Columbia Bancorp Hires Bonnie Fletcher to Head New Portland Area Loan Office.

Business Editors

THE DALLES, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 2004

Columbia Bancorp (Nasdaq:CBBO) the financial holding company for Columbia River Bank, announced it has named Bonnie Fletcher to the position of Vice President and Manager of the new Portland-area Commercial Loan Office. Fletcher has more than 30 years experience in banking, most recently as Vice President/Relationship Manager for First Independent Bank of Vancouver. Prior to that she was Vice President of Commercial Lending at Umpqua Bank.

"This is the beginning of our entree into the Portland area market, where we will start by focusing on serving the needs of commercial real estate investors and developers," said Roger Christensen, President and Chief Executive Officer. "While Portland is competitive, it is a large growing market with plenty of opportunity for another community bank. During the 1990's the metropolitan area, including Vancouver, Washington just across the Columbia River from Portland, grew 26.6% to 1.9 million people."

"Our plan has been to enter the Portland market only when the right person is available, and Bonnie is that right person. She has a substantial book of business, approximately one third of which we have already vetted and will be added to our portfolio over the near term," Christensen added.

The bank has begun the search for an additional loan officer, and plans to fill the position by the end of the second quarter. The new loan office is temporarily located in the bank's Newberg, Oregon branch. A permanent location, in the Portland Metro area, will be identified later in the year.

"We are excited about Bonnie joining our team. She has a great reputation, extensive contacts and years of experience in commercial lending throughout the greater Portland area," added Craig Ortega, EVP and Head of Community Banking. "Bonnie has years of experience in the market and will be a great asset to our franchise."

Fletcher is the past president of The Oregon Mortgage Bankers Association and has served on the Technology, Street of Dreams, and Public Relations Committees for the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland. She attended the University of Washington with an emphasis in Business Finance. She lives in Tigard, Oregon, with her husband, Ben, and enjoys being near her two young grandchildren.

ABOUT COLUMBIA BANCORP

Columbia Bancorp (www.columbiabancorp.com) is the financial holding company for Columbia River Bank, which operates 18 branches located in The Dalles (2), Hood River, Bend (3), Madras, Redmond, Pendleton, Hermiston, McMinnville (3), Canby and Newberg, Oregon, and in Goldendale, White Salmon and Kennewick, Washington. To supplement its community banking services, Columbia River Bank also provides mortgage-lending services through its Columbia River Bank Mortgage Team and brokerage services through its affiliation with CRB Financial Services Team.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Forward-looking statements about the financial condition, results of operations, plans and business of Columbia are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in this release. These include, without limitation, our ability to open and operate new offices and generate growth; and the impact of competition on our expansion strategy, and other risks and uncertainties, some of which are described from time to time in our public announcements and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Some forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "continue", "plans", "intends", or other similar terminology. Forward-looking statements offered in this release are accurate only as of the date released, and we do not intend to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.