North Bay professionals news from Exchange Bank, The Fountaingrove Club, Redwood Credit Union and more
Mary Leonard-Wilson has been hired by Exchange Bank (OTC: EXSR) as senior vice president and senior credit officer.
Leonard-Wilson brings over 20 years of community banking and executive experience to the bank’s Credit Administration department, the Santa Rosa-based bank stated.
Before joining Exchange Bank, Leonard-Wilson served in lending and credit capacities with several independent community banks in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before that, she held a wide range of positions managing teams of lenders in New York, Chicago and New Jersey, with a focus on commercial loan origination and loan portfolio management.
In 1994, she joined National Bank of the Redwoods as head of Commercial Lending, assuming additional responsibilities as senior loan officer and chief credit officer until the bank’s merger with Westamerica Bank in 2005. In 2006, Leonard-Wilson co-founded Presidio Bank with the former National Bank of the Redwoods CEO and served as its chief credit officer, growing the bank to over $900 million in assets and over $700 million in loans before merging with Heritage Bank of Commerce in October 2019.
Leonard-Wilson holds a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University in English.
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Russ Bond has been hired as general manager of The Fountaingrove Club in Santa Rosa.
As general manager, the company stated that Bond will lead all elements of the member-owned club from golf operations, agronomy, and sales/marketing to food and beverage and athletic/fitness club operations.
Troon Privé, the world’s largest golf management company, stated that Bond has 30 year’s club and hospitality experience, including working for Marriott International for nearly four decades. Prior to his arrival at The Fountaingrove Club, Bond was the general manager at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona.
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Will Thorn has been promoted by Redwood Credit Union to vice president of human resources and training.
He joined the credit union in 2006, holding positions such as teller, member services representative, training coordinator, employee relations and development analyst, assistant manager of employee relations and human resources manager.
Thorn has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Sonoma State University, with a concentration in education, and is certified in human performance improvement from the Association for Talent Development.
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Long-time Sonoma Raceway executive Jere Starks, who oversaw the physical transformation of the raceway into one of the nation’s premier motorsports venues, has been inducted into the Sonoma Raceway Wall of Fame.
Starks first came to the facility as a construction contractor in the early 1990s and recently concluded his 26-year career at the raceway.
Since joining then-Sears Point Raceway full time in 1994, the raceway’s announcement stated, Starks' accomplishments included oversight of the $90 million modernization of the facility from 1999-2002. The massive project included moving nearly 10 million cubic yards of dirt to create hillside terrace seats at Turns 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9, roads for better internal traffic circulation, expanded viewing areas, underground pedestrian tunnels and the separation of the road course from the drag strip, as well as the construction of competitor garages, permanent restrooms, the start/finish grandstand and the extension of pit road.
Starks spent the duration of his career managing the maintenance of Sonoma Raceway’s 1,600-acre property and facility preparation for annual visits from the NASCAR Cup Series and NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, among others. He also managed annual capital improvement projects, including the construction of The Point in 2019, the Real Strong Humboldt Redwood Deck above Turn 2 and Grill Garden shaded terraces at Turns 2 and 9.
“Jere Starks’ DNA is in every square inch of this facility,” said Sonoma Raceway President and General Manager Steve Page. “I was fortunate to work alongside him for nearly three decades and to benefit from his experience and wisdom as we re-imagined the raceway and all of its modern features. There is no one more deserving of this honor.”
Starks’ likeness has been engraved onto the raceway’s Wall of Fame, which is located on the back of the Main Grandstand in the main paddock. He is the 26th member of the raceway’s Wall of Fame, joining fellow Speedway Motorsports and raceway inductees, including O. Bruton Smith (2006), Joe W. Huffaker (2007), John Cardinale (2013), Georgia Seipel (2018) and raceway founder Robert Marshall (2019).
“I’m overwhelmed at the honor of being on the Sonoma Raceway Wall of Fame with so many others who are on there for some compelling reason,” Starks stated in the announcement. “It wasn’t an individual effort, it was a group effort. That wall will be there forever, and it’s a total honor.
