North Bay Business Journal

The Business Journal announced 12 recipients of its second annual North Bay Facilities Managers Recognition Awards.

The awards were intended to recognize the people who work behind the scenes to make their organizations run smoothly.

“The work they do — and the occasional miracle they perform — are critical to a successful organization,” said Business Journal Editor and Associate Publisher Brad Bollinger. “And their work very often goes unrecognized publicly — until now.”

Bank of Marin Chief Financial Officer Christina Cook is leaving the bank. …

American AgCredit returned the largest dividend in its history to its members in 2012, the agriculture cooperative’s first year of positive loan growth since 2009. …

Citing an increase in income-generating assets and new loans, Summit State Bank (NASDAQ: SSBI) reported a 64 percent increase in net income for the first three months of 2013 and declared a larger quarterly dividend. …

AltaPacific Bank’s assets have grown steadily in the year since completing its merger with a Southern California-based bank, ending the first quarter 4.1 percent higher. …

After returning from the annual executive conference for Western Independent Bankers, a community bank trade group, Russell Colombo, president and CEO of Bank of Marin, said that leaders in the industry are starting to express greater optimism after a historically challenging economic period. …

Loans and deposits have grown at Bank of Napa, N.A., with net assets growing 8.2 percent over the course of a year and approaching $150 million as of March 31. …

NOVATO — Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ: BMRC), parent company of Bank of Marin, today reported net income in the first three months of 2013 increased from the prior quarter and was level with income a year before.

The bank realized a net recovery on troubled loans for the first time in several years.

While many businesses, homebuyers and individuals have benefited from the Federal Reserve’s continuing effort to keep interest rates low, that same economic policy — along with heightened pressure from regulators and tepid demand for new loans — has added up to a time of historic challenge for community lenders in the North Bay and beyond.

Executives at North Bay financial institutions said they saw no clear end for the current conditions.

Bank of Marin donated $25,000 to SchoolsRule–Marin, part of its pledge to allocate 35 percent of its total corporate giving to education-related organizations in 2013. …

After joining the board of directors for the Oakland-based Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment, Kimberly Kaselionis has worked to restart a specialized loan program for women entrepreneurs in Marin County that she helped launch while chief executive of the former Circle Bank. …

Santa Rosa’s Exchange Bank celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Trust & Investment Management department this month. …

Santa Rosa native Jonathan Graves has joined First Community Bank as vice president and commercial loan officer. …

Santa Rosa’s Exchange Bank announced that net income for all of 2012 had risen slightly versus income for 2011, meeting the bank’s projections despite a lukewarm demand for financing from both households and businesses. …

Net income at Novato-based Bank of Marin was up 14.5 percent in 2012 compared to 2011, with $17.8 million representing $3.28 per share, according to an announcement by the bank. …

Year-over-year net income rose 55 percent for Santa Rosa’s Summit State Bank, a period that president and CEO Tom Duryea called “the best year yet in our 38-year history.” …

Citing challenges of a low-interest-rate environment, San Rafael-based Westamerica Bank announced that 2012 net income had slipped 7.7 percent from 2011. …

Bank of Napa, N.A. announced record profit in 2012, with net income up by more than two-thirds from the year before. …

Dixon-based First Northern Bank announced that net income of $4.6 million for all of 2012 marked a 70.4 percent increase versus net income in 2011. …

Total assets as of Dec. 31 were $831.5 million, up $50.3 million — 6.4 percent — compared to one year prior. Total deposits were $730.8 million, up 7.6 percent from the same period in 2011. …

Annual net assets rose 15.82 percent for Santa Rosa’s Community First Credit Union comparing 2012 to 2011, reaching $150.63 million in a period of rapid growth for the lender, according to an announcement. …

Featured in this spotlight on commercial lenders are executives at American River Bank, AltaPacific, Bank of America, Bank of Marin, Bank of Napa, Bank of the West, Comerica Bank, Exchange Bank, First Community Bank, First Northern Bank, Luther Burbank Savings, JP Morgan Chase, Mechanics Bank, Presidio Bank, Rabobank, Silicon Valley Bank, Sonoma Bank, State Assistance Fund for Enterprise Business and Industrial Development Corporation (SAFE-BIDCO), Summit State Bank, Travis Credit Union, U.S. Bank, Umpqua Bank, Union Bank, Warren Capital, Wells Fargo and Westamerica Bank.

In the wake of his sudden death Monday, the North Bay business community remembered David Brown as the epitome of a community banker: a man for whom personal and professional relationships frequently converged, with an underlying sense of charity that influenced all aspects of his life.

NOVATO — On the eve of celebrating its 23rd anniversary, Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ: BMRQ), parent company of Bank of Marin, announced record annual earnings for 2012, up 14.5 percent from the prior year.

NORTH BAY — While the Federal Reserve’s continued effort to keep interest rates as low as possible has helped many borrowers to refinance existing debt or purchase property in 2012, that same economic policy has also narrowed margins for financial institutions and investors and created a period of historic challenge for firms of all sizes in the North Bay and beyond.

Nine Solano County businesses were honored at the annual Spirit of Solano luncheon Dec. 6 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fairfield. …

Basin Street Properties is offering a new Tenant Advantage Program (basin-street.com/tenant-advantage-program), which offers exclusive discounts and promotions for companies and their employees who work in Basin Street’s 44-building Northern California and Northern Nevada commercial and mixed-use property portfolio in Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Sacramento and Reno, Nev. …

On its 65th anniversary, The Ledcor Group of Companies, which has a construction office in Napa, announced a $150,000 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to be shared in Napa and 11 other cities across North America with Ledcor operations. …

Bank of Marin announced the nine local winners of their third annual high school photography contest. …

San Rafael-based SportsMark Management Group, the official corporate hospitality management partner and exclusive global sales agent of the America’s Cup Club hospitality program, launched the sales of 2013 America’s Cup Club packages. …

Santa Rosa’s State Assistance for Enterprise, Business and Industrial Development Corp., the non-depository lender better known as SAFE-BIDCO, has raised the profile of its agricultural lending program after boosting the dollars it can lend through a new arrangement with the state and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. …

Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ: BMRC), parent company of Bank of Marin, announced that it has opened a new branch office in Tiburon’s Cove Shopping Center on Nov. 19, replacing a former branch in the town of Strawberry. …

Wells Fargo N.A. has announced the launch of a new homebuyer assistance program known as CityLIFT. …

Bank of Marin hired Jill Selden as branch manager for the its new Tiburon branch, which opened Nov. 19 in the Cove Shopping Center. …

Bank of Marin also promoted Jackie Williams to market manager for Tiburon and Sausalito. …

Redwood Regional Medical Group’s risk assessment counselor, Kathleen Mott, R.N., MS, WHNP-BC, recently received her credential as an advanced practice nurse in genetics, issued by the Genetic Nursing Credentialing Commission. …

Michael Stusser, founder of Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary in Freestone, was awarded in the individual category of Green Spa Network Visionary Leadership at The Green Spa Network’s Sustainability Awards. …

Lisa Yoshida, Esq., has returned to the practice of law with Anderson, Zeigler, Disharoon, Gallagher and Gray. …

Frank Howard Allen announced that Carolyn Metz, an agent in its Santa Rosa office, completed the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Certification Program. …

Message Bus, which makes cloud-based infrastructure for email, mobile and social messaging based in Corte Medara, announced the addition of four team members.: Paul Midgen, Neil Schwartzman, Tim Moore and Len Shneyder. …

A number of wine industry lenders in the North Bay have seen an uptick in demand for financing this year as wineries, vineyards and related industries seek to position themselves more strongly in a changed economy.

NOVATO — Bank of Marin Bancorp (Nasdaq: BMRC), the parent company of Bank of Marin, today reported net income rose nearly 24 percent in the third quarter and nearly 8 percent in the first nine months of this year, compared with a year before.

The Business Journal’s Sept. 17 Wine Industry Lenders list [p. 10] omitted Bank of Marin

Sept. 12, 2012: Bank of Marin held their annual Shred Day event at the Napa Branch office. Event attendees also brought school supplies of notebooks, packs of crayons, pencils and pens, glue and reams of copy paper. Bank of Marin will match the donations with a $5,000 contribution to the Napa Valley Education Foundation. / Aug. 10, 2012: Smith Dollar’s 3rd Annual Contractors BBQ & ECA Monthly Mixer

Bank of Marin promoted Mike Kadel to first vice president. …

SWA Group, a landscape architecture, planning and urban design firm, named Chih-Wei Lin as the principle of the firm in Sausalito. …

Sutter Medical Foundation announced the arrival of board-certified family medicine physician Nigel Brandstater, M.D. …

The Burbank Housing board of directors announced it has appointed Charles A. Cornell to succeed John Lowry, when he retires this year in September, as executive director and president. …

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. announced Jeff Ajer, the current vice president of commercial operations, the Americas, will be promoted to senior vice president, chief commercial officer. …

Mandi Nash has joined Grgich Hills Estate as brand associate, a new position for the winery. …

Cuvaison Estate Wines announced the formation of a new in-house sales team responsible for the sales of the Cuvaison and Brandlin Vineyard brands nationwide. …

Jennifer Brown has been appointed director of public relations and communication for Wilson Daniels. …

North Bay lenders are lamenting the imminent expiration of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s temporary 504 refinance program, which allows a one-time refinance of debt and reinvestment of equity.

The temporary program, launched by the Jumpstart Our Small Businesses (JOBS) Act of 2010, allows a small-business owner to refinance debt through the typical 504 loan structure used for financing property and other tangible assets: a 10 percent equity contribution from the borrower, a 40 percent, 20-year fixed-rate government loan and a 50 percent second mortgage from a second commercial lender. In combination, up to $10 million can be refinanced through the program.