Send news about North Bay professionals to people@busjrnl.com.Banking and Finance
[caption id="attachment_94046" align="alignleft" width="192"] David Schmidt[/caption]
David Schmidt has been appointed interim chief credit officer at Summit State Bank. Mr. Schmidt brings over 30 years of lending and community banking experience to the role, including 14 years as the senior loan officer at the former Bank of Petaluma, commercial loan team leader at Bank of Marin for seven years, and 10 years as a bank examiner with the Comptroller of the Currency. Summit State Bank’s previous chief credit officer, Bill Fogarty, has transitioned to a new role outside of the bank. Summit State Bank will be conducting a search for a permanent Chief Credit Officer.
[caption id="attachment_94047" align="alignright" width="192"] Tom Duryea[/caption]
Summit State Bank’s president and CEO Tom Duryea joined the board for the Pacific Coast Banking School. Mr. Duryea is a 2007 graduate of Pacific Coast Banking School, the largest graduate-level banking school in the country. Since 1938, in partnership with the University of Washington Foster School of Business, over 10,000 participants have graduated from PCBS, with hundreds of graduates currently serving as CEOs of financial institutions and hundreds more serving in key leadership roles across the country. Business Organizations
[caption id="attachment_94048" align="alignleft" width="192"] Karin Berry[/caption]
Sonoma County GO LOCAL added Karin Berry to its management team. Ms. Berry has been working with businesses for more than 20 years in leadership positions. She has served as VP of national accounts for executive search agency R-FORTE, LLC; director of employee relations of West Coast University/American Career College; and VP of sales for I.M.S., an internet marketing company.Nonprofits
Whistlestop recently elected new officers to its board of directors: Dennis Ryan as board president, Lori Peterson as vice president, Karen Arnold as board treasurer and Nancy Rhine as board secretary. Mr. Ryan brings extensive private sector and nonprofit financial and strategic leadership experience, having served in the past as board president of Buckelew Programs. Ms. Peterson works with post-acute and long term care providers to facilitate organizational re-positioning and to encourage participation in models of accountable and integrated care delivery. Ms. Arnold is an advocate of older adult services and activities in Marin County. She was a founding member of the Ross Valley Seniors, an active community support group for older adults. Ms. Rhine is a licensed marriage and family therapist whose focus is on midlife and older individuals, couples and families. She is a former co-facilitator for Whistlestop’s weekly support group called “Senior’s Circle”.Food and Beverage
[caption id="attachment_94049" align="alignleft" width="211"] Trevor Kunk[/caption]
PRESS, a farm-driven steakhouse in St. Helena, has appointed Trevor Kunk as its new executive chef. Chef Kunk arrives to Napa Valley from the East Coast, where he spent the past seven years as chef de cuisine at Blue Hill New York, winner of 2013’s James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant. In addition, PRESS recently completed an entire transformation of the restaurant’s 2,100 square-foot rear patio . After graduating with an AOS in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park in 2003, Chef Kunk went on to expand his education at Charlie Palmer’s Aureole. In 2004, he transitioned to the famed Blue Hill New York where he worked closely with Dan Barber, working his way up from cook to sous chef and then finally on to chef de cuisine, a position he held from 2007 to 2014.
B.R. Cohn Olive Oil Company appointed Diane Schwartz as director of sales and marketing for the Sonoma Valley gourmet food products company. Ms. Schwartz brings over 22 years of experience in restaurant and specialty foods marketing, branding, strategic planning, product launches and public relations to the position overseeing and expanding B.R. Cohn’s olive oil, vinegar, and gourmet dessert sauce product lines. Ms. Schwartz graduated with a degree in Foodservice and Hospitality Management from Cornell University and began her career as Assistant Director of Marketing with Mrs. Field’s Chocolate Chips where she was instrumental in building the newly established cookie retailer into a major national brand.
Foodie Tout, Inc., a food industry advisory company located in Sonoma, announced Ron Lawson was appointed to the company's board of directors for a two-year term. Following fifteen years as vice president and resident manager of Merrill Lynch Futures, Mr. Lawson, became managing director of Lawson/O'Neill Global Institutional Commodity Advisors. Mr. Lawson owns and operates Field of Greens Egg Ranch in Sonoma, supplying eggs to some of the best restaurants and grocery stores in the Northern California market.Life Sciences
