Lion in October after accepting a position as chief financial officer at Ambassadors Group Inc., based in Spokane.

Staff report

Three sentenced for mortgage fraud

BOISE – The U.S. Department of Justice says three people involved in a mortgage fraud scheme in southwest Idaho have been sentenced in U.S. District Court.

Thirty-three-year-old Shauntee K. Ferguson, of Boise, was sentenced Monday to five years of supervised release and $365,000 in restitution for making a false statement to a financial institution.

Fifty-nine-year-old Michael J. Hymas, formerly of Boise, was sentenced to 21 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $545,000 in restitution for wire fraud.

Thirty-year-old Christopher R. Georgeson, of Phoenix, Ariz., was sentenced to a month in prison and 11 months of home detention and $103,350 in restitution for wire fraud.

The sentences stem from a federal probe of Crestwood Construction, a once-major homebuilding company in Idaho and Utah that went bankrupt in 2008.

Associated Press