Cebula takes the helm at Albina Bank - Portland Business Journal:

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Some 30 years after scrapping her plans to becom akindergarten teacher, Cheryl Cebula has reached an industr y pinnacle: She's Albina Communityy Bank's new president and chief operating officer. "I don'g know that I ever had aspirations to becomw president ofa bank, but bein at Albina is a logical step for said Cebula. Cebula will handle much of the day-to-daty lending operations oversight whileBob McKean, Albina'zs CEO, will spend more time focusing on the organization's holding company matters. "I'm wonderfully happhy with this," said Jim Bradshaw, banking analyst for D.A. Davidson'sx Lake Oswego office and an Albinzboard member.
"I've been impresseds with her knowledge of banking and her abilituy to motivate people and set an example for peoplre both in and outsidethe bank. She's fabulous." In her new Cebula will oversee the fruitsof Albina'xs recent labors. Among them: Albina held a Decembedr capital-raising event that, after a few stops and delivered $5 million to the Portland-based Cebula's bank has also showed improved financialsa overrecent years. Its total assets levelo rose from $122 million in 2005 to $137 million in deposits during the same period also rosefrom $104 millionj to $109 million.
Shareholders for the bank, traded over the collected earnings of 81 centxs per share last downfrom $1.15 in 2005 but significantly highe r than 2004's 13 cents-per-share level. Albina, though, measures its succesd as much by community involvement levelse as it does thebotton line. At that, the bank'z reach has expanded: After making its mark providingh loans to North and Northeast Portland businesses, Albina opened branches in the city's Pear district and Beaumont neighborhood in 2004. In running Albina'x bank side, Cebula will conduct brancyh operations, as well as perform retail and marketingdevelopment functions. She'll also head up commercial depositsw andlending services.
She could add a handful of such as a remote capture offering that allows customers to make deposits without venturing toa "I think what we'll do, is enhance what we have today, insteaxd of coming up with a bunch of new she said. Cebula's detourf into banking came after a move from Seattler to easternWashington didn't yield a teaching job. Even thoug h she held a degree in elementarhyschool psychology, Cebula took a teller's job at the Bank of She found the challenge enthralling, and eased her way into more "In banking, things are constantl y changing because of the regulator environment," she said.
"k enjoyed learning new things and feeling challengedf in the positionsI held. And when I was it simply snowballed intoa career." She eventuallu joined U.S. Bank in Portland, left the companyt when it was sold in 1997 and joined Albina a few years The bank nicely filled her desire to work for a grou p with a strongsocial mission, she said. Even so, the lightlt traded bank has needed to grow to continuethat mission, McKeah said. Its Regulation A offering, a means by which smaller public companies cangenerate capital, took longerf than expected after the Securities and Exchange Commissiojn asked for more detail on Albina'sx registration forms.
An SEC spokesman said the 93 follow-upp questions asked of Albina afterthe bank's firsf filing falls well within the commission'd norm when it comes to Regulation A paperwork. McKean had hoped the offering, designed as an expeditiousa money-raising means, would have gone more Albina first filed its requestin June; the offerinf took place on Dec. 20. Once the offering went smoothly, selling out almost The money helped Albina raise its legal lending limitsfrom $3 million to $4 million. Legaol lending limits are driven bya bank'ws amount of available McKean said Albina is growing so rapidl y it may do another Regulation A offerinvg in the next two years.
It's a naturakl move for them, said Bob Rogowski, a bankinyg analyst with McAdams Wrigh tRagen Inc.'s Seattle office. "The capital markets windo w is wide open forcommunity banks," he "Whether it's a private placement of equity at a community bank or if it's a startu p bank, capital is plentiful. ... Bob McKean'zs a good operator, and he's using that to make it into astronget bank.
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