North Bay Business Journal

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.

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. …

Read a profile about the winner of the Business Journal’s Best Places to Work 2012 in the 501- to 1,000-employee category: Wells Fargo Business Services.

On June 12, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors recognized June as National Dairy Month. …

Napa’s AUL Corp., America’s largest national provider of used car service contracts, announced the launch of a new logo and corporate identity. …

Larkspur-based mFoundry, a mobile banking and payments provider, announced Eli Lilly Federal Credit Union launched ELFCUmobile, a full-featured mobile banking solution that includes native mobile applications, mobile Web and SMS/text banking. …

The Marin Home & Garden Expo, presented by the Marin Builders Association, was held the weekend of June 2 and 3 at the Civic Center Fairgrounds, and featured the presentation of the MBA Leadership in Sustainability Awards. …

Wells Fargo announced a $15,000 grant to help Alta Heights Magnet School in Napa replace 30 laptops that were stolen from a classroom over Memorial Day weekend. …

The Stroke Center at Sebastopol’s Palm Drive Hospital has received a Superior Performance award from the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program, a national independent hospital accrediting organization recognized by the federal government. …

Three outpatient clinical programs in Sutter Medical Network, which is Sutter Health’s physician network, recently were recognized for statewide best practices in the California Association of Physician Groups’ annual Standards of Excellence Survey of medical group features and capabilities. …

For the first time in its six-year history, two organizations tied for Nonprofit Organization of the Year in the Napa Community Awards. …

Brief news about businesses and organizations in the north San Francisco Bay area

Wells Fargo Senior Economist Gary Schlossberg will address the state of the economy in a June 9 breakfast presentation marking the kickoff of the 30th anniversary of the the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.

Santa Rosa-based Praxis Capital has acquired a 54-unit apartment complex in Austin, Texas. … Napa Pipe’s supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Report was released for comments on Feb. 14 and all comments are due by March 31. … Wells Fargo is forecasting that “exceptionally weak” demand will continue to challenge the housing market.

SEBASTOPOL – A long-time family-owned business in Sonoma County has jumped on opportunities offered by the soft real estate market and new SBA incentives to purchase its own building in Santa Rosa.

NORTH BAY — Wells Fargo & Company announced the restructuring of the Wells Fargo Financial division, which will close 638 Wells Fargo Financial stores in the U.S. including an office in Santa Rosa and Fairfield.

The company expects to see 2,800 positions eliminated in the next two months and another 1,000 in the next year.

There are currently 14,000 positions at Wells Fargo Financial, and the remaining people will be moved to other Wells Fargo businesses.

(Listed alphabetically by name)