Bank set to become first in S.J. to have woman as its CEO
(Reprinted from The Record, July 27, 2005) By Joe Goldeen
Record Staff Writer STOCKTON -- Longtime Stockton banker Joe Crane is stepping down as chief executive officer and chairman of Community Bank of San Joaquin, a bank he helped found in 1999. That paves the way for bank President Jane Butterfield to step into the CEO position effective Sunday. Butterfield, who will retain her title as president, is one of only a handful of women to
head a California bank. And, certified public accountant Rudy Croce, another bank co-founder, will assume the post of chairman of the board for both the bank and its holding company, Bank On It Inc. Through the second quarter ending June 30, the single-branch bank at 22 W. Yokuts Ave. reported assets of more than $120 million and earnings of $694,000, or 60 cents per share, up 94 percent from the first six months of 2004. This is not the
first time Crane has retired from banking. In 1996, after 19 years in various positions, he stepped down as CEO of the historic Stockton-based Union Safe Deposit Bank that earlier this year was taken over by Bank of the West. In 1997, he abandoned his short-lived retirement to take the helm of United Way of San Joaquin County, only to resign in 1998 to organize the startup of Community Bank. Crane was unavailable to comment for this story due to a family commitment. "It's always a sad time when somebody that was instrumental in founding the bank leaves, about that. But the bank's had great success and is performing really well. We've got good leadership in place," said Kathleen Lagorio Janssen, vice chairwoman of the bank's board of directors and president of Ace Tomato Co. of Manteca. Butterfield said Crane established a solid foundation for the bank and "gave us the opportunity to develop and move forward.
Joe was huge in starting this bank, getting the initial shareholders together, attracting original customers, and he certainly established us from a credibility standpoint. "Since then, we all as a team have worked to establish ourselves independently. From an operations standpoint, nothing will change including how we treat customers," the new CEO said. With eight independent banks headquartered in San Joaquin County -- there were 10 at this time
last year before the sales of Bank of Lodi and Union Safe Deposit Bank -- Butterfield is the only woman to head a bank here. "I'm glad we're at the forefront," Janssen said. California Bankers Association spokeswoman Anissa Yates acknowledged there are few women chief executives, but "they are on the rise. There are increasing numbers of female CEOs across the state, but it is only a fraction of the male CEOs." Butterfield
has noticed that fact, but she doesn't believe it has hindered her rise to the top. "The number is much smaller than the number of men. I don't see it a lot. I think banking is slower to respond to changes in the workplace," she said. Butterfield, a certified public accountant, entered banking in 1984 as controller for the former Stockton Savings Bank, becoming chief financial officer four years later. She was also a senior vice president when the
110-year-old bank with $1.2 billion in assets was sold to Texas-based Guaranty in 1997. At that point, she left to help Crane, Croce and others organize Community Bank of San Joaquin. She was named the bank's first president. No one could say for sure how many of California's hundreds of bank CEOs are women, but it's believed the number is less than a dozen. One of those dozen or so is Jeanne Reaves, CEO the past six years at Sacramento's
River City Bank, who congratulated Butterfield for rising to the top of her profession. "I don't think that women are denied the opportunity in today's market. I think they compete side-by-side with men. I think it has to do with whether or not they want the accountability of being a CEO. We have a fiduciary responsibility for everything we do," said Reaves, who came up from the lending side of banking and relishes her job with River City. Mission
Community Bank CEO Anita Robinson of San Luis Obispo agreed. "I don't think it's not for lack of being asked. It's whether or not women are interested in that level of responsibility," Robinson said. "The challenges are the same for all CEOs. It's not unique by gender," she said, noting that while it's rare in California, it's much more common in the Midwest with its greater number of small, family-owned banks. "In California, I found that we
actually have quite a bit in common. Most of the time, we have worked our way up through the bank," she said. Robinson said that women business owners have told her they feel "a lot more comfortable" doing business with her bank, and that is important because women-owned firms are a critical segment of the small-business market. Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at 209 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com
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