Board Vice-Chair - Gwynn C. Virostek, Bank of Bonifay
Gwynn C.Virostek, senior vice president of The Bank of Bonifay and a highly respected financial consultant. Gwynn previously managed retail banking and branch operations for approximately half of the financial centers across the country for Washington Mutual. Her area included the groups of South Florida, Mid-Atlantic, New York Liberty, New York/New Jersey Empire, Illinois, and Texas.
Gwynn has 30-years as a banking industry veteran, joining WaMu in June 1997 through the Great Western acquisition. Prior to Great Western, Gwynn worked for 10 years at Wachovia (formerly First Atlanta) in Georgia. She has a wide range of experience from field-level positions to senior management. Gwynn was chairman of the Florida Bankers Association (FBA) - one of the strongest banking industry associations in the country - and becomes its Chairman in June of this year. She is only the second woman to be elected to this role in the FBA’s 117-year history. In 2003, Gwynn was the first woman to be named Banker of the Year for the state of Florida. Gwynn served as Vice Chair of Washington Mutual’s Political Action Committee and served on the Government and Industry Relations Advisory Group. She also served on Washington Mutual’s Public Policy Management Committee and the Crisis Management Team.
Her service to the community on behalf of WaMu does not stop with our industry. She serves on several statewide and Southeast regional boards including:Vice Chair of Volunteer Florida Foundation; Executive Committee/Treasurer for The Council for Education Change (formerly Annenberg Challenge), a statewide education advocacy group; is Treasurer for the Center for Teaching Quality, a nationwide education non-profit focused on improvement of education; and is on the board of Florida Tax Watch.