FS Bancorp in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, has picked a numbers guy, longtime Chief Financial Officer Matthew Mullet, to be CEO of its bank subsidiary, 1st Security Bank.
The announcement likely comes as no surprise to those who follow the $3.2 billion-asset bank. FS named Mullet president of the holding company in July 2024. On Friday, the company said Joe Adams was stepping down after 21 years as 1st Security’s CEO and plans to retire as CEO of FS Bancorp in May.
While FS stopped short of naming Mullet as the next CEO of the holding company, “the bank has indicated this was the likely succession plan,” Janney Montgomery Scott Analyst Timothy Coffey wrote Tuesday in a research note.
1st Security Bank
FS Bancorp has looked inside to fill several recent senior management positions. In addition to Mullet, it promoted Comptroller Phillip Whittington to chief financial officer in May, and it tapped 1st Security’s long-tenured compliance officer, May-Ling Sowell, to be chief compliance officer last month.
Promoting from within is an integral part of 1st Security’s employee-centric culture, according to Mullet. “Once relationships have been established, trust becomes the cornerstone of success as we grow,” he told American Banker.
Mullet had served as chief financial officer for 14 years before relinquishing the post to Whittington.
1st Security’s carefully choreographed leadership transition underscores its commitment to an internal culture that emphasizes stability and prioritizes its employees, Mullet said in an interview.
“For the employees, a change in leadership is a big deal,” Mullet said. “Having that change explained in a consistent, structured format helps on the people side. It really shows the stability and consistency of message the organization is focused on delivering.”
“You don’t want to surprise anyone,” Mullet added. “You want to make sure the teams feel supported. I think succession planning is part of that process.”
For Mullet, spending the past year as president of the holding company was important in demonstrating he could develop and support 1st Security’s workforce of more than 560 employees.
“Over the last year that’s really been my focus,” Mullet said. “The concept with the board was, ‘Can Matt shift to a focus on people being the priority?’ Can I pull back on the finance side and really have the emphasis be on the culture, the people and the organization?”
The board of directors has “the utmost confidence” in Mullet, “who has served the Bank extremely well for the past fourteen years and has already demonstrated the strength of his leadership skills,” Chairman Ted Meech said Friday in a press release.
Adams, who has led FS Bancorp as CEO since 2012, described Mullet as “uniquely qualified” to lead the company. “Matt is the perfect cultural fit,” Adams said in the press release. “He lives our Core Values every day and is the epitome of smart, driven and kind.”
Adams joined 1st Security Bank as chief financial officer in 2003, when it was still known as Washington’s Credit Union. He was appointed president the following year, after 1st Security’s conversion to a depositor-owned mutual savings bank.
As CEO, Adams presided over 1st Security’s
Adams’ leadership “has been instrumental in driving our growth, preserving our mission, and building shareholder value over the past 22 years,” Meech said in the press release.
Mullet joined 1st Security in 2011 as a senior vice president and business development officer. Earlier, he spent four years as an examiner in Washington’s Department of Financial Institutions. He also served as chief financial officer at Spokane, Washington-based Golf Savings Bank.
While Golf was founded by Charles Ainslie, who referred to himself in a 2006 newspaper article as a “longhaired hippie banker,” Mullet’s duties were much more buttoned-down. “I had a very numbers focus,” Mullet said. “How do we translate strategy into profitability? That was always my [aim]. It may still be on my resume somewhere.”
Mullet characterized the succession process at 1st Security as exceptionally smooth. Adams “has been so supportive, so honest in intent,” Mullet said. “He hasn’t contradicted any decisions. He hasn’t come in and said, ‘Matt’s not the CEO, I get final say.’ None of that has happened.”
“I just want him to feel comfortable, now he’s retiring, that the organization is in good hands.”