WASHINGTON — A Maryland bank executive joined the Independent Community Bankers of America to lead its government affairs practice on Monday, the trade association announced.
Anne Balcer, who previously served as executive vice president and general counsel at Forbright Bank in Chevy Chase, Maryland, will serve as the ICBA’s chief of government relations and public policy. She will also hold the title of executive vice president at the ICBA, according to a press release.
Before joining Forbright — an financial institution known as Congressional Bank before a
“Anne’s background as a state regulator, combined with her community banking and financial services experience, will lend a critical voice and further perspective to ICBA’s government relations efforts while helping to advance our exceptional team of talented professionals,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said in the press release.
Balcer steps into the role previously held by Karen Thomas, whose retirement was announced earlier this year after 30 years at the ICBA. Executive vice presidents Chris Cole, senior regulatory counsel, and Paul Merski, head of congressional relations, will report to Balcer, a spokesperson said. The ICBA announced Balcer’s hiring in June.
Brad Bolton, current chairman of the ICBA and president and CEO of Community Spirit Bank in Red Bay, Alabama, said that Balcer’s “experience on the front lines of financial regulation at a growing community bank [makes her] uniquely suited to lead ICBA’s powerful and respected government relations team as we fight for a more level regulatory environment for community banks across our great nation.”
Balcer has a law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law and is a graduate of Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Virginia.
