IRVINE, California, October 13, 2015 – McDermott & Bull, a premier retained executive search firm, is pleased to announce the successful appointment of Steve Miller as Chief Executive Officer with Fresno First Bank. Serving the Fresno County in California’s Central Valley, Fresno First Bank has become the bank of choice for successful businesses and individuals given the region’s prime location between California’s major metropolises, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
This executive recruiting engagement was conducted by Rod McDermott and Brandon Biegenzahn, Co-Chairs of the Banking Practice along with Recruiting Associate, Trey Mullen at McDermott & Bull Executive Search. According to Mr. Biegenzahn, “Steve is the ideal leader for Fresno First, bringing to bear a unique and creative approach gained during his experience running international financial institutions abroad. He will bring a great amount of diversity of thought to the Bank.”
Mr. Miller is a highly-accomplished banker with a unique global perspective and a strong track record of success leading top performing institutions. After graduating from Columbia University, Mr. Miller began his professional career at MBNA America in New York in their Management Development Program. Following Bank of America’s acquisition of MBNA, Steve joined GE Capital in an international office in Taiwan. Most recently, Steve ran all of commercial banking for $13 billion Alliance Financial Group. Mr. Miller played varsity football for Columbia University and earned his Bachelor of Arts in History.
About Fresno First Bank
Founded in 2005, Fresno First Bank has accomplished what all new banks set out to do – build a strong deposit base, make wise credit decisions and develop a strong franchise. The Bank has grown total assets in excess of $270 million. The Bank understands that asset growth can only be driven by developing strong deposit relationships, and currently the bank has 40% of their deposits held in zero interest accounts giving the Bank an overall cost of funds of 0.18%. With strong deposits comes the ability to deploy capital and Fresno First has executed against that plan and can boast to be the only local bank to increase total loans outstanding each of the last nine consecutive years. To learn more about Fresno First Bank, please visit www.fresnofirstbank.com.
About McDermott & Bull
McDermott & Bull, Inc. (www.mbsearch.com) is a retained executive search firm headquartered in Irvine, California. The firm serves both public and privately held clients in a variety of industries and functional areas. McDermott & Bull specializes in recruiting difficult-to-find and critical senior level talent for its clients has developed expertise in a wide variety of fields, including Aviation & Aerospace, Banking & Financial Services, Consumer Products, Healthcare Services & Medical Devices, Leisure & Entertainment, Manufacturing & Operational Excellence, Private Equity, Real Estate & Construction, Restaurants & Food Services, Supply Chain, Logistics & Distribution, and Technology.
With backgrounds in the banking and financial services industry, Rod McDermott, Managing Partner, and Brandon Biegenzahn, Partner, lead and represent McDermott & Bull’s Banking & Financial Institutions Practice. Using their robust industry knowledge, Rod and Brandon partner with clients such as American River Bank, ANZ Bank, Bank of Marin, Bank of the Cascades, BNY Mellon, First American Trust, First Republic Bank, Pacific Mercantile Bank, Plaza Bank, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Silvergate Bank, Sunwest Bank, Union Bank, and Washington Trust Bank to find C-level executives, including CEO, COO, President, CFO, Chief Banking Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Information Officer, Compliance Leaders, HR Leaders, Retail Banking Executives, Trust and Wealth Management Leaders and Business Banking. To learn more about McDermott & Bull’s Banking and Financial Institutions Practice, please visit http://mbsearch.com/industry-expertise/banking-financial-services/.