Mr. Watson is President of The Mariner Group, Inc., a bank investment and management consulting company he founded in 1999. Watson began a 28 banking career in 1972 at First City Bank in Houston. He subsequently served in senior operations, commercial sales, and product marketing positions at Bank of Oklahoma and First National Bank of Denver prior to joining RepublicBank Corporation in 1980, where he served as Executive Vice President and Manager of the Operating Services Division. In 1988, he joined First Interstate Bank of Texas as Executive Vice President and Group Manager of Operations. Mr. Watson has held several executive management positions at First Interstate Bancorp affiliate organizations including: credit card, consumer lending, cash management, information technology, correspondent banking and payment operations. He later assumed responsibility for the Payment System Services Group at Wells Fargo Bank, following its acquisition of First Interstate Bancorp in 1996 and served as a Director of Wells Fargo Bank Texas. Mr. Watson joined Fleet Financial Group in 1996 as Managing Director of Bank Operations where he was responsible for the bank’s consolidated operating units including Deposits, Commercial and Consumer Loans, Investments (Trust and Mutual Fund) and Capital Markets. Watson holds a BBA degree in Finance from the University of Texas and is a graduate of the ABA Banking School. |