Ron Ernst Email & Phone Number

Campbell, Ca, Us

Venture Debt provider

Silicon Valley, California, United States

Brought to Valley Bank, by way of acquisition of Bank Leumi, to start and build out a Venture Lending Division.Approve all term sheets and subsequent loans for the Venture Lending Division. This includes reviewing and evaluating the financial and operational strength of the borrowers, as well as the terms of the loan agreement.Build and maintain a team and the tools to properly underwrite, manage, and grow a portfolio of loans dedicated to offering Fund Finance and Venture Lending. This includes hiring and training staff, developing underwriting guidelines, and implementing risk management procedures.Work with market leaders to ensure that the bank builds and maintains the proper credit products and standards to serve its market. This includes staying up-to-date on industry trends and best practices, and developing products and services that meet the needs of borrowers and investors.Work with bank leadership to evaluate all growth-oriented opportunities for the division. This includes identifying potential new markets, products, and services, and developing strategies to achieve growth.Strive to work with regulators to ensure that the bank maintains a clear understanding of their expectations and that they understand the bank's policies, procedures, and portfolio. This includes staying up-to-date on regulatory changes, and developing and implementing procedures to comply with all applicable regulations.

Merged with Valley Bank (4/1/22)

My focus in reviewing, approving and ensuring the proper management of loan portfolio for C&I, ABL, Leveraged Lending, as well as the facilities extended to the Emerging Growth sector including facilities extended to VC Firms, Funds, or portfolio companies.

Campbell, Ca

Acquired SHF in December 2013 and acquired by Pacific Western Bank in 2015.End date adjusted to show continuous employment via acquisition. Duties listed under Pacific Western Bank.

Campbell, Ca

(Start date adjusted to show continuous employment via acquisition - Pacific Western Bank acquired Square 1 Bank in 2015) Led successful integration of credit culture, policies and procedures across team and workflow following successive company mergers. As a result, my division became an integral part of the overall bank strategy. Built highly respected teams and achieved an extremely low employee turnover rate. Set annual budget for division and played instrumental role in successfully meeting budget goals. Partnered with Special Assets group to successfully restructure numerous facilities outside the portfolio and equipped team to become an extension of the Special Assets department. Utilized deep industry and underwriting experience to create lending structures enabling borrowers to pursue their goals while successfully incorporating the controls required by the bank. This process facilitated a more efficient exit of credits from the portfolio and was key in advancing VC relationships. Spearheaded the launch a new lending product. Directed all aspects of the project including, development, compliance, legal documentation, credit management, marketing and structuring. New product contributed greater than 8x portfolio growth, with no losses. Deployed Payment Protection Plan (PPP) program for the entire Venture Banking division. Established loan process and educated colleagues on effective administration of the program. Provided underwriting expertise and oversight on client loan requests. Proudly played an instrumental role in fulfilling all qualified applications within our portfolio.Currently my goal is to assist with the consolidation of this team into the larger Asset Based Lendingteam of the bank in order to maximize efficiencies. I plan to leave this role by October 2020.

Saratoga, California, United States

Sand Hill Finance provided emerging growth lending facilities, primarily Asset Based Loans, to private and venture backed companies nationwide. Held numerous and diverse responsibilities across all areas of the company throughout various stages of development. Formulated initial budget, created investor presentation and led investor meeting necessary to secure funding. Continued leadership of these efforts and successfully drove subsequent rounds of capital from existing and new investors. Ensured all accounting and records were accurate and financial results were reported in a timely manner with transparency. Managed productive relationships with three key accounting firms, two bank lines and several loan syndications. Conducted negotiations with several interested parties seeking to acquire SHF. Evaluated all viable offers and recommended acquisition by Square 1 Bank. Managed all aspects of the sale and post-sale integration.

Cupertino, California, United States

Recruited to restructure and consolidate the three Asset Based Lending teams within the Greater Bay Bank (GBBK) family of companies. The overall goal of GBBK was to position itself for a sale to a larger bank and in order to meet this goal we needed to consolidate divisions. In addition to managing and advising on the consolidation efforts I served as a voting member on the bank's credit committee for all of its' product offerings.

San Jose, California, United States

Concurrent employment with Comerica Bank and Comerica Ventures, Inc.. Duties listed under Comerica Ventures, Inc.

Burlingame, Ca

(Comerica Incorporated acquired Imperial Bancorp in 2000)Recruited by Imperial Bank to be start the Venture Bank (Emerging Growth) Asset Based Lending team. My responsibilities included overseeing all credit, compliance and operations. I was responsible for developing the policies and procedures, working with counsel to craft our loan documents and to recruit, hire and manage the team. The ABL portfolio grew from zero to over $100 million in loan balances. After a successful launch of the ABL team, I helped restart and expand two holding companies for Imperial Bancorp: Imperial CreditCorp and Imperial Ventures. Imperial CreditCorp extended bridge loans to portfolio companies and we made and managed partnership interests in Venture Funds. In a very short period of time we built an extensive bridge loan portfolio which resulted in a very successful and profitable warrant portfolio. We extended and managed over 200 limited partner positions with strategic venture funds. Imperial Ventures was a Small Business Investment Corporation (SBIC) for Imperial Bancorp specializing in strategic investments in portfolio companies. We evaluated investment opportunities created by the lending offerings of our sister company (Imperial CreditCorp and Imperial Bank). I served on the initial investment screening team and helped present opportunities to the Board of Directors for approval. My direct responsibilities were to manage all portfolio positions for both units (direct investments, openloan position, fund investments and the resulting warrant positions). I was the primary contact for theSBA and all SBA Audits. I approved credit and provided input on warrant portfolio exits for this team as well as the entire warrant portfolio for the bank. In a very short period of time we built an extremely profitable venture. The net profit from these divisions were significant on the overall earning of the bank in several periods.

Burlingame, Ca

Concurrent employment with Comerica Bank and Comerica Ventures, Inc.. Duties listed under Comerica Ventures, Inc.

San Jose, Ca

Acquired Astra Financial Dec. 1994 (Start date adjusted to show continuous employment via acquisition).Responsible for merging, and the subsequent management of, the Credit, Operations and Business Development teams of Astra Financial and the San Jose National Bank Asset Based Lending.

San Jose, Ca

Recruited to build out the portfolio and help position the firm for an acquisition. My efforts resulted in over 150% growth of the portfolio in one year. This growth resulted in the interest of our bank, San Jose National Bank, to acquire the firm and retain the entire team.

Santa Clara, California, United States

Directly managed a portfolio of Asset Based Loans and Factoring facilities. Represented the firm in several work out credits and subsequent litigation.