Sean Cutting, new president of Sonoma Valley Bank. Submitted Photo
Board Chairman Bob Nicholas reported leadership changes at Sonoma Valley Bank, in accordance with the company’s strategic plan for management succession. Sean Cutting has been named President, Chief Lending Officer and Chief Administrative Officer and will serve on the Board of Directors. Mel Switzer, Jr. has been named Chairman of the Board of Sonoma Valley Bank and will continue as Chief Executive Officer of the Bank until his planned retirement in 2009.
“Most successful companies have done what we’re doing,” said Switzer, “identifying and working with the candidate [successor]. So it isn’t a major transition. Sean grew up here and knows the community.” Cutting agreed, saying, “The idea is to make the transition as smooth and transparent as possible. It’s a process we’ve been going through for several years to try to make sure there wouldn’t be any great shift in our core business and we’d continue to do as we’ve done.”
“I’ll be accessible,” said Switzer, “to help him in any of those challenging things that come up. We’re an old-style organization – all the decisions get made right here.”
Switzer joined Sonoma Valley Bank in 1990 as President and Chief Executive Officer and, with his team, has guided the local bank to become one of the top performing financial institutions in northern California. Under his leadership the bank has achieved the “Super Premier Performance” rating of the Findley Reporting Group for the last 15 years. Switzer resides in Sonoma with his wife, Camilla.
Cutting attended El Verano Elementary, Altimira Middle, and Sonoma Valley High Schools and graduated from UCLA in 1991. He was an investment consultant with Citicorp Investment Services and Liberty Financial Companies before earning his MBA from the Marshall School of Business at USC in 1997. He then worked for several international banks, including Bank of Montreal in Los Angeles and ABN AMRO in San Francisco. Cutting joined the lending group of Sonoma Valley Bank as Vice President in 2002, in 2003 he was made Senior Vice President and Chief Lending Officer with oversight of the lending group and all lending operations for the Bank, and in 2006 was named Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer.
Cutting serves on the Executive Board as Treasurer of the Boys and Girls Club of the Valley of the Moon, is a board member of the Rotary Club of Sonoma Valley and was recently named to the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce Board. He resides in Sonoma with his wife Perrin and their two children.
