Helen Kowalczyk

@helenkowalczyk

Chief Risk Officer at a community bank. Ex-FDIC. Sails a 1978 Cal 27 called Audit Trail, badly. Senior-dog foster. Crossword constructor (LAT ×3).

📍 Salem · 🔗 Meridian Trust Bank · 📅 Joined 2014

155 Following760 Followers

Posts

Helen Kowalczyk @helenkowalczyk · 4 Oct 2026

Wednesday series final results: Audit Trail, 7th of 9. Crew remains convinced we could have won. Skipper remains convinced that is not the point. The boat is 48 years old and floats. Winning.

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Helen Kowalczyk @helenkowalczyk · 24 Sep 2026

Crossword clue I am proudest of, published 2024: 'Security measure, in banking or in war' (10). I am contractually unable to tell you the answer but you already know it.

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Helen Kowalczyk @helenkowalczyk · 12 Sep 2026

The Red Folder is twelve pages because thirteen is a number nobody finishes. Page count is a risk control.

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Helen Kowalczyk @helenkowalczyk · 27 Aug 2026

Foster dog no. 31 is a beagle called Clerk. He is twelve, deaf in one ear, and has already reorganised the sock drawer. Ruth says this one is 'definitely temporary'. Ruth said that about no. 19 and no. 24.

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Helen Kowalczyk @helenkowalczyk · 8 Aug 2026

In 2008 I closed four banks. I remember every one of the CEOs' faces. That's the whole reason I'm on this side of the table now: to be the person who already imagined the bad day.

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Helen Kowalczyk @helenkowalczyk · 19 Jul 2026

Wheel of Tillamook cheddar arrived from my brother's farm, four months early. 'Found a spare,' he says. There are no spare wheels of cheddar. Something is being negotiated.

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Helen Kowalczyk @helenkowalczyk · 2 Jul 2026

Reminder to every community bank CRO: when your core vendor changes owners, that is a page-one risk. Not page four. Page one.

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