A Director’s Viewpoint: What Makes a Good Bank Director?

I’ve been on four bank boards, and currently serve on the board of Pacific Premier Bank, a $2.7 billion asset bank based in Irvine, California. On two boards, I was chairman and CEO, and I figure I’ve served with about 40 different individual board members over the past 30 years. Unlike many people, I don’t believe that boards are the key to a bank’s success. I think it’s the CEO, with the board playing the key role of choosing and retaining the right person as CEO. I’ve even said, half jokingly, that a board could meet once a year and...