PHILADELPHIA, PA (September 2, 2003)—Suzanne B. Labarge, vice chairman and chief risk officer of RBC Financial Group, Toronto, has been elected chair of RMA—The Risk Management Association. Richard L. Harbaugh, president and CEO, Equitable Federal Savings Bank, Grand Island, Nebraska, was elected vice chair. Their one-year terms began September 1.
Labarge, a member of RMA’s Toronto Chapter, has served on RMA’s Board of Directors since 2000.
At RBC she directs the strategic management of risk on an enterprise-wide basis and is a member of the Group Management Committee, which sets the institution’s overall strategic direction. She also chairs the USA Corporate Governance Committee, the Ethics and Compliance Committee and the Risk Management Committee. She is a member of the bank’s Asset/Liability Committee (ALCO), Interest Rate Risk Committee, and RBC Capital Markets Executive Committee.
Labarge is a graduate of McMaster University, where she is currently a member of the Board of Governors. She has a master’s degree from Harvard Business School and is currently serving on the Board of the Harvard Business School Club of Toronto. She also serves on the Faculty of the Commerce Advisory Council at the University of British Columbia. Labarge is also a Board member of the Carleton University Foundation. She is a member of The Royal Society of Canada—President’s Advisory Council.
Harbaugh, a member of RMA’s Midlands Chapter, has served on RMA’s Board of Directors since 1997. He has been a member of RMA since 1973.
At Equitable, Harbaugh is responsible for formulation and implementation of all policies and risk management procedures for lending, operations, investment and asset liability management.
In his community, Harbaugh serves on the board of trustees of St. Francis Medical Center Foundation. He also serves on the boards of the Nebraska Council on Economic Education, the Nebraska Bankers Association, the Midwest Conference of Community Banks and the Combined Health Area Drive (CHAD). He is a member of the Nebraska Diplomats, a group of individuals appointed by the governor to assist in economic development efforts. Harbaugh is the past chairman of the board of directors for the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce.
Harbaugh is a graduate of Nebraska State College at Peru, Peru Nebraska.
RMA is a member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk principles in the financial services industry.
Founded in 1914, RMA promotes an enterprise-wide approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk, and operational risk. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, RMA has about 3,000 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank institutions. They are represented in the Association by 16,000 commercial loan, credit, and risk management professionals in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, and numerous foreign cities, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne, and London.
For more information, call Kathie Beans at 215-446-4095 or e-mail kbeans@rmahq.org.