Hope Bancorp, Inc. announced the appointment of Julianna Balicka as Executive Vice President of the Company and Bank, effective immediately. Balicka, age 45, most recently served as Senior Vice President, Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Finance at East West Bank, a wholly owned company of East West Bancorp, Inc. In addition to overseeing the investor relations function and corporate finance/M&A strategy, she was responsible for the consolidated financial statement enterprise forecast and actively contributed to balance sheet management strategy, preparation of SEC filings and evaluation of asset/liability model assumptions, including interest rate sensitivity. Prior to joining East West in 2016, Balicka was with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from 2005 to 2016, most recently as Managing Director, Equity Research, where she served as the lead research analyst for California SMID-cap banks, Asian American banks, and marketplace lenders.

She began her professional career as an investment banking analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, which was acquired by Credit Suisse in 2000. Balicka is a graduate of the Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her B.S. in Economics, with dual concentrations in Finance and Management, from the Wharton School, as well as a B.A. in International Studies and German from the College of Arts & Sciences.