Bank of San Francisco hired First Republic Bank veteran David Lichtman as executive vice president and chief banking officer. Bank of San Francisco's co-founder and President Wendy Ross plans to retire, effective June 28. Lichtman spent his professional life at First Republic where he was executive vice president and chief credit officer.

First Republic was seized by regulators a year ago and sold to JPMorgan Chase, which plans to complete the integration of the San Francisco bank into its operations over Memorial Day weekend. First Republic's collapse was preceded by Silicon Valley Bank's failure in March 2023, with North Carolina's First Citizens Bank eventually stepping in to buy most of the bank from regulators. Lichtman joined First Republic right after college in 1986, when the San Francisco bank was less than a year old and had fewer than 20 employees.

He was drawn to First Republic's startup atmosphere. He was named chief credit officer at First Republic in 1995. Late last year, Bank of San Francisco also hired Margaret Mak to head its new private banking business.

Mak came over from First Republic, which she had joined soon after the bank's founding in 1985. Mak helped launch First Republic's Preferred Banking division in 1997 and designed its ATM-rebate checking, which was one of the bank's most popular products, according to her LinkedIn profile. The new hires set the stage for Bank of San Francisco to puruse growth opportunities emerging from last year's two big bank failures in the Bay Area.

Ross, who is responsible for the bank's day-to-day operations, will continue in her role as a director of Bank of San Francisco and an adviser. Ross' career captures just how much the banking business has consolidated over the more than 35 years since she entered the industry. She joined Bank of San Francisco's founding team in 2005 after working as chief credit officer at Golden Gate Bank, now part of Wells Fargo.

Ross began her banking career at New York's Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co., which is now part of JPMorgan Chase, following a series of mergers. She moved to the Bay Area in 1973 to work at Crocker National Bank, now Wells Fargo, and Bank of California, now part of U.S. Bank. But it was working with Obuchowski at Oakland's CivicBank of Commerce, now part of Royal Bank of Canada, where the two discovered a passion for working with business owners as part of a community bank.

That passion spurred them to open Bank of San Francisco in 2005, the first bank founded in the city since First Republic was formed 20 years earlier.