Conferences & Education

	2011 Annual Conference for Bank Presidents,  Senior Officers & Directors Leading the Industry: Best Practices in Community Banking February 26-March 2, 2011 | Grand Wailea, Maui, Hawaii
	2011 Conference Home | Schedule | Program | Speaker Bios | Guest Program Expo, Sponsors & Advertisers | Online Expo

Speaker Biographies  

Gayle Appelbaum
Principal, McLagan

Gayle Appelbaum is a principal in the Minneapolis office of McLagan’s corporate and consumer banking consulting practice. Her extensive knowledge of compensation trends and the banking industry coupled with her keen ability to understand each client’s needs enables her to create solutions unique to each situation. Appelbaum specializes in developing total compensation plans that balance short and long-term risk while building shareholder value. She brings over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry to her clients. Prior to joining McLagan, she was co-founder of Amalfi Consulting. Appelbaum has served as an adjunct professor for a university, teaching in the Certified Financial Planning program. She is a featured speaker at numerous industry conferences and webinar programs and is a published author of articles pertaining to current and leading edge compensation issues.

Aaron J. Axton, Principal
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Aaron J. Axton is a principal in the Investment Banking Department of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. He joined KBW’s New York office in 2000 and shortly thereafter assisted in the opening of the San Francisco office. He has experience advising West Coast banks, thrifts and financial institutions on M&A and capital raising transactions.

James C. Bean
Principal, McLagan

James Bean is a principal of McLagan’s corporate and consumer banking consulting practice. In addition to compensation consulting, he also advises clients about board governance and succession planning. Bean has over 30 years of leadership, operations and consulting experience. He has served in executive roles at public and private companies and he was a corporate officer of a NYSE company. He has also been a director on the boards of both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. His direct experience includes sales and marketing, international product management, human resources, and operations leadership for manufacturing and financial services firms. Prior to joining McLagan, Bean was CEO of Amalfi Consulting. He has consulted to both public and private organizations on executive compensation and benefits as well as management issues.

Steven A. Brown
President & CEO, Pacific Coast Bankers’ Bank

Steve Brown has more than 24 years of banking and capital markets experience. He is president and CEO of Pacific Coast Bankers’ Bancshares and chairman of Banc Investment Group and was appointed to that position in July 2007. Prior to that, Brown co-founded the Banc Investment Group and was also a co-founder of a web-based capital markets trading platform that connected the world’s largest providers of cash and investment products with the nation’s community banks. Other experience includes managing director at Bank of America Securities in charge of fixed income and other product sales to community banks nationwide; director at ICAP; and assistant treasurer at a $2 billion community bank, with expertise in M&A, finance, investment and cash management. Brown co-authors the popular Banc Investment Daily and is frequently quoted in national media on banking trends and issues.

Jonathan M. Cohen
Partner, Joseph & Cohen, PC

Jonathan Cohen is a partner in the San Francisco office if Joseph & Cohen, PC. He concentrates his practice on complex business litigation as well as pre-dispute counseling. His practice includes executive compensation negotiations and employment law, including wrongful termination litigation, harassment, retaliation and discrimination. Prior to joining the firm, Cohen was a litigation partner with Winston & Strawn LLP and a member of that firm’s highly rated national litigation practice group. He is a frequent speaker and has published articles that address issues of trial practice, employment law, and loss prevention.

Russ Colombo
President & CEO, Bank of Marin

Russell A. Colombo is president and CEO of Bank of Marin. He joined the bank  in March 2004 as executive vice president and branch administrator and was appointed executive vice president and chief operating officer in July 2005. In 2006 he assumed the position of president and CEO.  He has 35 years of banking experience including positions as senior vice president and group manager of the San Francisco office of Comerica Bank and as senior vice president and regional manager during his 19-year career with Union Bank of California. 

Joel Comer
Principal, Sandler O’Neill & Partners

Joel Comer, a principal of Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P., joined the firm in September 1988 and has been a principal since 1998. He works with commercial bank and thrift clients in the areas of asset liability management, balance sheet restructuring and strategic business planning. In 1990, the firm created Sandler O’Neill Mortgage Finance Corp. in response to a growing demand from clients for whole loan mortgage portfolio valuation and securitization. Comer was responsible for daily operations of the Memphis-based unit, including client/firm relations, transaction negotiation, audit reviews and structuring mortgage securitizations and whole loan transactions. In 1992, he returned to New York and resumed sales and trading activities in the Fixed Income group. In 2004, Comer relocated to San Francisco to expand and manage the firm’s business on the West Coast. Prior to joining Sandler O’Neill, he held several positions with Bear Stearns & Company.

Pat Corey
President, Independent Bankers Insurance Services

Pat Corey is president of Independent Bankers Insurance Services (IBIS), a WIB-endorsed Value & Income Program partner (VIP). He began his insurance career in 1973, and then was a partner in Mainwaring-Corey Insurance Services, a financial institution risk management agency that formed in 1975, until he sold his interest in 1996. After a brief tenure as a national sales representative for BancInsure, Corey accepted a position with the Ohio Bankers Association as director of the association’s insurance agency. He then joined the California Bankers Association as director of Agency Services until 2002. Corey has written numerous articles on insurance and risk management for various industry publications and has been a guest speaker at a number of insurance industry and banking industry conventions.

C. Wendell Daniel, CPA
Banking Practice Leader, Squar, Milner, Peterson, Miranda & Williamson, LLP

Wendell Daniel serves as the banking practice leader for Squar Milner’s Financial Services Industry Group. He has significant experience in serving financial institutions, from de novo banks to large bank holding companies, mortgage banking companies, asset management firms, hedge funds and security brokerage firms. Daniel specializes in providing external and internal auditing, loan and credit reviews, assistance with regulatory reporting and compliance with regulatory orders. He consults with financial institutions on regulatory issues, including those involving the FDIC, FRB, OCC, OTS and SEC. Daniel is also a frequent speaker and panelist at banking association functions on various topics related to financial institutions today.

Rebecca Doepke
Consultant, NewGround

Rebecca Doepke consults for NewGround. She is directly responsible for managing a team of trainers, business development efforts and the implementation and execution of client programs. With 20 years of experience in education and culture development for the retail and financial industries, Doepke provides clients with an assessment of their educational needs and creates and delivers customized education programs to further their culture development. Among her significant previous positions, she supervised 11 in-store branches for TCF Bank, providing her an insider’s understanding of staff education and culture change.

Henry Fields
Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Henry Fields is partner with Morrison & Foerster. His financial services practice focuses on providing regulatory advice, including bank securities activities, margin regulations, and capital compliance, to international and domestic financial institutions and representing them in compliance and enforcement matters, new products and services, new entity formation, geographic expansion, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets transactions. Fields also engages in a general corporate and securities practice, with special emphasis on the representation of financial institutions, including commercial and investment banks. He is one of only four attorneys in California to receive the highest individual rating in banking and finance by Global Counsel 3000.

Camden R. Fine
President & CEO, Independent Community Bankers of America

Camden Fine is president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), the only national trade association that exclusively represents community banks. Fine came to ICBA in May 2003 as president-elect and became president and CEO in March 2004. Prior to coming to ICBA, Fine chartered and organized Midwest Independent Bank of Jefferson City, Mo., and served as its president and CEO for nearly 20 years. In addition, Fine owned Mainstreet Bank of Ashland, Mo., a $50 million-asset community bank. Fine also has a strong background in government as well as banking. In 1978, he joined the Missouri state government as a budget analyst, and in 1981 former governor and current U.S. Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond appointed Fine as the director of the State Division of Taxation and Collection.

Jeanne Firstenburg
President/COO, First Independent Bank

Jeanne Firstenburg joined First Independent Bank in 2002 and has been working in the banking industry for nearly 20 years. In April 2010, she was named president of the $900 million, privately owned financial institution, while retaining her role as chief operating officer.  Prior to joining the bank, she was a senior bank examiner with the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions. As president and COO, Firstenburg directs, administers and coordinates the day-to-day operations of the 100-year-old regional financial institution located in Vancouver. 

Janet Garufis
President & CEO, Montecito Bank & Trust

Janet Garufis is president and CEO of Montecito Bank & Trust in Santa Barbara, Calif. She joined the bank in 2004 and became president and CEO in September, 2006. Garufis began her banking career more than 30 years ago with Security Pacific Bank, now Bank of America, with experience in retail banking, business banking, commercial banking and private banking. She is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington.

Ramsey Gregg
Principal, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Ramsey F. Gregg is a principal in the San Francisco office of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Prior to joining KBW’s Investment Banking division in 2007, Ramsey was a sell-side equity research analyst at two other investment banks and an examiner at the Federal Reserve.

John Grosvenor
Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

John Grosvenor is partner with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. His practice focuses primarily on corporate finance, securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate transactions, including tender offers, proxy contests and securities offerings. Grosvenor also advises boards of directors with respect to corporate governance, corporate strategy, corporate investigations, special committee representation and regulatory issues affecting public exchange-listed companies and privately held businesses concerns, including regulatory enforcement matters. His industry expertise focuses primarily on financial services companies, including commercial and investment banks, and thrift and specialty finance lenders, as well as financial advisors.

Steven D. Hovde
President & CEO, Director of Investment Banking Operations, Hovde Capital, Securities and Equity

Steven Hovde is president and CEO and director of investment banking operations for Hovde Capital, Securities and Equity. He is responsible for managing its investment banking activities, and the strategic development of mergers and acquisitions of bank and thrift institutions, and branch acquisitions and divestitures. Hovde also serves as president and CEO of Hovde Financial's affiliated securities broker/dealer, Hovde Securities LLC. Before co-founding Hovde Financial in 1987, he was regional general counsel and vice president of a national commercial real estate development firm, Vantage Companies. 

Stan Ivie
Regional Director, FDIC San Francisco

Stan Ivie is the regional director for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s San Francisco Region. He has been with the FDIC for over 26 years, and became San Francisco regional director in 2007. Previously, he held the same position for the FDIC’s Dallas Region, and was in that role during hurricane Katrina. Before this, he served as the deputy director for the Dallas Region’s Division of Resolutions. Earlier in his career, Ivie held the position of assistant director for the resolutions division located in Washington, D.C., as well as served as interim director for the Office of Public Affairs in Washington. In 2005, Mr. Ivie was recognized as the Chairman’s Executive of the Year recipient.

Ken Moore
Partner, Stuart | Moore

Kenneth Moore is a partner in the firm of Stuart | Moore, a boutique law firm that represents community and regional banks and bank holding companies. He advises financial institutions on capital raising efforts, both public and private, merger and acquisition activities, and general corporate matters. The firm routinely provides guidance on bank regulatory matters, including advising on supervisory orders and FDIC-assisted acquisitions. Recently, the firm has served as counsel to both issuers and underwriters/placement agents on a number of capital raising efforts and FDIC and non-FDIC acquisitions.

Daniel P. Myers
President & CEO, BridgeBank, N.A.

Daniel Myers is a founding director, president, and chief executive officer of Bridge Bank, N.A., located in San Jose, Calif., and its parent company, Bridge Capital Holdings. The bank was started in May 2001 and reported total assets of $844 million at FYE 2009. Myers has worked in commercial banking for 28 years, all with independent business banks in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley region. Prior to founding Bridge Bank, he was executive vice president and COO of Heritage Bank of Commerce in San Jose. He was the chief credit officer in charge of the turnaround phase of Burlingame Bank & Trust, which was successfully sold to The Pacific Bank in 1996. Prior to that, he was among the four officers that founded Cupertino National Bank in 1985, one of the two original banks merged to form Greater Bay Bancorp.

Mark Olson
Co-Chairman, Treliant Risk Advisors

Mark Olson is co-chairman of Treliant Risk Advisors, LLC. During his 40-year career in financial services he has held top-level executive positions in the public and private sectors. Olson joined Treliant Risk Advisors after three years as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, five years as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee, and after serving as staff director of the Securities Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban affairs. He is also a past president of the American Bankers Association. Olson spent more than a decade as a partner with Ernst & Young LLP (formerly Arthur Young & Company), where he became national director of the financial services Regulatory Consulting Practice.

Robert T. Perry-Smith
CEO, Perry-Smith LLP

Robert Perry-Smith is CEO of Perry-Smith LLP. Widely regarded as a leading provider of professional services to the banking industry, his career in public accounting includes “learning experiences” at both the national level as a partner and at the regional level as the founder and CEO of Perry-Smith LLP. Focused primarily on California, the firm currently serves 70 banks in the Western United States. With banking as the firm’s largest industry specialization, Perry-Smith has had the opportunity to serve as both accountant and consultant for over 30 merger transactions, facilitate numerous strategic planning meetings and consult with boards and executives on myriad strategic issues.

Cathy Reines
President & CEO, First Heritage Bank

Cathy Reines is the president and CEO of First Heritage Bank headquartered in Snohomish, Wash. First Heritage Bank was founded 28 years ago serving small businesses and specializes in SBA lending. Reines is a licensed CPA, has been associated with the banking industry for over 20 years and also serves on the WIB Board of Directors. Prior to joining First Heritage Bank, she was the CFO of an SEC- reporting bank and before that was a partner at McGladrey & Pullen (formally Knight, Vale & Gregory). 

Melissa Richards, CMB
Special Counsel, Buchalter Nemer, PC

Melissa Richards is special counsel for  Buchalter Nemer. She is a shareholder in the firm’s business practices and Bank and Finance Practice Group in San Francisco, representing banks, financial institutions and other entities related to the financial services industry. She has represented all facets of the mortgage banking industry, both depository institutions and private companies, on federal and multistate compliance and licensing issues covering loan origination, servicing, secondary markets, loan securitization, both company and loan level purchase and sale, marketing/lead generation, and outsourcing support for the past 20 years. Richards is also outside general counsel to the California Mortgage Bankers Association where she served as a member of its board from 1999-2008.

Terry L. Robinson
CEO, Bank of Manhattan, N.A.

Terry Robinson currently serves as CEO of Bank of Manhattan, N.A. based in El Segundo, Calif.  Previously, Robinson was CEO of Plaza Bank, which he joined in June 2009, concurrent with a recapitalization of the bank and installation of a new management team following receipt of a Cease & Desist Order.  HE continues to serve on the board of Plaza Bank. Prior to joining Plaza Bank, Robinson served as president and CEO of Vintage Bank and parent North Bay Bancorp based in Napa, Calif. from 1988 to April 2007, when the company was sold.  During his tenure, Robinson oversaw organic growth of the bank from $26 million in assets to approximately $675 million, generating consistent growth in earnings, attaining number one market share in its primary market and recording cumulative aggregate loan losses of less than $1 million.

Dr. Edmund Seifried
Professor of Economics & Business, Lafayette College

Dr. Edmond Seifried is professor emeritus of economics and business at Lafayette College in Easton, Penn. He also serves as executive director of the Sheshunoff CEO Affiliation Programs. In addition, Dr. Seifried is the chief economist for m.rae resources Inc, a community bank investment firm. He serves as the dean of the Virginia and West Virginia Banking Schools and has served on the faculty of numerous banking schools including: Stonier Graduate School of Banking, and the Graduate School of Retail Bank Management. Dr. Seifried is a consultant to the banking industry, and is well known as a speaker at bank customer events and as a strategic planner. Dr Seifried is the author of the book The Art of Strategic Planning for Community Banks. In addition to his academic and consulting experience, Dr. Seifried has also served as a director of a community bank. 

Jean-Luc Servat
Managing Director, Head of Financial Services Group, RBC Capital Markets

Jean-Luc Servat is a managing director and co-heads the Financial Institutions Group for RBC Capital Markets. He has 28 years of experience as an investment banker to financial institutions, focusing on the Western states since 1982.  Prior to joining RBC Capital Markets, Servat spent more than half his career as a managing director in the Investment Banking Division of Merrill Lynch & Co.  He also headed up the Asia-Pacific Investment Banking of Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, its Industrial Group in San Francisco and, in the 1980’s, its Financial Institutions Group on the West Coast. Servat also held senior positions with Fox-Pitt, Kelton Inc., BT. Alex Brown, Dean Witter Reynolds, Kidder, Peabody & Co. and served as head of Investment Banking at Hoefer & Arnett, Inc.

Nicole Sherman
Executive Vice President and Chief Banking Officer of Far West Bank

Nicole Sherman is executive vice president and chief banking officer of Far West Bank in Provo, Utah, and executive vice president of its parent company, AmericanWest Bank. She has 22 years of award-winning executive leadership and this year was named one of only four women to the “Top 40 Under Forty” Business Executives and in 2007 was named a “Top 20 Under 40 Rising Star”.  Sherman is a nationally recognized speaker, trainer and author and has been a highly rated instructor at Pacific Coast Banking School for eight consecutive years.  Prior to Far West Bank, Nicole was the CEO of Power Trainings International and prior to that spent 16 years in senior management with Zions Bank.

Vince Siciliano
President & CEO, New Resource Bank

Vince Siciliano is president and CEO of San Francisco–based New Resource Bank, a mission-oriented bank that works with companies and organizations dedicated to achieving environmental and social as well as financial returns. The bank’s mission is to advance sustainability in everything it does – in lending, operations, and putting deposits to work for good. Siciliano has previously been the president or CEO of a number of San Diego financial institutions and started his banking career in the International division of Bank of America.He serves on the advisory board of the American Sustainable Business Council and the board of directors of California Independent Bankers. He and the bank are founding members of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values.

Alexander F. Simas
Director, Heritage Oaks Bank

Alexander F. Simas is senior shareholder and managing principal in the law firm of Kirk & Simas, and serves as a director on the board of Heritage Oaks Bank, a $1 billion, 15-branch bank headquartered in Paso Robles, Calif. Since 2005, he has served as chairman of the bank’s Compensation and Organization Committee. Simas’ law practice focuses on real estate, general business and public agency matters.

Christopher J. Spoth
Senior Deputy Director, Supervisory Examinations, FDIC-Washington

Christopher Spoth is senior deputy director of the FDIC’s Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection.  His responsibilities include oversight of the FDIC’s supervisory programs for safety and soundness, bank secrecy/anti-money laundering, consumer compliance, fair lending, and community reinvestment.  Prior to his current appointment, Spoth was regional director of the FDIC’s New York Region.  Earlier he was deputy regional director of the Atlanta Region, and assistant director of the FDIC’s international banking section in Washington.   Spoth began his FDIC career in 1980 as a bank examiner in the Atlanta Region.  He subsequently served as a senior bank examiner in the Kansas City Region before holding several positions in Washington related to problem institution supervision, applications processing, and regulatory policy development.

David T. Taber
President & CEO, American River Bankshares

David Taber is president and CEO of American River Bankshares. He has been with American River Bankshares since 1985 and was first elected to the board of American River Bank in 1989. Taber served as WIB Chairman for the 2009-10 year. He has held leadership roles in the past with the California Bankers Association, California Community Bankers and served on the Community Bankers Council for the American Bankers Association.  Taber is also a founding board member of the American River Bankshares Foundation and serves as the foundation’s president.

Will Taylor
SVP, Portfolio Management Group, Vining Sparks    

Will Taylor is senior vice president with Vining Sparks. He has been involved in the banking and investment business since 1986. His career began as a management trainee for Union Planters Bank (Regions), which was at the time the 10th largest bank broker dealer in the world. Under his management, the group grew to over $3.5 billion in warehouse lending. In addition to working in the lending area, Taylor was active in the trading operation. During his tenure he oversaw the financing and securitization of the first collateralized mortgage backed obligations (CMOs), fixed and adjustable mortgage-backed securities and Small Business Administration loan securities. Taylor joined Vining Sparks as a result of a combination of Union Planters dealer operation with Vining Sparks in September 1990. 

Dr. Christopher Thornberg
Founding Principal, Beacon Economics

Christopher Thornberg is a founding principal of Beacon Economics and widely considered to be one of California’s leading economic forecasters. An expert in economic forecasting, regional development, real estate dynamics, and labor markets, he was one of the earliest and most adamant predictors of the housing market crash and of the economic recession that has followed.  In 2008 he was appointed as chief economist for California State Controller John Chiang as well as chair of the Controller’s Council of Economic Advisors. He also serves on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Economic Strategy Panel, and on the advisory board of Paulson & Co. Inc., one of Wall Street’s most successful hedge funds. Widely quoted in the media, Dr. Thornberg has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, ABC’s Nightline, CNN, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, NPR, and is regularly quoted in major national and California dailies including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.

Steve Uzzell
Nationally Acclaimed Photographer

Steve Uzzell is one of the top advertising and corporate photographers in the United States. He started in the photography business 38 years ago as the assistant to the editor of National Geographic magazine and a member of their photographic staff. He now shoots for a roster of clients that travel, shelter and fashion magazines, plus airlines and automobile manufacturers. His work has garnered international acclaim and won numerous awards, including 10 from Communication Arts. Along the way he has photographed two books, Maryland, and The View From Sterling Bluff and has editorial work published in over 100 publications.

Larry P. Ward
CEO, Heritage Oaks Bank

Larry Ward is CEO of Heritage Oaks Bank and president and CEO of Heritage Oaks Bancorp. He joined Heritage Oaks Bank in January 1993 as president and CEO. Prior to that he led the Bank of Evergreen in Colorado, as president and CEO. He strives to balance the needs of bank customers, employees and shareholders, ensuring that each group gets what they need to be a satisfied and loyal part of the larger whole. 

Richard Whitsell
President & CEO, Fresno First Bank

Richard Whitsell is president and CEO of Fresno First Bank in Fresno, Calif., a locally owned business bank with approximately $140 million in assets. He has over 37 years of banking experience and began his career with Bank of America in 1965 as a courier while he worked his way through college and moved through the ranks to become a become a senior vice president and district manager in northern Nevada. Whitsell moved into community banking in 1994 and became the president and CEO of Capitol Valley Bank.  In 2002, he joined Legacy Bank as their president and CEO and led the charge to profitability.

Gary J. Young
CEO, Young & Associates, Inc.

Gary J. Young is CEO of Young & Associates, Inc. In his 30 years in bank consulting and 42 years in the banking industry, he has assisted hundreds of community banks from coast-to-coast with improving shareholder value and profit, establishing effective strategic plans, assisting banks though regulatory concerns, as well as budgeting, asset/liability management, expansion planning, and mergers and acquisitions.  Young participated in the purchase of the National Bank of St. Anne, and is a member of that bank’s board of directors. In addition, he was the co-founder of Capital Market Securities, Inc. which assists community banks with mergers and acquisitions, and manages a bank investment fund.