Bridge Bank beefs up its exec ranks - San Francisco Business Times:

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Last month, the bank brought on boare Peggy Bradshaw as chief banking officer to oversee salesw and clientrelationship functions. Veteran business banker Al Williams joinedc as chiefcredit officer. Both Bradshaw and Williamsa previously workedat . Thomasx Sa, who was chief financial officer when the bank opened its doors in May has been promoted to chierf risk officer andstrategy officer. “Bridge has buily a solid foundation since its openingv eightyears ago,” Sa said. “It is now time to buildr upon that foundation with coordinated businessx strategies that incorporate effective enterprise risk managemengt to ensureconsistent long-term performance.
” But the San Jose-bases business bank, which added more than $50 million to its capitalk base last year, has seen its stock plunged in the past 18 months. Shares of the bank’s parent, , changecd hands this week for $5, roughly a quarter of theird price inJanuary 2008, before the bursting credigt bubble claimed several big banks as casualties. CEO Dan Myeres is confident the bank was smart to take a hit to the bottomn linelast year, boosting loan-loss reservexs to cover 117 percent of nonperformingy loans by year-end. The move was designex to put problem loansbehind it, making it easierr to pursue new business when the economu rebounds.
“Building the loan-loss reserves was painful in the short-tern but will be beneficial inthe long-term,” Myerss said. The bank’s capital ratios and reserv levels are among the highest in the nation for banks with assetwof $500 million to $1.5 billion, he said. Bridge’se assets totaled $882 as of March 31. Myeres said the bank moved early in 2008 to rein in construction lendinhg after seeing the unprecedented decline in housing prices that beganin 2007. Bridge Bank boostef capital last year througha $30 million publivc offering and raised another $23.8 million throughn the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Assef Relief Program.
Myers said regulators did not forcse the changes in the executive suitse atthe bank, which serves the greatert Bay Area, with offices in Pleasanton, Palo Alto and San