North Bay Business Journal

Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:STSA), parent company of Sonoma Bank and Sterling Savings Bank, and Newport Beach-based Commerce National Bank (OTCBB:CNBF) entered a definitive agreement for Sterling to acquire Commerce National for $15.10 per common share in cash, or $42.9 million including planned redemption of outstanding stock options and warrants. …

Sho-Ka-Wa Casino near Hopland said it plans to use the sbX software from International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT). That provides a game theme library, analytics and floor-management features. …

Sausalito’s Smart Meetings magazine, a resource for event-planning professionals, won the 2013 Maggie Award for Best Feature Article, “A Winning Combination” written by David Vranicar, within the Creative Trade & Consumer Print award division for publications with circulations of less than 50,000. …

The Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance added a 1961 Cooper T56 Mark ll Formula Junior owned by Steve McQueen to its showing of vintage automobiles once owned by Hollywood legends. …

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.

Sterling Financial Corporation, owner of Santa Rosa-based Sonoma Bank, announced that its principal operating subsidiary, Sterling Savings Bank, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Seattle-area operations of Boston Private Bank & Trust Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc. …

Sunrise Management has more than doubled its Northern California presence with the recent addition of six multifamily properties to its portfolio, including Estancia Apartments in Santa Rosa. These six additions bring Sunrise’s regional portfolio total to well more than 1,200 units. Also added earlier was Santa Rosa complex Cedarwood Apartments. …

Oxbow Public Market is planning a week-long birthday party on Jan. 21–25 to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the public market in downtown Napa. …

The volume of small business lending backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration in the Bay Area reached an all-time high during the last fiscal year, and volume for such loans in three North Bay counties grew by more than one-third.

SANTA ROSA — By acquiring American Heritage Holdings in Southern California, Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STSA), the parent of Sonoma Bank, will be pushing into smaller-balance loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, according to a top bank official.

SANTA ROSA — Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STSA), parent company of Sonoma Bank, today reported net income of $30.6 million for the third quarter of 2012. Those earnings represented a 170.9 percent increase versus the same quarter in 2011, driven by asset growth, increased profits from mortgage services and the sale of certain investment securities.

SANTA ROSA — The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the sale of more than 5.7 million common shares in Sonoma Bank’s parent company, part of a continued effort to unload stock that it purchased to infuse capital into banks hit hard during the recession.

As the company’s top California executive, Deborah Meekins played a key role in engineering the turnaround of Spokane, Wash.-based Sterling Financial Corporation after the Sonoma Bank owner suffered a major financial setback during the recession, said Ezra Eckhardt, president and chief operating officer of Sterling.

During a recent visit to Santa Rosa, Mr. Eckhardt estimated that between 60 percent and 70 percent of new loans across the western United States are either procured or processed through Sonoma Bank’s headquarters in Santa Rosa.

SANTA ROSA – Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STSA), the Spokane, Wash.-based parent company of Sonoma Bank and Sterling Bank, today reported net income of $320.9 million during the three months ended June 30 and a shareholder dividend of 15 cents.

SANTA ROSA – First Community Bank has named Deborah Meekins as its new president and CEO, succeeding founding president and CEO, Kathy Pinkard. Ms. Meekins joins the bank from her former role as executive vice president and California market president for Spokane Washington-based Sterling Financial Corporation, which owns Santa Rosa-based Sonoma Bank.

SPOKANE, Wash.– Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STSA), the Spokane Washington-based parent company of Sonoma Bank, today announced net income of $13.3 million for first quarter of 2012.

SANTA ROSA — Sonoma Bank and Sterling Savings Bank, both subsidiaries of Spokane, Wash.-based Sterling Financial Corp., have begun rolling out extensive rebranding designed to help solidify Sterling’s one-brand model.

SANTA ROSA — Sonoma Bank, the Santa Rosa-based subsidiary of the Spokane Washington-based Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STSA) announced today that chief production officer Deborah Meekins will now serve as executive vice president and California market president for the company.

SPOKANE, Wash. — Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STSA), the Washington-based parent company of Sonoma Bank in Santa Rosa, filed a report with regulators today describing that its principal operating subsidiary, Sterling Savings Bank, had completed the previously announced acquisition of First Independent Bank in Vancouver, Wash.

SANTA ROSA — Sterling Financial Corp., the Spokane Wash.-based parent company of Sonoma Bank and Sterling Savings Bank, has cut 6 percent of staff across all levels of its 175-branch organization, according to a company spokeswoman.

NORTH BAY — Santa Rosa-based First Community Bank loaned the greatest amount of dollars to small businesses in the North Bay through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 7(a) program in the 2011 fiscal year, jumping 10 places ahead to No. 1 and joining a wave of lending both locally and across the country.

SANTA ROSA — Sonoma Bank announced it is opening home mortgage lending centers that will be overseen by Robb Kenyon, who will serve as regional director for parent company Sterling Financial Corporation.

This video introduced a panel discussion July 14 led by Lagunitas Brewing Co. founder Tony Magee on tips for entrepreneurs in branding, management and finance. Mr. Magee took Lagunitas from a second-job dream in 1993 to a $40 million-a-year company. Guiding him were Ken Dansie, now with Burr Pilger Mayer, and the commercial bankers now with Sonoma Bank.

SANTA ROSA/SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane, Wash.-based Sterling Financial Corporation, parent company of Sonoma Bank, successfully navigated its way through an October 2009 order by regulators to repair its balance sheet.

Washington-based Sterling Financial, the owner of Sonoma Bank and whose future was uncertain just a year ago, has quickly returned to profitability. … Julie Stears has been appointed vice president and manager of Rabobank’s Napa branch. … Summit State Bank has been awarded the honor of being one of California’s “Premier” Performing Banks for 2010 by The Findley Report.