First Interstate Executive Plans Move To Arizona

William Randall, a quietly effective force in Seattle-area community and banking affairs throughout the 1980s, will leave as the top officer of First Interstate Bank of Washington.

Randall will become chairman and chief executive officer at First Interstate Bank of Arizona, which he left in 1981 to move to Seattle.

A successor is expected to be named at a First Interstate board

meeting Wednesday, said Executive Vice President John Hough. Randall, 49, was in Phoenix yesterday and not available for comment.

Randall, a Spokane native, graduated from the University of Oregon. In 1969, after a stint with the Federal Reserve in San Francisco, Randall joined First National Bank of Arizona - now First Interstate.

Randall will replace Robert Duckworth, who was recovering from quadruple heart bypass surgery. Duckworth resigned because of personal and health reasons, the bank said.

Although the Arizona bank is nearly twice the size of the Washington unit - $6.6 billion in assets vs. $3.4 billion - Randall enters a hornet's nest. Arizona real estate has been savaged by overbuilding, generating losses for most financial institutions in the state.

``There's a very pressing need for someone with his skills at the Arizona bank because of the departure of Duckworth and the difficulty of the Arizona real estate marketplace,'' Hough said.

While under his stewardship, First Interstate of Washington grew rapidly. Profits quadrupled, to nearly $50 million a year, advancing at almost 12 percent a year. Assets nearly doubled, multiplying by over 7 percent a year.