Last week, CBA’s President & CEO, Rod Brown, was joined by several California bankers, including Chairman Jeff Ball, Vice Chairman at Large Tom Meuser, Past Chairman Tom Shaffer, Robert Hughes, Craig Blunden and Dan Bowmann at the ABA’s Annual Convention.The event drew 1,400 bankers from across the country to New Orleans to discuss key banking issues, challenges and recent successes, and included a regulatory update from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray and an ABA Directors’ Forum which examined issues vitally important to community bank boards of directorsincluding board-level risk management, director and CEO succession, M&A expectations and cyber risk at the board level.

During the convention, Shaffer, president of 1867 Western Financial Corp., based in Stockton, and past CBA chairman, was elected to the ABA’s 2013-2016 Board of Directors. Dan Doyle, president and CEO of Central Valley Business Bank and CBA past chairman, was appointed as a member to the ABA BankPAC.

CBA member Finance and Thrift, headquartered in Porterville, and led by President and CEO Robert Hughes, was recognized for its MoneySmart Financial Literacy Program and presented with a Community Commitment Award for its efforts in the financial education category. Finance and Thrift was awarded the recognition from record high field of more than 150 nominations.