Kim Kaselionis

Kim Kaselionis was named Chairman/CEO of Circle Bank in 1996. She left the bank in 2012 after its sale to Umpqua Bank. In the intervening years, she led the Novato, CA-based community bank to a leadership position among Northern California financial institutions by championing local economies and job growth.

Prior to the sale, Kim led Circle Bank from the verge of being closed by the FDIC to a run of fifty-three consecutive profitable quarters. Remarkable as was that performance, it occurred in an environment where she had been told by a member of the bank regulators that, “If the wind was strong enough even turkeys could fly”.

Taking that as a challenge, Kim built a system of six strategically located branches while establishing a broader presence throughout the Northern California region. During her tenure, Circle Bank was continuously ranked among the fastest growing businesses and best places to work in surveys conducted by regional business publications. It grew to more than $320 million in totals assets.

Circle Bank also became the only North Bay-headquartered community bank with a full service branch in San Francisco. In 2011-2012, the Bank was named a “super premier performer” by The Findley Report.

In 2012, she was named one of the “Most Influential Women in Northern California” by the San Francisco Business Times. Previously, in 2010, she had been named “Most Admired CEO (Small Business)” by the San Francisco Business Times, and the Bank was named a “best place to work” for five consecutive years.

In 2009, she became one of only three California community banks' CEOs to sit on the national ABA Community Bankers Council. In that role, she represented community banking in ABA’s government policy-making process, tracking of community bank competitiveness issues and response to them through a broad range of high quality association products and services.

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, she was one of a few community bank CEOs who actively lobbied the U.S. Congress regarding banking legislation, meeting with the offices of key California legislators in Washington D.C.

At her direction, the Bank became the only Northern California community bank to publish a corporate social responsibility report.

Known for its innovative programs, Circle Bank created a micro-enterprise for Novato-based Homeward Bound in 2009. Rather than simply donating money, Kim’s plan called for the bank to purchase cookie dough produced by Homeward Bound’s culinary students, creating a commercial revenue stream and business for the nonprofit. During its operation, the program accounted for sixty percent of Homeward Bound’s “Halo Product” sales, and was used as a model for other revenue generating programs. This has created a staff position for an adult moving out of homelessness, as well as additional training opportunities for our students. Homeward Bound is also in talks with another financial institution for the cookie dough program.

Another unique program created by Circle Bank under Kim’s leadership was a micro-lending program which provides capital to graduates of the Women’s Initiative for Self Employment, “Simple Steps to Business Success” program. This program served as a model to market to other financial institutions to establish their own mirco-lending programs for WI clients.

Circle Bank also created the Fractional Tenant-In-Common loan program in San Francisco, which provides financing for “affordable” or “entry-level” homeownership in an area in which home prices are generally out of the reach of most people. That market is estimated at $1 billion.

Upon leaving Circle Bank, she immediately took leadership positions in two nonprofit organizations. She is President of Marin Rocks!, which is currently exploring the possibility of building a facility in San Rafael to celebrate the influence of Marin County on music and culture in the latter half of the 20th century. She has also been elected to the governing board of the Women’s Initiative for Self Improvement.

A graduate of California State University (Hayward), she holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and later received an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Kim is the mother of three college-aged children. She lives in Novato with her husband, Tomas.