First Choice Bancorp (NASDAQ: FCBP) (“First Choice” or the
“Company”), the holding company for First Choice Bank (the “Bank”),
today announced the following officer appointments at the Company
and Bank:
- Robert M. Franko,
currently President and CEO of First Choice Bank and First Choice
Bancorp, has also been appointed the Chief Financial Officer of
First Choice Bancorp. Mr. Franko started his career in Southern
California as the Chief Financial Officer of Imperial Bank and
Imperial Bancorp, an NYSE listed company, prior to its sale to
Comerica.
- Mag Wangsuwana,
currently the Treasurer of the First Choice Bank, has been
appointed as the Chief Financial Officer of the First Choice
Bank.
Diana Hanson, currently the Chief Accounting
Officer of First Choice Bank and First Choice Bancorp, will remain
as the “principal financial officer” since her appointment as the
Interim Chief Financial Officer of the Company and the Bank, and
will, in her capacity as the “principal financial officer” of the
Company, continue to provide the certifications required by Rule
13A-14 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the Company’s
annual and quarterly reports as will be filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
“After thorough consideration of all of our
options, the Board and Mr. Franko decided that the CFO
responsibilities at the Company and the Bank were best filled
through our internal candidates,” said Peter Hui, Chairman of the
Board. “Given Mr. Franko’s experience as the CFO of a much larger
financial institution than First Choice, he believed, and the Board
concurred, that he and Diana Hanson could handle the financial
reporting responsibilities of the holding company thereby allowing
Mr. Wangsuwana to focus on the role of the CFO of the Bank.”
Following is biographical information on Mr.
Franko, Ms. Hanson, and Mr. Wangsuwana:
Robert M. FrankoMr. Franko has
served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of First Choice
Bank since November 2013 and the Company since its inception in
September 2017. Prior to joining First Choice Bank, Mr. Franko
served as the President & CEO of PacTrust Bank and Beach
Business Bank. As the founding CEO of Beach Business Bank, Mr.
Franko assembled a world-class Board of Directors and an
outstanding management team to create one of the most successful
community banks organized in California. Prior to Beach Business
Bank, Mr. Franko held executive management positions at various
banks, including Generations Trust Bank, First National Bank of San
Diego, City National Bank, Imperial Bank and Imperial Bancorp. Mr.
Franko has been the CEO of banks totaling as much as $3.5 billion
in assets and has managed organizations with more than 1,000
employees.
Diana HansonMs. Hanson has
served as Interim Chief Financial Officer of First Choice Bancorp
since November 2019 and Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting
Officer since March 2019. Ms. Hanson joined First Choice from
Pacific Western Bank, where she served as Senior Vice President
& Director of Accounting Policy. From 1994 to 2020, Ms. Hanson
served in a number of leadership positions in the finance
departments of Pacific Western Bank, Community Bank of Nevada, Bank
of Nevada and Bank of America. She started her career as an auditor
with Deloitte in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Hanson has over 25
years of experience in corporate accounting and the financial
services industry, including an extensive working knowledge of U.S.
GAAP, SOX Controls and SEC Reporting. Ms. Hanson is a Certified
Public Accountant and holds a B.S. in Accounting from Babson
College in Massachusetts.
Mag WangsuwanaMag Wangsuwana
brings more than 20 years of financial services experience to his
new role. Mr. Wangsuwana has been Senior Vice President and
Treasurer of First Choice Bank since September 2019. As Treasurer,
Mr. Wangsuwana has been responsible for managing all of First
Choice’s corporate treasury activities, including budgeting and
forecasting, capital planning, liquidity and interest rate risk
management, investments, and funding. He joined First Choice from
MUFG Union Bank, a diversified financial services holding company,
where he held a variety of positions from March 2002 to August
2019, including most recently as a Director in Corporate Treasury
focused on asset liability strategy and balance sheet management,
and previously in corporate banking focused on financial planning
& analysis, corporate real estate focused on strategy,
investment management focused on structured securities, and in
corporate development focused on mergers, acquisitions, and
divestitures. Prior to joining MUFG Union Bank, Mag spent 5 years
as an investment banker within the Financial Institutions Group at
Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch and worked on several financial
services-related financing and merger transactions in New York, San
Francisco, and Los Angeles. Mr. Wangsuwana graduated from the
University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business with
a B.S. degree in 1997. Mag also graduated from the Pacific Coast
Banking School in 2006 and remains involved, serving in a variety
of capacities, including as a BankSim instructor and more recently
as an advisor and grader.
About First Choice Bancorp
First Choice Bancorp, headquartered in Cerritos,
California, is the sole shareholder of and the registered bank
holding company for, First Choice Bank. As of March 31, 2020,
First Choice Bancorp had total consolidated assets of $1.78
billion. First Choice Bank, also headquartered in Cerritos,
California, is a community-based financial institution that serves
primarily commercial and consumer clients in diverse communities
and specializes in loans to small- to medium-sized businesses and
private banking clients, commercial and industrial loans, and
commercial real estate loans with a specialization in providing
financial solutions for the hospitality industry. First Choice Bank
is a Preferred Small Business Administration (SBA) Lender. First
Choice Bank conducts business through 9 full-service branches and 2
loan production offices located in Los Angeles, Orange and San
Diego Counties. Founded in 2005, First Choice Bank has quickly
become a leading provider of financial services that enable our
customers to grow, maintain strength, and achieve their business
objectives. We strive to surpass our clients’ expectations through
our efficiency, personalized services and financial solutions and
professionalism and are committed to being “First in Speed,
Service, and Solutions.” First Choice Bancorp stock is traded on
the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “FCBP.”
First Choice Bank’s website is
www.FirstChoiceBankCA.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
The statements contained herein that are not
historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are
based on management’s current expectations and beliefs concerning
future developments and their potential effects on the Company
including, without limitation, plans, strategies and goals, and
statements about management’s expectations regarding revenue and
asset growth, financial performance and profitability, loan and
deposit growth, yields and returns, loan diversification and credit
management, shareholder value creation and tax rates. There can be
no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be
the same as those anticipated by management. Actual results may
differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking
statements due to a variety of factors, including the risk factors
described in documents filed by the Company with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
The Company does not undertake, and specifically
disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking statements
to reflect occurrences or unanticipated events or circumstances
after the date of such statements except as required by law. Any
statements about future operating results, such as those concerning
accretion and dilution to the Company's earnings or shareholders,
are for illustrative purposes only, are not forecasts, and actual
results may differ.
###
Contact:First ChoiceKhoi D. Dang, Esq.,
562.263.8336Executive Vice President and General Counsel
First Choice Bancorp (NASDAQ:FCBP)
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