© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Greg Becker, President and CEO at SVB speaks on the 2022 Milken Institute World Convention in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., Could 3, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Blake
By Hannah Lang
(Reuters) – Greg Becker, the chief govt officer who presided over the collapsed Silicon Valley Financial institution, joined the corporate three many years in the past as a mortgage officer.
The manager lower his tooth through the dotcom bubble and later steered the startup-focused lender within the wake of the 2008 international monetary disaster. He grew to become president and CEO of SVB Monetary Group in 2011.
The corporate’s operations abruptly got here to a halt on Friday as California banking regulators moved rapidly to close it down in what grew to become the biggest financial institution failure because the monetary disaster. Simply 24 hours earlier, Becker had personally referred to as purchasers to guarantee them their cash with the financial institution was protected.
Becker, who served on the board of administrators on the Federal Reserve Financial institution of San Francisco, departed the board efficient Friday, a spokesperson for the regional Fed financial institution stated.
In January, Becker stated the financial outlook was enhancing after a downbeat 2022.
“We’re optimistic as a result of our crystal ball is somewhat clearer,” Becker instructed CNBC. Whereas he anticipated public markets to stabilize, “We nonetheless assume within the first half there’s going to be extra volatility.”
Becker graduated from Indiana College with a bachelor’s diploma in enterprise, in keeping with Silicon Valley Financial institution’s web site. From there, he labored at a financial institution that served what he referred to as “conventional corporations.” When his supervisor left to work for Silicon Valley Financial institution, Becker adopted, he stated in 2021 on a Bloomberg podcast.
Representatives for Silicon Valley Financial institution didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The banker described his first few years at SVB as “the very best of highs and the bottom of lows” because the lender navigated the tech rout within the late Nineties.
“We took losses. It was a difficult time for us… I look again on it fondly. I realized loads in regards to the establishment. I realized loads about how you can lend cash,” he stated.
Earlier than turning into president and CEO of SVB Monetary Group, Becker co-founded SVB Capital, the corporate’s funding arm. He additionally served because the chairman of the Silicon Valley Management Group from 2014 to 2017 and was a member of the U.S. Commerce Division’s Digital Economic system Board of Advisors from 2016 to 2017. Becker cycles in his free time and has 5 grown kids.
Silicon Valley Financial institution’s web site calls Becker a “champion of the innovation financial system.” In a video for the BBC in December, Becker stated his finest profession recommendation was for job seekers to construct a skill-set across the innovation financial system in fields like laptop programming and mission administration.
“When you consider your alternative, if you’re underrepresented with these expertise, it really is infinite,” he stated.
