Putney Returns As First Bank President.

<FONT SIZE="+3"><B> Putney Returns As First Bank President</B>

Mary Ann McNulty

<I>Minneapolis </I>- He's back. Seven months after joining EDS's electronic commerce unit in Plano, Texas (<I>BTN</I>, Jan. 29), Steve Putney has returned to Minneapolis-based First Bank Corporate Payment Systems as unit president.

When he left the bank in December, Putney held the position of senior vice president, reporting to Jim Baumgartner, general manager of corporate payment systems. However, Baumgartner left the bank earlier this year to become president of First USA.

Baumgartner's move left open the opportunity for Putney to return to a bigger job as the bank created two president positions, one to run the merchant side of corporate payment systems and one to run everything else. As president, Putney is responsible for sales, operations, product development and the profit and loss statement for corporate payment systems.

"This opportunity wasn't presented when I made the decision to go to EDS," Putney said of his rapid employment changes. "I learned a ton at EDS and am better equipped for this new position. For the past seven months, I've been an operations and technology guy. But this is an opportunity to come back and run this business that I had equity in growing."

Putney spent five years at First Bank, working with Fred Gumbel, who is now president of EDS' Electronic Commerce Division, in establishing the bank as a player in the corporate card market. Both executives formerly had worked for Citicorp Diners Club.

Already directing changes at First Bank, Putney expects to "hire a bunch of people" and transfer payment systems' customer service to a new $100 million facility that First Bank recently opened in Fargo, N.D.

"The bank is investing in this product," Putney said.