James G LesiurMr. LeSieur has nearly 35 years of banking experience where he has served as President and CEO of two community banks: Sunwest and Vineyard. He currently serves at the request of the Receiver as President and Chief Operating Officer of Private Equity Management Group (or PEMG) that is the subject of an SEC regulatory Receivership.

At PEMG Mr. LeSieur has overseen the collection and sale of commercial notes, sale of commercial and residential real estate and the analysis, management and disposition of a portfolio of timeshare assets. Collectively, these have generated over $125 million of recoveries for the Estate.

During his twenty-nine year tenure at Sunwest Bank, he served as Controller, Chief Financial Officer, and 12 years as President and CEO. As President in the early 1990s, he led the successful turnaround of Sunwest that included downsizing the Bank to achieve major cost reductions, a significant reduction in problem loans, redeployment of resources, and non-traditional capital creation. Following the turnaround Mr. LeSieur directed the Bank’s successful reentry as a vibrant bank in Orange County. At the time of his retirement from Sunwest in 2003, the Bank had grown to $250 million in assets (up from a low of $100 million just a few years earlier) and was considered a top performing bank in Orange County.

At Vineyard Bank, he was recruited to the Board of Directors in late 2004 due to his experience at Sunwest, and was later tapped by the Board to serve as interim President and CEO while the bank located a full-time replacement. Vineyard had been greatly over extended during the real estate boom in the mid 2000s, and eventually succumbed to sale by the FDIC.

Prior to his entry into banking, Mr. LeSieur was a Manager in Arthur Young & Co.’s consulting practice. During his six years with Arthur Young he worked on and managed consulting engagements for large and small organizations across industry lines in both the private and government sectors.

Mr. LeSieur has taught at Chapman’s University’s business school and served as part time Director of its Center for Entrepreneurship. He is a graduate of Purdue University with BS degree in Mechanical Engineering. he served four years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. After the Marine Corps, he attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and received his MBA in 1969. Mr. LeSieur is a retired Certified Public Accountant.

In addition Mr. LeSieur serves or has served on the boards of Banker Benefits, the for-profit subsidiary of the California Bankers Association, The Lennar Charitable Housing Foundation, the Orange County affiliate of Habitat for Humanity and the Orange County Forum, the latter two of which he also served as Chairman.