Bank loses longtime executive.

Byline: ED RUSSO The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 7/19/02): Pacific Continental Bank had assets of $200 million, compared with $492 million for Centennial Bank. An article in Tuesday's paper incorrectly described the banks' comparative size.

After 22 years at the helm of Pacific Continental Bank, J. Bruce Riddle last week abruptly resigned as president and chief executive, surprising bank officials, employees and observers.

The bank's board of directors did not ask Riddle to leave, said board chairman Robert Ballin.

"This was Bruce's decision," he said. "Bruce has done a marvelous job for our bank. There were no improprieties."

Riddle, 57, could not be reached for comment Monday. He resigned last Wednesday, also giving up his seat on the board of directors.

On Monday, Hal Brown replaced Riddle as chief executive and president of Pacific Continental Corp., the bank's parent company.

Brown, 49, has been the chief operating officer for the past two years and a bank executive since 1985. Brown said he was surprised by the suddenness of Riddle's decision, but that he is ready to lead the Eugene-based bank.

"I believe that we can continue to grow and be successful" as a Eugene-based bank, he said.

Louis Feldman, a bank analyst with Hoefer & Arnett in Portland, said he was not expecting Riddle's departure.

Pacific Continental has been a well-run bank under Riddle, showing healthy margins on interest income and other financial measurements.

But on other yardsticks, Feldman said Pacific Continental has come up short in the past few years when compared to other similarly sized publicly traded Oregon banks.

For example, Pacific Continental and Portland-based Centennial Bank were roughly the same size about five years ago, Feldman said, but Centennial has grown to a bank with $814 million in assets while Pacific Continental has assets of $310 million.

Bend-based Bank of the Cascades also has grown faster than Pacific Continental, said Feldman.

And Pacific Continental's earnings per share have languished during the past five years, fluctuating between 86 cents and $1.14.

The news hasn't gotten any better this year. Based on information from the company, Feldman, for example, expected the bank's first-quarter profits to be about 29 cents a share. Pacific Continental reported profits of 20 cents a share, and later dropped that figure to 2 cents a share after a pair of bad loans ended up costing the bank more than expected.

Feldman, referring to Riddle, said: "You deal with bad news long enough and you get tired of it, and your focus shifts. It's definitely been a tough few years for Bruce."

Riddle had been with Pacific Continental for 24 years, all but two as president and chief executive.

Last year, he was paid $462,125 in salary and bonus, up $10,203 from the previous year.

According to the bank's proxy statement, Riddle owned 210,640 shares of Pacific Continental Corp., or 4.15 percent of the company as of March 20.

On Monday, the price of the bank's thinly traded stock fell 25 cents a share to $11.75.

Pacific Continental is scheduled to release its second quarter financial results this afternoon.

The bank has made a push to attract more business in Portland, adding two Portland businessmen to its board and hiring a longtime U.S. Bank executive to head up its Portland effort.

Brown, the new CEO, said grabbing market share in Portland will be among his main goals.