City National Bank Launches Business Banking Team in Atlanta and Grows Its Successful Entertainment Banking Team

LOS ANGELES – City National Bank, America’s Premier Private and Business Bank®, announced today that it hired two veteran bankers to lead its newly formed business banking team in Atlanta. Additionally, the bank continued its pattern of hiring exceptional talent for its well-known entertainment banking team, bringing on three experienced bankers. The new teams are the latest examples of City National’s strategic growth in its key communities.

“Our new business banking team comes at the right time for City National,” said Scott Witter, executive vice president of Personal and Business Banking. “City National is a trusted partner in the Atlanta entertainment community. We look forward to delivering the same level of exceptional service and expertise to the broader business community in the region.”

City National’s business banking team delivers the bank’s full range of financial products and services for businesses, entrepreneurs and their families. City National’s business bankers work closely with business owners to understand their unique challenges and collaborate with the bank’s team of experts to provide specialized solutions.

Launching City National’s business banking team are:

• Sam Donley, vice president and business banking team leader, manages the bank’s business banking team. Donley has more than a dozen years of banking experience.
• Britt Faunce, vice president and senior business banker, serves commercial and industrial firms in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Faunce has more than 20 years of business banking experience.

Joining City National’s entertainment team are:

• Greg Crane, senior vice president and senior relationship manager, specializes in customized wealth solutions to meet the unique financial needs of high-net-worth professionals in entertainment and sports. Crane has more than 20 years of financial services experience.
• Obi Nwoku, vice president and credit officer, provides credit and loan underwriting expertise to City National’s team of entertainment banking relationship managers. Nwoku has nearly 15 years of credit and underwriting experience.
• Sylvia Gordon, assistant vice president and senior account manager, advises professionals in the entertainment industry on the most effective products and services to meet their financial goals. Gordon has more than 13 years of financial services experience. She transferred from City National’s tech banking team in New York.

“Greg, Obi and Sylvia will be a terrific team. They have a long track record of exceptional client service,” said Rich McCune, regional team manager of City National’s Entertainment Banking division. “Our Entertainment Banking team is excited to welcome our business banking colleagues into the dynamic Atlanta area, and we are already partnering with them to better serve our clients and uncover opportunities to meet more of their financial needs.”

City National’s Atlanta office opened with four colleagues in 2011 to serve the area’s growing television and film production business. It now has more than 15 colleagues and expects to have nearly 20 colleagues by the end of the year. Additionally, the bank expanded its office space in the heart of the financial district in Buckhead, growing from a 2,700-square-foot office space to a more than 6,000-square-foot space.

City National’s growth in Atlanta is the latest example of the bank’s strategic growth. City National grew its Entertainment Banking teams in Atlanta and Nashville in 2017 and in August 2018. Additionally, City National opened its first regional center in Washington, D.C. in February 2018, it added a business banking team in Long Island in February 2018, and hired a commercial banking team in Boston in January 2018. City National continues to grow in California as well.