Freedom Bank Chairman and CEO Arturo (Art) Ortega is one of four new bankers named to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) community banking subcommittee, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday (April 24).
Ortega was named to the FDIC’s Minority Depository Institutions (MDI) Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on Community Banking. He joins new appointees F&M Bank CEO John Tom Anderson, The Harbor Bank of Maryland CEO John Lewis, and Ocean Bank CEO Alfonso Macedo.
On May 1 the FDIC MDI Subcommittee will meet to share insights into key challenges and opportunities facing minority financial institutions and the communities they serve. The meeting will also spotlight an innovative partnership that is improving healthcare access in a Native American community.
The subcommittee meets biannually at the FDIC Headquarters in Washington, DC and serves as a resource to inform the agency’s strategies to fulfill its MDI statutory goals. The subcommittee also provides a platform for MDIs to collaborate, build partnerships and to showcase the work of MDIs in their communities.
The MDI Subcommittee
The new members join the following bankers on the MDI Subcommittee:
- Claude (Jeff) J. Bowman, President and CEO, Bay Bank, Green Bay, Wisconsin
- Warren Huang, General Counsel, Amerasia Bank, Flushing, New York
- Russell Lau, Chairman and CEO, Finance Factors, Ltd., Honolulu, Hawaii
- B. Doyle Mitchell, President and CEO, Industrial Bank, Washington, District of Columbia
- Farid Tan, President and CEO, Metro City Bank, Doraville, Georgia
Minority Depository Institutions
An MDI is a formal federal designation for banks and credit unions that are either owned or directed primarily by African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, or Native Americans.
Under federal law, the FDIC is among the government agencies required to help preserve existing MDIs and encourage the establishment of new ones.