Riverview Bancorp Board of Directors elected Gerald L. Nies chairman of the board for the company and the Riverview Community Bank, succeeding retiring Patrick Sheaffer.
Also elected at the meeting were Bradley Carlson, board vice chair, Patricia Eby, Audit Committee chair, David Nierenberg, Nominating/Governance Committee chair and Bess Wills, Compensation Committee chair.
Nies joined the Riverview Board in 2009 and has served as Vice Chair since 2015. He was president and CEO of Nies Insurance Agency from 1985 to 2011 and was past chairman of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers Technology committee. Nies was a recipient of the Don C. Burnam Award for outstanding service to the insurance industry. He attended Western Washington University and has served with many organizations on various capacities, including:
- Washington Independent Agents Association, board member
- National Agent Advisory Council for Safeco Insurance, president
- Clark County Emergency Medical Services Administrative Board, board member
- City of Battle Ground, council member and fire chief
Pat Sheaffer, who joined the Bank in 1963, will remain on the board as a director. Sheaffer became CEO in 1976, a director in 1979, and chairman of the board in 1993. In 1997, he led the company through a public offering on Nasdaq. With an eye on maintaining a culture of customer service, community, and profitability, he created an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, encouraging all employees to “think like owners, because they are owners.”Active in numerous professional and civic organizations, he was honored with the Kyle W. Corwin Lifetime Achievement Award by the Vancouver Business Journal. Sheaffer has always believed in community activities and in the last year, Riverview has supported over 150 local nonprofits, donated over 4,600 volunteer hours and has employees on the board of 48 different service organizations.
