UI Graduate Creates New Banking Model

Washington Mutual specializes in turning the accepted banking model upside down. Led by ambitious CEO and UI alumnus KERRY KILLINGER, this Seattle thrift bank has grown from a relative unknown into a $268 billion banking powerhouse in just under a decade. It has vaulted ahead of the competition as the nation's largest thrift and sixth-largest bank overall. And it has done so in part by aggressively snapping up rivals in a calculated buying spree. But what is really turning heads, it seems, is the company's unorthodox retail approach. Washington Mutual has been not only dogged in its pursuit of customers but creative as well.

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