BANKING/FINANCE : Downey Founders Gearing Up to Pass Torch to New Team

The next generation is preparing to take over the reins at Downey Savings & Loan.

After 33 years at the helm, co-founders Maurice A. McAlister and Gerald H. McQuarrie are reorganizing the Newport Beach thrift and shoring up its management.

“Yes, we’re going to withdraw,” said McQuarrie, 69, Downey’s chief executive. “I am definitely considering retiring very shortly--maybe sometime this summer. We know we can’t stay forever. We’d love it if we could.”

McAlister, 65, is expected to stay on for some time as president.

At the urging of regulators, McAlister, McQuarrie and the S&L;’s five other directors are adding executive positions similar to those found at other corporations. They have been filling those jobs with experienced thrift executives.

The board has never had a chairman, for instance. But, McQuarrie said, Downey will likely create the position of chairman and vice chairman, naming McAlister and himself to the positions, respectively.

Recently, the board created the post of chief financial officer--a staple at most businesses--and hired David T. Hansen, 55, to fill the job. He also is an executive vice president and had held the same posts at Glendale Federal Bank, a thrift.

Hansen reports to Jane Wolfe, the thrift’s senior executive vice president and chief operating officer. Wolfe, 45, was given her job this year after taking over in an acting capacity in October when former banker David L. Boyles quit after only eight months with the thrift.

The position had been created for Boyles, then the heir-apparent to McAlister and McQuarry. He came up with some good programs but had trouble with employee relations. He quit the business for a job with a high-technology firm in Seattle.

In January, Downey hired Kurt C. Kemper, 45, to fill a vacancy as general counsel. He also is an executive vice president and took over McQuarrie’s post as secretary. Kemper had held similar positions at FarWest Savings & Loan in Newport Beach before regulators seized it in January.

New senior vice presidents are William K. Halapin, 42, director of Downey’s mortgage banking, and Robert B. Spencer, 42, director of the thrift’s retail banking. Halapin was with Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc. and Spencer was an executive at Irvine City Bank, a thrift.

In December, Michael Vari, a former Beverly Hills Bank employee, was hired as vice president and manager of the major loan department.