Kerry Killinger

Kerry K Killinger (born June 6, 1949 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American businessman and a former chairman and former chief executive officer of Washington Mutual.

Killinger received his education at the University of Iowa, from which he received his BBA in 1970 and MBA in 1971. He began his career in the financial services industry in 1972, as an investment analyst with Bankers Life Insurance Company of Nebraska, and moved on to Murphey Favre in the 1976, at which he was a securities analyst and eventually a vice president.

Washington Mutual acquired Murphey Favre in 1983, and Killinger was named executive vice president, and was promoted in 1986 to senior vice president, and to director in 1988. He was named president of the company that year, CEO in 1990, and chairman in 1991. American Banker named him its 2001 Banker of the Year, but is unlikely to name him 2008 Banker of the Year.

Faced with mounting losses from the mortgage market and deep declines in the stock price as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis, the board of directors removed Killinger as CEO on September 8, 2008. Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC on September 25, 2008 and sold off to JPMorgan Chase in the biggest failure in U.S. banking history.

Killinger serves as a director of Safeco Corporation and Green Diamond Resource Company, and is on the board of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.