Board of Directors

  • Lawrence Koppelman
    Chairman of the Board

    With over 40 years of mortgage lending and banking experience, Mr. Koppelman is the President of Koppelman & Co., and is Chairman of the Board of American MortgageBanc LLC. From 1981 to 1993, he was the Managing Director of Western Bank Mortgage Co. Currently, Mr. Koppelman is a board member on five real estate funds. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Direct Relief International, and in the past was a member of the Fanny Mae Western Advisory Board.

  • Jeff DeVine
    President and Chief Executive Officer

    Mr. DeVine has over 20 years experience in banking with the last 14 years spent here in Santa Barbara. Over his career, he has held positions in commercial, retail, private and investment banking. Prior to joining American Riviera Bank in 2008, Mr. DeVine led the Commercial Real Estate Division for Rabobank, N.A. in California. Prior to that, he was the Regional President for the Greater Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley Region of Mid-State Bank & Trust.

    Mr. DeVine graduated from the University of California San Diego with a BS in Quantitative Economics. He later attended Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington where he graduated with honors. Mr. DeVine has held various Board positions with local non-profits including Treasurer of the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Barbara County and Treasurer of the Los Padres Council of Boy Scouts of America. He is also a member of the steering committee for the South Coast Business and Technology Awards Dinner and Premier Professionals of Santa Barbara.

  • Bruce N. Anticouni

    As owner of Anticouni & Associates, Mr. Anticouni provides legal expertise in the area of labor law. Over the past 30 years, he has owned approximately 15 real properties and 25 real property limited partnerships. His non-profit board involvement includes Direct Relief International, Inc., where he was a Member of Finance, Investment, Personnel and Compensation Committees. He has also served as Board President of Shelter Services for Women, and was a board member of the Marymount School. He also served as past Chief Executive Officer and Board President of Willis Optical.

  • Tad Buchanan

    For the past 15 years Mr. Buchanan has been the Managing Member of Woodside Partners, LLC, which has developed eight large master planned communities across the nation including Estancia in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Rancho Monte Allegre, a 3,150 acre ranch which Mr. Buchanan is currently developing in Carpinteria, California. Mr. Buchanan graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and Harvard Business School with an MBA. He currently serves on two boards: the Trust for Public Land, Central Coast Board, and the Montecito Educational Foundation Board.

  • Frank Burgess

    Mr. Burgess is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Madison Investment Advisors, a portfolio management firm with $10 billion of assets under management, comprised of approximately 55% intermediate duration fixed income and other fixed income disciplines, and 45% growth-at-reasonable-price (GARP) style equity accounts. In 1994, Mr. Burgess helped organize, and is still currently a director of Capitol Bankshares Inc., serving on the Investment Committee, Compensation Committee and the Loan Committee. From 1967 to 1973, Mr. Burgess worked for Marshall & Isley Bank (formerly the Affiliated Bank of Madison) as a Trust and Investment Officer.

  • Darren D. Caesar

    Mr. Caesar is a licensed insurance broker and agent specializing in all forms of insurance coverage for the community bank market. He is currently President of Tecis Limited Liability Company, and Senior Vice President with Talbot Caesar & Seider Insurance Services. Currently he is an Executive and Governance Committee Member, and Chair of the Planning and Risk Management Committee for the Channel Islands YMCA, where he is responsible for the review of capital expansion plans.

  • Joe Campanelli

    Mr. Campanelli has been head of a successful general contracting firm headquartered in Santa Barbara for over 30 years, specializing in custom residential, commercial and green building. He served two terms as President of the Santa Barbara Contractors Association established in 1948, and is currently a director of the non-profit environmental education foundation. He received multiple "Builder of the Year" awards for residential, commercial, and environmental building work. He continues to serve on the board of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, UCSB Economic Forecast and is a founder of the Green Building Alliance.

  • Michael Giles

    Mr. Giles worked as a senior executive with Merrill Lynch where he served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the International Banking Group, which included six wholly-owned subsidiary banks and securities brokerage subsidiaries in numerous countries. Earlier in his career, Mr. Giles was employed with Citibank working internationally in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Greece, and Saudi Arabia (Middle East headquarters) in charge of commercial and government banking. Mr. Giles has substantial experience in commercial and investment banking, having had interaction with various regulatory agencies, including the New York State Banking Department, London Financial Services Authority, Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission. Currently, Mr. Giles serves as Treasurer on the Board of the Foundation for Santa Barbara City College, as well as on the advisory board of the University of Colorado Business School.

  • Palmer G. Jackson, Jr.

    Palmer Jackson currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Cogi, Inc., a technology startup company based in Santa Barbara. Prior to Cogi, Palmer served as Chief Operating Officer for Ideocore, a marketing and branding consultancy that specializes in helping launch new companies. Prior to Ideocore, Palmer spent six years with CallWave; a Santa Barbara based Internet Telecommunications Company that went public in September of 2004. Palmer is active in the Santa Barbara nonprofit community, serving as President of the Lobero Theater Foundation, Board Secretary for the Ann Jackson Family Foundation, Vice President of Crane Country Day School, and as a Director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Yale University and earned his MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley with an emphasis in marketing and non-profit management.

  • Douglas Margerum

    Mr. Margerum is the owner and wine maker for Margerum Wine Company. Prior to that Mr. Margerum owned and operated the Wine Cark in Santa Barbara from 1981 to 2007. Margerum Wine Company currently produces three primary wines: SYBARITE, UBER Syrah, and M5. All Margerum wines are available directly from the website www.margerumwinecompany.com Mr. Margerum also produce the wine for Happy Canyon Vineyards - and is the consulting wine maker for two new wine projects in the Santa Ynez Valley - Cimarone and Cent'Anne.

  • Alixe Mattingly

    With 20 years of experience in the public policy arena in Washington, D.C., Mrs. Mattingly was Senior Vice President for Public Affairs of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Mrs. Mattingly was also Senior Vice President of Communications for the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Association. She also served as Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary to then, President George Bush, where she was spokesperson on all domestic and international issues. Mrs. Mattingly also served as senior counsel at DAVIES Communications, a leading strategic public affairs and communications firm based in Santa Barbara, California. Ms. Mattingly has also provided communication consulting services to local nonprofits such as Direct Relief International. In addition to her government experience, Mrs. Mattingly was a producer of CNN's top rated nightly program, "Crossfire", and has also played a full-time senior communications role in the last six Presidential elections.

  • Gordon McKay, CPA

    As a managing partner in the accounting firm, Berti, Spechler, Sarmiento, McKay & Co, Mr. McKay specializes in individual, partnership, and corporate taxation. Since becoming a managing partner at the firm, the annual revenue for the practice has increased from $1.5 million to $4.5 million. Mr. McKay also founded Surf-N-Wear Beach House and is a founding organizer and certified public account of the Hills Swim and Tennis Club in Oakland Hills, as well as the Ojai Valley Athletic Club and Avila Bay Athletic Club. He also serves as President and Governing Board Member for each club. Mr. McKay is also the general partner in other commercial real estate projects in Santa Barbara and Phoenix, AZ.

  • Guy Taylor

    Recently launched Equi-Trax Asset Solutions, LP in July of 2008. Equi-Trax Asset Solutions, LP provides property valuations, inspections and customized solutions to financial institutions, Banks, Savings and Loans, Wall Street Firms, Credit Unions and Hedge Funds. The company is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California. Previously, Mr. Taylor served as Senior Vice President and Regional Sales Manager for Aurora Loan Services, a Lehman Brothers Company. Prior to his current employment, Mr. Taylor served as Senior Vice President, Western Division Manager of Bank of America, subsequently NationsBank. He has worked actively in the mortgage banking industry for 27 years and has served as a senior executive with various organizations. He previously served two terms on the Board of Directors for the California Mortgage Bankers Association.

  • Board Member Emeritus

    Harvey Bottelsen (Founding DIrector)

    Jeffrey M. Giller (Founding DIrector)

  • Founding Organizers

    Dennis Baker, M.D

    Barbara Donnelly, M.D.

    Julie Friedman

    Morrie Jurkowitz

    Harvey Bottelson