For the week of Sept 25 - Oct 1, 2002

First Bank of Idaho names new officers

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

After a shakeup in the company’s senior ranks last month, directors of Sun Valley BanCorp—the parent company of Ketchum-based First Bank of Idaho—last week announced the appointment of several new officers.

Jerry Bashaw has been named chairman of the Board of Directors and Jim Latta has been named chief executive officer of the corporation. Bryan Furlong has been named president of First Bank of Idaho, and James Lewis has been tapped as president of First Bank Advisors, Sun Valley BanCorp’s Jackson, Wyoming operation.

The appointments were made after longtime chairman and chief executive officer of First Bank of Idaho, Greg Lovell, was fired by company directors in July.

Lovell was asked to leave the bank’s Main Street Ketchum branch on July 24, after directors informed Lovell at a company board meeting that he was being dismissed.

Company officials at the time declined to disclose the reasons for Lovell’s discharge. One senior official said Lovell and the bank corporation "had decided to part ways," primarily as a result of a "difference of opinion" on how the bank should be managed.

Lovell was the chairman and CEO of Sun Valley Bancorp, which owns and operates First Bank of Idaho as its sole subsidiary. First Bank of Idaho was established in 1997, and Sun Valley BanCorp was founded as its parent company in 1999.

New CEO Latta has 28 years of banking and regulatory experience. For the last two years, he has been based in Ketchum and acted as First Bank’s senior credit officer. Before joining First Bank, he worked as a commercial and real estate lender for a community bank in Tucson, Ariz., and was the manager of the Tucson Private Banking department for Bank of America.

As CEO, Latta will oversee the operations of both the corporation’s Idaho and Wyoming markets, as well as work with the board on the company’s strategic long-term plan, a company spokesman said.

New president Furlong has been with First Bank of Idaho since its inception in 1997. He has acted as a senior lender, branch manager and recently as head of lending for the Wood River Valley area. Before joining First Bank, he was a vice president of Bank of America in Ketchum and a commercial lender with Union Bank in Los Angeles.

In his role as president of First Bank of Idaho, he will be in charge of lending, branch operations, product development and marketing for the Wood River Valley.

Lewis joined First Bank Advisors in 2000 as market leader of the Jackson operation after a 30-year banking career with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. His most recent position before joining First Bank was as managing director and chief operating officer of Global Private Banking in the Western Region for Chase.

All of the new officers will continue to work closely with the holding company’s senior management team of Peter Minford, Vicky Kotiga, Linda Rowe and Dick Coleman, the company spokesman said.

"The Board of Directors unanimously expressed their confidence in the entire management team and staff of the bank and thanked them for the great work they have all done," he noted.

 

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