Westar at a glance

THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published July 1, 2001

Where they've been

Bob Christensen started Republic Leasing in 1978 after moving to South Sound from Montana.

Republic, based in downtown Olympia, specialized in leasing equipment and vehicles to corporate clients.

The company had three or four employees for years, increasing to 10 to 12 until 1995.

Christensen served as president of the National Vehicle Leasing Association in the mid-1980s.

Where they are

The company's name became Westar in 1996.

Westar moved to its current 50,000-square-foot headquarters in 2000.

Currently there are about 100 employees with an average pay of $38,000 for nonofficers. 49 percent of the employees have college degrees and 13 percent have advanced degrees.

Westar has partnership agreements with three of the largest 25 financial institutions in the nation - Mellon, AmSouth and USAA.

Where they're going

On July 6, the USAA agreement becomes fully active. USAA serves about 5 million households.

Westar's agreement with Leasebank goes into effect in about 45 days.

Others agreements are in negotiations.

Board of directors

- Bob Christensen, chairman and chief executive officer of Westar Financial Services Incorporated.

- Joel Davis, president of MasterForms Inc., and Davis Construction and Development Corp.

- Robert L. Lovely, president, The Lovely Corp.

- Michael Price, investor

- Charles Seel, president and chief operating officer of Summit Management Company

- David Soward, managing general partner & Capital Partners

Executive officers

- Bob Christensen, president and chief executive officer, salary of $200,000 for fiscal year 2000.

- Scott Cavanaugh, vice president of customer service, salary of $110,000 for fiscal year 2000.

- Vicki L. Christensen, vice president of information systems, started in 1998, not related to CEO Bob Christensen.

- Robert Kanatzar, senior vice president of risk management, salary of $240,000 for fiscal year 2000.

- Cindy Kay, vice president and controller.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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