Emery To Join United Security As President, Coo

A former official of Old National Bank and Farmers & Merchants Bank has been appointed president and chief operating officer of United Security Bancorporation.

Richard Emery will assume his new duties Nov. 1 after 16 years at Pacific One Bank and its predecessor, American National Bank, which he helped organize in 1981.

The Kennewick-based bank was bought by First Hawaiian Corp. in 1996 and renamed. The bank has assets of $165 million and eight branches.

Emery, 56, was president at the bank from its founding.

Pacific One, he noted, has exceeded a 1 percent return on assets every year for the last decade.

“Rich has built a new bank from inception, orchestrated mergers and acquisitions, developed new branches and is grounded in all aspects of community commercial banking,” said United Security Chairman William “Bud” Dashiell, who will surrender his title as president to Emery.

“Rich’s arrival rounds out our executive staffing needs to grow this organization well into the future,” he said.

Emery was a vice president and branch manager for Farmers & Merchants for 10 years before leaving to organize American National. He also held various positions with Old National Bank.

United Security has expanded rapidly in recent years, completing its newest acquisition Monday. The addition of Bank of Pullman as its third subsidiary brought the Spokane-based holding company’s total branch network to 22.

, DataTimes