At COO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top California based COO’ operating in the Banking space. If you think a COO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Asya Bradley
Founder & COO of First Boulevard
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About First Boulevard: First Boulevard is a fintech startup that aims to address the generational wealth gap for Black Americans.
Jason Bender
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of First Republic Bank
Bender has been with First Republic since 1999, and managed the Bank’s finance department for over a decade before being appointed Chief Administrative Officer on January 1, 2013. Effective January 1, 2016, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for the overall operations of deposits and lending, strategic planning, enterprise data, online banking and related digital activities, and secondary loan marketing. He oversees banking activities in the Orange County and San Diego regions. B.A., 1992, Swarthmore College; M.B.A., 1999, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, 2014.
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About First Republic Bank, First Republic Bank: First Republic offers banking for individuals and businesses, wealth management and more with a focus on tailored services and solutions.
Andrew Benson
Co-Founder and COO of River Financial
Andrew Benson is the Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer at River Financial.
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About River Financial: River Financial is a Bitcoin financial institution allowing long-term investors to buy, sell, and manage Bitcoin.
Joel Washington
Founder & COO of Level
Joel is founder and COO of Zero.
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About Level: Level is a neobank and mobile banking app that provides next-level banking for modern consumers.
Claire McDonnell
Co-founder & COO of True Link Financial
Claire founded Awardly and was a Consultant at the Bridgespan Group and a Runway Entrepreneur at Innovation Endeavors.
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About True Link Financial: True Link is a diversified financial services firm dedicated to providing services for at-risk demographics such as the elderly and disabled
Clayton Fossett
COO of ChimpChange Mobile Banking
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About Change Financial, ChimpChange Mobile Banking: Mobile Banking with two key value propositions. ChimpChange is more useful than your traditional bank, without the hidden fees.
Guru Dharam Khalsa
Co-Founder & COO of MK Decision
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About MK Decision: MK Decision’s mission is to help community financial institutions thrive by receiving more deposits and more loans.
Mark Mullinix
Founder, First Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Mark Mullinix was appointed first vice president and chief operating officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond June 1, 2013. He is the second ranking officer in the Bank and chairs the Bank’s Management Committee. Mullinix has responsibility for the Bank’s payments systems, regional outreach, financial management, information technology and corporate support services.
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About Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond: Richmond Fed’s view of key financial and economic issues.
Lindsay Lawrence
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of First Foundation
Ms. Lawrence currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of First Foundation Bank where she is responsible for overseeing deposit banking activities as well as designing and implementing policies and operational structures for the company. Ms. Lawrence was formerly the Senior Vice President of Commercial and Specialty Deposits at Umpqua Bank, which merged with Sterling Savings Bank in April 2014, where she led the team of commercial and specialty deposit bankers. Prior to that, Ms. Lawrence served as Executive Vice President, Chief Banking Officer at Opus Bank. In that role she oversaw and managed four banking divisions, including commercial business, income property, residential, and retail. She additionally held the role of Senior Vice President, Director of Sales at Opus Bank. Previous responsibilities include roles as Vice President, Relationship Manager at both Sunwest Bank and Vineyard Bank. Ms. Lawrence earned her Master’s degree in Business Administration from University of California, Irvine and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Northwestern University. She also graduated from Pacific Coast Banking School with honors in 2018. Ms. Lawrence received the honor of being named to American Banker’s Most Powerful Women in Banking: NEXT List in 2019.
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About First Foundation: First Foundation provides integrated investment management, wealth planning, consulting, trust, and banking services.
Dustin Sauter
CIO, COO & Co-Founder of OrangeGrid
Dustin Sauter is OrangeGrid’s Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder. Sauter is the technical mastermind of the company’s technical platform and operational environment, with 20 years’ experience in software development, operations, security as both a business operator, and technology provider. Tapping into his inner nerd, Sauter gained extreme enthusiasm from what technology had to offer at the early age of 8 when he unboxed his shiny new state-of-the-art Atari 2600 for Christmas. His love of gaming and technology continued to blossom as Sauter graduated to more advanced consoles like the NES, Genesis, and PS1 and started to develop basic role playing games on the Apple IIe. Maturing in his adult years, but not giving up gaming, in 1996 Sauter started his career in PC repair and networking for CorpInfo. Later advancing, he worked with First Interstate Bank, assisting in building check printing platform, converting their branches to OS2 and implementing something called “The Internet” for all employees. Sauter quickly climbed the ranks over the next decade and held technical executive positions for major finance and software companies such as Wells Fargo, Ameriquest, Citi, Equator, and RES.NET. Sauter is eager to transform the way businesses optimize their processes. He believes too many companies remain stagnant due to inability to accept change and utilize cutting edge technology to adapt to an ever-changing landscape. Sauter’s favorite phrase is “War is lost by indecision, not wrong decision.” His favorite video game character is Street Figher’s, Ryu, “You must defeat my dragon punch to stand a chance.”
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About OrangeGrid: Digitizing business processes and seamlessly connecting siloed legacy systems within a single and intuitive ecosystem
Tim Boothe
EVP & COO of Bridge Bank
Timothy W. Boothe has been the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Bridge Bank, NA since 2006 and was the Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer of the Bank since its inception in 2001 until 2006. Tim began his banking career in early 1990. He is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School through the University of Washington, and a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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About Bridge Bank: Bridge Bank, an investment bank, provides business banking products and services to small- and middle-market businesses in the U.S.
Virginia Robbins
COO & EVP of California Bank of Commerce
Virginia Robbins is a resident of Alameda, California. She reports to the Chief Executive Officer and is a member of the Bank’s Executive Management Committee. She oversees all non-credit operations, including retail operations, item and data processing, backroom operations, human resources, and facilities. Ms. Robbins also oversees the Bank’s internal audit program for compliance with all banking laws and regulations. Ms. Robbins has extensive experience in bank operations, information technology and compliance in small to mid-sized organizations. Most recently she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of North Bay Bancorp and its subsidiaries, The Vintage Bank and Solano Bank, where she directed the unification of the branch operations and restructured IT and HR operations. As Chief Information and Operations Manager and a member of its executive team at Chela Education Financing, Ms. Robbins created and delivered the products and services needed to meet the company’s aggressive growth objectives. Ms. Robbins served as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of CivicBank of Commerce where she held numerous positions overseeing information technology, human resources and wire room operations, ending as Chief Information Officer and assisted in the sale of the Bank to City National Bank. Active in the community, Ms. Robbins serves as Chairman for Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay, and is a volunteer for Habitat For Humanity East Bay, and for St. Mary’s College. Ms Robbins previously served as a columnist for Computerworld Magazine. Ms. Robbins earned a B.A. degree in Mathematics and Economics from Boston University and a MBA from St. Mary’s College of California.
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About California Bank of Commerce: Businesses face many challenges, but they believe banking shouldn’t be one of them.
Christian Martinez
Chief Operating Officer of BridgeOak
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About BridgeOak: Bridge Oak connects Oakland residents with innovative financial services.
Christian Martinez
Chief Operating Officer of BridgeOak
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About BridgeOak: Bridge Oak connects Oakland residents with innovative financial services.
Glen T. Tsuma
Secretary, Director & COO of CalFirst
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About CalFirst: California First National Bancorp (NASDAQ: CFNB) is a diversified financial services company with two primary businesses .
Jags Krishnamurthy
Chief Operating Officer of Object Edge
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About Object Edge: Object Edge offers a range of IT strategy, software consulting, and software development services and solutions.