Bill Martin, 65, the friendly banker seen on commercials and print advertisements,

Martin was chairman of the bank since 2000, and president and chief executive until his resignation in early September.

At the time, he told In Business he would stay on the board until December 2008.

I spoke with Martin after he announced his retirement to the board Oct. 15. He told me, simply, that it was time to retire from the board.

"Things just kind of changed," Martin said. "It just didn't work for me. It seemed like a good time to retire."

He has no plans to resign from the other boards he serves on, including the Henderson Chamber of Commerce, Water Conservation Coalition and the Public Education Foundation.

No longer leading the day-to-day operations of the bank was something he dealt with when he resigned his executive position two months ago, he told me, and didn't factor into his decision to leave.

After retiring from his day job, he was still going into the office every day.

"I felt obligated to be there," he said.

Martin's final day as chairman of the bank is Nov. 2.

Other banking news:

• Former Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn has been named chairman of Service 1st Bank of Nevada.

He first joined the board in February.

Before serving two terms as governor, Guinn had served as chairman and chief executive of PriMerit Bank of Nevada, which was acquired by Southwest Gas.

John Dedolph, vice chairman and chief executive of Service 1st, said in a statement that electing an outside independent chairman was the bank's plan since its inception.

Dedolph is the bank's former chairman.

"Having a candidate with Gov. Guinn's qualifications available made the choice of timing simple," Dedolph said in the statement.

Service 1st, a privately held company, has over 200 shareholders in Nevada, according to the bank.

• Nevada Federal Credit Union was named one of the best non-profit workplaces by the Southern Nevada Human Resources Association.

The association hosted the Las Vegas Best Places to Work Annual Award Ceremony at Palace Station Oct. 12.

The association highlighted Nevada Federal's morale boosting Intranet informational site, including current events, policies and procedures and a chat room for employees to "Chat with Brad Beal," the credit union's president and chief executive.

Michael Traficanti, Nevada Federal's senior vice president of human resources, said in the statement that the credit union is honored by the recognition.

"At Nevada Federal we have created some really special and unique workplace programs and benefits, but what really makes us such an excellent place to work is our positive corporate culture and all of the great people that work for our company," he said.

• Seemingly overnight, the signs outside local World Savings Bank branches have switched to Wachovia.

Wachovia Corp. acquired Golden West Financial Corp., parent company of World Savings Bank, in October 2006.

The company is focusing on completing the absorption of World Savings in the south and west of the U.S., and completing the rest of merger integration process by mid-2008, according to the company.

• Calling all financial researchers:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Center for Financial Research is offering $10,000 grants for papers related to the center's research areas of interest.

The center's research areas of interest include: Consumer finance and credit issues; deposit insurance; risk measurement; corporate finance, including risk management; policy and regulation; bank performance; and the economy.

Proposals can range from abstracts to finished papers. The submission deadline is Jan. 14, 2008.

For more information, visit the FDIC's Web site, www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/cfr, or contact Paul Kupiec at (202) 898-6768 or by e-mail at pkupiec@fdic.gov.