Equity Committee Nominates Four Board Members for Reorganized Washington Mutual, Inc.

SEATTLE, Feb. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Official Committee of Equity Security Holders (the "Equity Committee") of Washington Mutual, Inc. (Pink Sheets: WAMUQ.PK) ("WMI") announced the names of its four nominees to the Board of Directors for the reorganized Washington Mutual Inc. ("Reorganized WMI").

Reorganized WMI will emerge from bankruptcy if the currently proposed plan of reorganization (the "Seventh Amended Plan") is confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court.  A hearing on the Seventh Amended Plan is currently scheduled to commence on February 16, 2012 at 9:30 a.m.  The fifth member of the Board of Directors of Reorganized WMI will be nominated by lenders in a $125 million credit facility that will be made available to Reorganized WMI.

James Scott, a member of the Equity Committee, said, "We were pleased to see many quality candidates make themselves available to the board of directors for Reorganized WMI.  We are particularly pleased with the four we selected."

Michael Willingham, chair of the Equity Committee and one of the four nominees to the Reorganized WMI board, stated, "The Equity Committee's primary goal was to maintain maximum flexibility for the reorganized company so that once the board is seated, it will be able to consider the widest range of options in creating a business plan.  The diversity of backgrounds among these nominees will help meet that goal." 

Ho Pham, another member of the Equity Committee, added "We believe that this board will have the experience necessary to succeed in the financial services sector."

The Equity Committee's four nominees to Reorganized WMI's board are:

Diane B. Glossman, CFA—Ms. Glossman has 25 years of experience as an investment analyst, including for Salomon Brothers, Lehman Brothers, and UBS, where she was managing director and head of United States bank and brokerage research until her retirement in 2003.  She specialized in money center, trust banks, and broker/dealers, but over the course of her career covered all aspects of the banking and financial services industries.  Following her retirement from UBS, Ms. Glossman has served as an advisor and consultant to a number of financial institutions.  Ms. Glossman is currently a board member of the Ambac Assurance Company (head of the compensation committee and a member of the special committee and the audit and risk assessment committee), as well as the Board of Directors of the Bucks County SPCA (Treasurer and member of the finance committee; past president).  Previously, she sat on the Trustees Board of the SSgA Funds (a member of the audit, governance, valuation, and qualified legal and compliance committees); the Board and finance committee of the Internet payments company E-Charge Corporation; and the Board of the flavorings and botanicals company, A.M. Todd Group (chairman of the compensation committee and acting chairman of the audit committee).  During her career as an analyst, Ms. Glossman was a frequent commentator on industry and company events for such entities as The Nightly Business Report, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, The Economist, CNN, CNBC, and various trade publications.

Timothy R. Graham—Mr. Graham is currently the principal of Brookwall, LLC, a company advising on financial and operating restructurings.  He has extensive transactional, management, and compliance experience in the restructuring, corporate, and venture capital arenas with particular emphasis on troubled insurance and financial entities.  From June 2008 through August 2010, Mr. Graham was a consultant to Triad Guaranty Insurance Corporation and its mortgage insurance subsidiary where he assisted in formulating and implementing a partially deferred payment plan for policyholder claims allowing for the ongoing solvent runoff pursuant to an Illinois Insurance Department Order of its policyholder obligations arising from its more than $60 billion of insured mortgages.  Prior to that engagement, Mr. Graham served as President and Chief Restructuring Officer of LaSalle Re Limited, the primary subsidiary of a distressed NYSE traded, international casualty/catastrophe reinsurer based in Bermuda, which completed the solvent closure with regulatory approval of its licensed reinsurance company  primarily through consensual resolution of its policyholder obligations in less than four years.  Mr. Graham also previously served as General Counsel, Director, and Chief Restructuring Officer/Counsel for Trenwick Group LTD., a NYSE traded  holding company of an affiliated group of distressed insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries with aggregate assets exceeding $4.5 billion operating in the US, Lloyds of London, Bermuda, and Europe, as well as the General Counsel and a Director of Winstar Communications Inc., a broadband telecommunications, internet service and content  provider with licensed operations throughout the US and in a number of major international markets.  Prior to that, Mr. Graham was a principal in an investment fund focused on distressed and turnaround investments, as well as a partner in a New York based national law firm specializing primarily on international corporate transactions, reorganizations, regulatory compliance and business law.  Mr. Graham has authored several books and a number of articles on international business law and has spoken or co-chaired a number of conferences on international insurance restructurings and related matters.

Mark Holliday—From 2003 through 2009, Mr. Holliday was a partner in Camden Asset Management, a multi-billion hedge fund focusing on convertible and capital structure arbitrage.  Prior to becoming a partner with Camden, Mr. Holliday was with a number of investment firms, including Deephaven Capital Management, Heartland Capital Corp., Option Opportunities, and Continental Partners Group.  Mr. Holliday has served on the boards of directors of a number of corporations and has extensive experience on board audit committees.  His past and present directorships include YRC Worldwide, Inc. (audit committee chair, compensation committee), FiberTower Corporation (director and chair of the audit committee), Primus Telecommunications Group (audit committee chair, compensation and governance committee), Movie Gallery, Inc. (board chair, audit committee chair), Clear Choice Health Plans (special committee member), Assisted Living Concepts, Inc. (audit committee chair, special transaction committee chair), Reptron Electronics, Inc. (audit committee member), and TELETRAC, Inc. (audit committee member).

Michael Willingham—Mr. Willingham has been the chair of the Equity Committee since its formation in January 2010.  Through his service on the Equity Committee, Mr. Willingham has developed substantial knowledge about WMI's current state of operations and also about the terms of the Seventh Amended Plan and related agreements involving Reorganized WMI.  Mr. Willingham is currently working on issues necessary to prepare Reorganized WMI for emergence from bankruptcy.  Mr. Willingham has extensive prior experience with complex securities agreements and financial instruments.  He has served on committees or trust boards in prior bankruptcies including Mirant Corporation and Calpine Corporation.  Mr. Willingham has also provided consulting services on a wide variety of issues, ranging from chapter 11 litigation to securities trading investigations, and has been engaged as a consultant in major bankruptcies including Enron.  Prior to consulting, Mr. Willingham traded energy commodities and derivatives for two Fortune Global 500 companies.

SOURCE Official Committee of Equity Security Holders of Washington Mutual, Inc.