Steve Sugarman is making news in the banking world. Steve, who is the president and CEO of the Banc of California Inc., was featured in an April Los Angeles Times article on the bank’s acquisition of 20 southern California offices of the Puerto Rico-based Popular Inc. According to the article, Banc of California, now the largest Orange County-based bank, is one of several large community banks rapidly expanding in the Southland area with a focus on small businesses. The bank will also have a strong presence in areas with large Latino communities where Popular operated. 


“We think the dreams of entrepreneurs are the same in these neighborhoods,” Steve told the Times. “A person trying to finance his second restaurant in Downey is not much different than [Banc of California client] Tender Greens expanding to a second restaurant in West L.A.”


Steve also made news last summer when he hired former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as a strategic advisor on expanding home and small business loan portfolios.


Steve lives in Pacific Palisades, California, with his wife and three kids.


Better late than never: Mark Abel sent in his first update since graduation. He reports that wife Kat (Kathleen) Williams won an Emmy in September at the 65th Creative Arts Emmy Awards. She was honored in the “Outstanding Special Class: Short Format Nonfiction Programs” category for executive producing Remembering 9/11, which aired on the History Channel’s website, history.com. The documentary series, about several items in the 9/11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center site, beat out strong competition from Jay Leno’s Garage, Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and 30 Rock: The Final Season. Congratulations, Kat! 


Mark works at Merrill Lynch in New York trading government bonds, which he has done for 14 years. He and Kat live in Manhattan with their 4-year-old daughter Charlotte.


Hope everyone is enjoying the summer. Please send your news.


—Jason Casell, 10106 Balmforth Lane, Houston, TX 77096; jhcasell@gmail.com