Tustin-based Sunwest Bank said Thursday it hired Glenn E. Gray as president and chief executive.
Gray joins Sunwest after a decade-long career with Scottsdale-based Finova Group Inc., where he most recently was chief operating officer.
Previously, Gray spent eight years with Wells Fargo & Co., holding leadership positions in its retail, corporate banking and investment services division.
“We are confident that under Glenn’s leadership, we will achieve our growth and profitability goals and firmly establish Sunwest Bank as the leading business bank in Orange County,” said Eric Hovde, chairman of Sunwest and an executive with Washington, D.C.-based Hovde Financial Inc., which owns about 70% of Sunwest along with other partners.
Tara Balfour, former president of Bank of America Corp.’s Orange County operation and head of its statewide commercial banking unit, was recruited earlier this year to help run Sunwest as interim executive managing director.
“Now that the main objectives of my position have been accomplished, my role as executive managing director has ended,” Balfour said.
Balfour will remain as a member of Sunwest’s board of directors.
Irving Beimler, a Hovde Financial executive, took over Sunwest as interim president and chief executive in 2004 after former chief executive Marshall Laitsch left the company. Laitsch is president of the Southern California division of Placer Sierra Bank since January. The division operates branches under the name of Bank of Orange County, which has its administration offices in Anaheim.
Sunwest’s assets fell 1.8% to $290.15 million in the third quarter. The bank’s assets have been uneven in recent quarters. Assets fell 2% to $290 million in the third quarter after rising 7.3% in the second quarter.