For immediate release: January 10, 2020
Robert W. Dumas, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of AuburnBank and Auburn National Bancorporation Inc., and Mary A. Laschinger, chairman and chief executive officer of Veritiv Corporation, have been reelected to the Atlanta Fed's board of directors. Their terms began January 1, 2020, and run through December 31, 2022.
Dumas has served as chairman, president, and chief executive officer of AuburnBank and Auburn National Bancorporation Inc. since January 2019. Prior to that, he was president and chief executive officer of AuburnBank from 2001 to 2018 and was named president and chief executive officer of Auburn National Bancorporation Inc. in October 2017. AuburnBank is a state-chartered bank that has been operating since 1907, when it became the first financial institution in Auburn, Alabama. Dumas joined AuburnBank in 1984 and served as vice president/commercial loan officer and senior vice president/lending. He served as vice president/branch manager at AmSouth Bank from 1976 to 1984.
Dumas is a member of the board of directors of Auburn National Bancorporation Inc., AuburnBank, East Alabama Medical Center, Alabama Bankers Association, and Auburn Research and Technology Foundation. He is a member of the Auburn University Board of Trustees. He previously served on the Auburn University College of Business Advisory Council from 2001 to 2008, Auburn City Schools Board of Education from 1996 to 2006, and North Auburn Housing Development Corporation from 2003 to 2006.
Dumas graduated with high honors, receiving his BS degree in business administration and finance from Auburn University in 1976 and was a Phi Kappa Phi honoree. He graduated from the School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University in 1981. He was recognized as Boys & Girls Club Man of the Year in 1993 and was a Tiger Trail Inductee in 2006. He received the Chairman's Award in 2014 from the Auburn Chamber of Commerce, and he is the recipient of the 2018 Lee County Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award.
Laschinger was named chairman and chief executive officer of Veritiv Corporation in 2014. Prior to being named chairman and chief executive officer in 2014, Laschinger served as senior vice president of International Paper Company and president of the xpedx distribution business from 2010 to 2014. Laschinger also served as senior vice president and president of International Paper's Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia businesses; vice president and general manager of International Paper's wood products and pulp businesses; as well as other senior management roles in sales, marketing, manufacturing, and supply chain at International Paper. Before joining International Paper in 1992, Laschinger held several positions in manufacturing, supply chain, and marketing at James River Corporation and Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
Laschinger's directorships include the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, where she chairs the Audit & Operational Risk Committee, and the Kellogg Company, where she chairs the Compensation and Talent Management Committee and serves on the Executive and Nominating and Governance Committees. She is also a former lead director for the Ilim Group, Russia's largest pulp and paper company and the Confederation of European Paper Industries.
Laschinger received a BA degree from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the University of Connecticut. She has also completed postgraduate studies in executive management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Each of the nation's 12 Federal Reserve Banks has a nine-member board of directors. Three Class A directors are generally bankers and are elected by national and state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. Three Class B directors are also elected by these banks but represent commerce, industry, agriculture, labor, and consumers. Three Class C directors represent the same broad array of public interests but are appointed by the Board of Governors in Washington, DC. The Reserve Bank's chair and deputy chair must be Class C directors. Dumas is a Class A director, and Laschinger is a Class B director.
The board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta oversees the management of the bank's operations and recommends changes in the discount rate. Board members also contribute to the formulation of U.S. monetary policy through the economic information they provide the bank's president.