Sara (Sally) McLaughlin Cline, has been named as Executive Vice President of the West Virginia Bankers Association (WVBA) and as the successor to become the organization’s Chief Executive Officer upon the retirement of Joe Ellison next year. Cline, who has served as commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Financial Institutions since 2008, joins WVBA after a more than 30 year career as a regulator and banker. Cline, a native of Fairmont, first joined what became the Division of Financial Institutions in 1984 before taking a position with The Huntington National Bank. She then returned to the Division in 1999 as deputy commissioner before becoming the Divisions’ director of depository institutions in 2000. Cline served in that role until named by then-Governor Joe Manchin as acting commissioner in 2008 and finally as commissioner in 2009. “We are very pleased that Sally Cline has chosen to become a part of the West Virginia Bankers Association for the next phase of her professional career,” said Alan Brill, WVBA chairman of the board. “She is a respected industry regulator and leader and our members are thrilled to have her on board as we transition into a new era as an organization. Sally has had an outstanding career in state government and is clearly established as a national leader in her field and WVBA is proud to have her join us.” In her role as Commissioner of the Division of Financial Institutions, Cline has represented West Virginia as the chair of the West Virginia Board of Banking and Financial Institutions, in a variety of leadership roles with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and on the Board of Managers of the State Regulatory Registry. Sally Cline is a graduate of West Virginia University in Business Administration, a graduate of the West Virginia School of Banking and of The Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University. Cline assumed her position on Sept. 1.
