Steve Klitz

I lead the acquisition of Venture Bank via the FDIC by 1st Citizens Bank in 2009. I actually relocated from Portland in 2011 to lead the consolidation and oversee all areas of banking. I had 95 associates under me at one time and I had direct responsibility for Retail, Small Business, and Commercial Banking. I owned the budget for the area and helped improve the bottom line from a loss of $500,000 per month to a net gain of around $14 million per year upon my retirement.

I was hired by 1st Citizens Bank to actually start the bank in Portland. I hired Retail, Small Business, and Commercial associates and managed all areas of the bank until I accepted a similar but larger opportunity with the bank in Washington State.

I relocated from Fresno California with Bank of America to help build out the bank in Oregon. Bank of America did not enter the market until 1990 with the acquisition of Benjamin Franklin Savings and loan. I first started as the head of Retail Credit Risk and oversaw the entire $2 billion consumer credit portfolio before I was asked to build out a small business group which I did from 1994 - 2004.